Department of Psychology

Clinical Graduate Program in Psychology - Research Training in Pediatric Psychology

Summary Description

Students in this program will be trained to conduct descriptive, outcome evaluation, and applied research with a wide range of pediatric populations as well as to conduct and evaluate cutting edge clinical interventions. The program is designed to equip graduates with the skills necessary to become leaders in the field of pediatric psychology: to work with physicians and members of other professions in collaborative research and to make original research and clinical contributions to the field of pediatric psychology. Students in pediatric psychology must meet the general requirements of the graduate program. Beyond the general requirements, our program includes a range of opportunities including:

• Specialized courses in pediatric psychology (see Seminar in Pediatric Psychology ) and related elective and enrichment courses in the Department of Pediatrics.
  
• Training in the skills necessary to conduct pediatric psychology research including research grant and program evaluation proposals, presentations of papers to scientific meetings, and publishable manuscripts. (See Drotar, Palermo , & Landis, 2003 also on this website for a more detailed description).


• Opportunity to receive mentorship from psychologists and pediatricians who are engaged in research and clinical care in pediatric settings and participate in interdisciplinary research and clinical care teams ( click here for new research and clinical opportunities ) .

Our program also recognizes and supports the value of clinical training, especially as it enhances understanding of pediatric populations and practical obstacles involved in implementing applied research, as well as collaboration with other professional disciplines, especially pediatricians. Expectations for clinical training are comparable to the students in the general clinical program. However, students in pediatric psychology will gain the opportunity to obtain practicum experiences in pediatric settings and to select pediatric populations of primary interest for gaining direct clinical and research skills. Our students are expected to be on campus during summers to concentrate on their research and to attend relevant seminars.

Student funding through either the National Institute of Mental Health and the Dean at Case includes a stipend of $20,950 (2004-2005) per year and full course tuition. The stipend is for all the years students are enrolled in the program, and there is often a yearly raise. Students also receive funds for travel to present their research at scientific meetings as well as funds to support memberships in professional societies and research assistants to facilitate data collections and analysis.

Research and Clinical Opportunities in Pediatric Psychology

Stimulated by a twenty-five year history of collaboration among faculty in the department of pediatrics and psychology and an impressive track record of student success, students have ready access to pediatric populations, opportunities for consultation, and technical assistance for the conduct of research projects at Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital (RB&C) . RB&C is a large tertiary care facility (220 beds) that is nationally recognized for its research and clinical programs, including subspecialty programs for the care of children with chronic physical illness. (Link to click here for Detailed Description of Training Facilities at Rainbow and elsewhere)

One of the key features of our program is the close collaboration with programs in the Department of Pediatrics at RB&C. Pediatricians and psychologists from RB&C regularly serve on student's dissertation committees (see Drotar et al., 2003). Faculty in the school of medicine at Case Western Reserve University have active research programs in a number of critical areas of pediatric research including: neuropsychology (outcomes of very low birth weight, family adaptation to traumatic brain injury), impact of cocaine exposure on infants and families, research on sleep problems in children, pediatric ethics, survivorship of pediatric cancer, quality of life assessment, and evaluation of interventions for children with a range of chronic physical conditions, e.g., asthma, cystic fibrosis, diabetes, and obesity. Students work with psychologists and pediatricians who are based in the Department of Pediatrics on a variety of projects. Click here for new opportunities in pediatric psychology.

Training Philosophy

The students in our program are expected to take an active, independent role in initiating their research ideas in collaboration with strong mentoring support. Research training begins in the first year with a research clerkship experience in which students either join a research team to work with an ongoing data set or develop their own project. The research clerkship often leads to the master's thesis. Our program places a strong emphasis on writing and publication: most students have published several senior-authored manuscripts based on their master's thesis and other research projects, research reviews, etc. while in graduate school as well as a number of coauthored manuscripts.

Students are given ongoing support for their writing and critical reviewing through mentorship and our writer's workshop seminar. Emphasis is placed on peer support for scholarly and clinical activities throughout the program. Pediatric psychology graduate students have access to computer facilities for students in this program as well as departmental computer facilities.

Clinical placements give students an opportunity to work closely with pediatricians, social workers, nurses, and child life staff in the care and management of children and adolescents who are referred for psychological evaluation and treatment. In addition to the Department of Psychology's clinical placement and course practica experiences in assessment and psychotherapy, clinical opportunities include a third or fourth year placement at RB&C that focuses on consultation with pediatric subspecialty populations (e.g., hematology/oncology, pulmonary, and general pediatric psychology referrals), a third or fourth year placement at Metro Health Center that focuses on clinical care and consultation/teaching with pediatrics in a primary care setting, and a fifth year placement at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital that includes participation in interdisciplinary clinical care programs such as the center for survivors of pediatric cancer, sleep clinic, and renal clinic. Students have the opportunity to specialize in clinical work with populations of special interest and to participate in randomized trials of intervention with children and adolescents with cancer, obesity, and PTSD. These comprehensive training experiences give our students a competitive edge for internship and postdoctoral fellowships.

Description of Clinical Placements

In the context of managing these referrals, students obtain clinical experience with a range of populations and presenting problems, e.g., problems in adaptation to chronic physical illness including anxiety, depression, and somatization, non-compliance with treatment for chronic illness, problematic family adjustment, etc.

Under supervision, students obtain experience in the principles of psychological consultation to pediatrics and other professional disciplines, e.g., nurses and social worker in this pediatric setting. They learn how to communicate quickly and effectively with staff, to conduct psychological assessments of children and families, to formulate a treatment/management plan and to conduct interventions including psychotherapy with children and adolescents, as well as parent guidance. Students often see patients that they evaluate for ongoing psychological intervention.

Third or Fourth Year Placement: Primary Care Consultation and Child/Adolescent Psychiatry (MetroHealth MedicalCenter)
One of the unique features of our clinical training is the opportunity that students have to receive supervised experience in consultation, teaching, and clinical management of children and adolescents who present to a pediatric primary care setting.

Under the supervision of Terry Stancin, Ph.D who is experienced and nationally recognized for her work in primary care including her teaching of pediatricians in primary care settings, students learn the common presenting problems, methods of diagnostic assessment and strategies of intervention that are appropriate to manage problems of presented primary care. Moreover, students are given experience in consultation and teaching pediatricians, including pediatric residents to manage psychological problems that they see in this setting. Students are given experience in the development of clinical programs including a behavioral screening service to provide feed-back to pediatricians to help them manage children who present with problems such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Interested students have opportunities for participation in research concerning the impact of the behavioral screening service.

Under the supervision of Sue White, Ph.D., a former president of the Society of Pediatric Psychology, students are given experiences in learning behavior and parent training.

Fifth-Year Placement (Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital)
Fifth-year students receive clinical training in their role as the primary consultant to a pediatric in-patient, Collaborative Care Unit that specializes in management of children with chronic health problems. This interdisciplinary unit specializes in the clinical management of children with complicated chronic health problems, many of which, e.g., failure to thrive, diabetes, traumatic brain injury, and significant needs for psychological assessment and intervention.

Students operate as an independent and well-respected member of an interdisciplinary team and provide informal, as well as formal psychological consultation to staff concerning management of children who are hospitalized on the unit, and their families.

In their roles as consultants, students develop behavior intervention plans, provide guidelines to parents concerning management of their children's problems, psychotherapy and behavior intervention with children, and with staff on the unit to facilitate their collaborative relationships with families. Clinical experience in this setting is highly valued by internships.

Click here Training Graduate Level Pediatric Psychology Students

Drotar, D., Palermo , T., & Landis, C.E. (2003b). Training graduate level pediatric psychology researchers at Case Western Reserve University : Meeting the needs, challenges, and options for the new millenium. Journal of Pediatric Psychology , 28 , 123-135.
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Teaching Opportunities

• Teaching undergraduates in a seminar related to pediatric psychology (e.g., stress and coping, psychology of chronic illness) as part of the department's specials requirement
• Teaching pediatric residents in lectures as part of clinical placements at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital and MetroHealth Medical Center
• Teaching child development to undergraduates (an optional experience that some students have done)
• Teaching assistant for graduate assessment (an optional experience that some students have done)

Faculty