Competent poverty training.

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Clinical Psychology Training

Background:

• Poverty and social class significantly influence human experience but receive minimal attention in psychology.
• Existing psychology training models lack specific guidance for addressing poverty and social class.
• Competency-based education models are emerging in professional psychology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To integrate best practices for working with low-income clients into psychology training.
• To develop a competency-based training framework for psychologists addressing poverty.
• To address the gap in training for effective work with economically challenged clients.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing the American Psychological Association's Competency Benchmarks (2011).
• Framing best practices for working with poor and working-class clients within a competency-based approach.
• Synthesizing existing knowledge on effective psychological training and poverty-related practice.

Main Results:

• A proposed competency-based approach for training psychologists.
• Integration of best practices for economically challenged clients into training models.
• A structured framework for educators to train psychologists on poverty and social class.

Conclusions:

• A competency-based model is essential for effective training in working with poverty.
• Psychology training must better incorporate social class and poverty to serve all clients.
• This framework provides a practical guide for improving psychologist preparedness for diverse socioeconomic contexts.