Competency-based evaluation policies and procedures in clinical neuropsychology training

Objective: During the past several decades, work has been ongoing to establish specialty-specific competencies for clinical neuropsychology. However, there is a lack of corresponding evaluation tools that link broad competency areas to directly observable behaviors that are required for advancement or completion at different points in training. The objectives of this manuscript are to: (1) briefly review the development of clinical neuropsychology competencies, (2) describe essential components of competency-based evaluation in clinical neuropsychology, focusing on the postdoctoral fellowship level because that is the typically the last formal opportunity to evaluate trainee knowledge and skills prior to independent practice, (3) describe how to implement evaluation policies and procedures to support fellow competency development and program quality improvement, and (4) provide revised example evaluation forms that can be widely used or adapted for postdoctoral fellow assessment and program evaluation. Method: The APPCN workgroup that was initially tasked with developing competency-based assessment tools that could be adapted for widespread use among programs sought feedback from program directors on an initial evaluation tool and conducted a survey regarding current evaluation policies and procedures in clinical neuropsychology fellowship programs. Subsequently, the tool was revised, and the updated recommended evaluation policies and procedures are outlined in this manuscript. Conclusions: The proposed evaluation tools and sequence of assessment during the fellowship period can be widely used and/or adapted among clinical neuropsychology postdoctoral fellowship training programs. Such assessment tools are essential to demonstrate readiness for independent clinical neuropsychology practice.