PSH_MS - Psychology (M.S.)

Program Information

The department of Clinical and Health Psychology is an academic and professional unit in the College of Public Health and Health Professions at the Health Science Center on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville. The doctoral program in clinical psychology has been accredited by the American Psychological Association since 1953 and adheres to the Scientist-Practitioner Model of education and training. The Clinical Psychology Doctoral program is unique in the country in that it is housed in an independent department of Clinical and Health Psychology in a major academic health science setting along with an APA accredited internship and postdoctoral program. These features foster program strengths in research, teaching, and professional training in health care psychology.

The Scientist-Practitioner Model allows the student to obtain broad clinical, academic, and research training that readies them for careers anywhere along the science-practice continuum. The student obtains focused research mentorship in a faculty member’s laboratory and obtains broad training in clinical assessment and intervention both in and outside of their designated area of concentration.

The Doctoral Program provides the student with training in the concepts, tools, roles, and functions of the clinical psychologist. The overall goals of the graduate program are to prepare the student to:

1. investigate meaningful, empirically testable questions in the quest for understanding a behavioral process, a patient’s problem, or a professional issue;
2. function as a professional psychologist;
3. practice competently in the applied areas of psychological assessment/diagnosis, intervention/therapy, and consultation; and
4. contribute to the advancement of psychological knowledge through research or other creative scholarly activity.

Through a combination of general and specialized experiences in the classroom, laboratory, and clinic students develop knowledge and skills as scientist-practitioners. Attitudes are developed toward the practice of psychology and toward related professions which enable effective personal interaction and participation in the interdisciplinary approach to problems of research and practice. As students progress in the program, they develop professional identity through acceptance of increased responsibility for professional decisions, through the execution of significant research projects, and through their contributions to the understanding of psychological problems and processes.

For more information please see our website: http://chp.phhp.ufl.edu