Psychology Internship

Predoctoral Internship Training in Pediatric Psychology
2009-2010

Accredited by the American Psychological Association Committee on Accreditation (202)336-5979

TRAINING MISSION:

The professional practice of Psychology as a health care profession in a children’s hospital setting is the primary focus of our internship. The internship’s educational philosophy and training model is broadly based on the Scientist-Practitioner Model for the Professional Practice of Psychology as described by Belar and Perry (1992). The program also ascribes to the recommendations for training of pediatric psychologists proposed by Spirito and colleagues (2003). The initial focus is on the development of working relationships with families and other professional staff and the development of communication and interviewing skills and consultation. The goal is for interns to formulate case conceptualizations and to link these formulations to empirically supported intervention strategies within a pediatric psychology setting. Ethical, legal professional, cultural and ethnic issues are addressed as they apply to assessment and intervention.

As a Behavioral Health Division in a children’s hospital, we strive to provide broad-based training in both clinical child and pediatric psychology. Interns are referred to as "psychology residents" by the medical staff and are well-respected for their expertise. Interns are exposed to a diversity of patient populations, and gain extensive experience in case/problem formulation, intervention, evaluation and consultation. Patients served range from those experiencing common behavioral difficulties (e.g. oppositional or anxiety disorders) to more rare medical conditions that may have significant behavioral or emotional components. Given that duPont Hospital for Children is the only children's hospital in Delaware and draws from three other states (i.e., Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey), interns are exposed to a wide range of presenting problems. Opportunities exist for gaining experiences with children and adolescents presenting with diabetes, asthma, cancer, transplant difficulties, recurrent abdominal pain, encopresis, enuresis, headaches, seizure disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, ADHD, disruptive behaviors, anxiety, depression, family problems, eating difficulties, and many other adjustment difficulties. With our extensive patient population and our being the "last stop" for many families in terms of evaluation, consultation, and treatment, we are able to expose interns to a highly diverse patient population, including many rare disorders. In fact, we take pride in the variety of clinical training experiences that are available to our interns from inpatient to outpatient, from toddlers to adolescents and from traditional child clinical patients to patients with chronic diseases.

Supervision is a definite strength of our program. We strive to make supervision interactive and dynamic in that interns and faculty actively exchange ideas as they integrate research and practice. Critical thinking and hypothesis formulation and testing are essential ingredients of the supervision experience. We take a developmental approach in that we work closely with the intern in the first month, assessing their knowledge regarding evaluation, including specific tests and measurements, and intervention. We are particularly interested in the intern’s ability to apply theory to practice. If an area appears to be less developed, it will be an area of focus over the course of the year. Initially, interns may “shadow” a faculty member, observing both evaluation and therapy, and then gain independence as they demonstrate competence in areas. For interns with a background in a particular area, we strive to find experiences that stretch into developing an area of expertise.

While the internship is designed to be a clinical year, to encourage scientific development, we encourage students to discuss their dissertations and to complete them during their internship year. Frequently, students successfully defend their dissertation while on internship. In addition, faculty members are actively involved in research projects and grant writing and encourage interns to participate in these projects. Faculty members strive to set an example of integrating research and practice. The ongoing research has direct clinical relevance. The opportunity of internal research funds enables faculty to maintain a balance between research and clinical work.

Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children

The duPont Hospital for Children was founded in 1940 through a bequest in the will of Alfred I. duPont, upon whose estate, Nemours, the hospital now stands. Mr. duPont stated in his will that he wanted part of his wealth to be used to "alleviate human suffering" especially that of children and the elderly. Soon after his death, the Nemours Foundation was established to carry out his wishes.

The duPont Hospital for Children offers a wide array of services for infants, children and adolescents including:

Adolescent Medicine
Allergy/Asthma	Neurosurgery
Cardiology	Occupational Therapy
Communicative Disorders	Ophthalmology
Critical Care Medicine	Orthopedics
Dentistry	Otolaryngology (ENT)
Dermatology	Physical Medicine
Developmental Pediatrics	Physical Therapy
Eating Disorders	Plastic Surgery
Emergency Medicine	Psychiatry
Endocrinology	Psychology
General Pediatric Surgery	Pulmonary Medicine
Genetics	Rehabilitation
Hematology/Oncology	Rheumatology
Infectious Disease	Sports Medicine
Medical Imaging	Thoracic Surgery
Neonatology	Transplant Services
Neurology	Urology

As a teaching facility, the hospital is affiliated with Thomas Jefferson University and several other academic institutions. In addition to psychology interns, medical students, residents and fellows specializing in various fields of pediatrics, as well as nursing and allied health students, receive training at the hospital.

For addition information regarding the hospital, please visit our web site: www.nemours.org.