Psychological Ethical Conduct Asppb: Purpose

Psychological Ethical Conduct

ASPPB: Purpose

The purpose of the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards is the creation and maintenance of a standardized Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology. This has been the purpose of the Boards since the year 1965. It also coordinates cooperative efforts and communication among boards. Other functions include maintaining a Disciplinary Data Bank, the issue of a Certificate of Professional Qualification in Psychology. The ASPPB also creates a platform for the advancement of mobility, encouraging boards to accept the CP! And ASPPB Agreement of Reciprocity. It also maintains the Credentials Verification Program and provides a Score Transfer Services. The Association is also a voice for regulators of psychology practice. The ASPPB is responsible for a number publications aimed at psychology students as well as those who already practice the profession. Academic and private institutions also use these publications for instruction purposes.

Organization and Administration

The ASPPB is organized around member boards, which means that, in all fifty states of the United States, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the 10 provinces of Canada, the psychology boards are members of the ASPPB (Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards, 2012). The Association keeps and maintains a list of contact information for all these member boards.

Administration is the responsibility of the Board of Directors, which consists of seven members. These include a president, past-president, president-elect, secretary/treasurer, and three members-at-large.

The Central Office is in Montgomery, Alabama, where the purpose is to facilitate day-to-day activities for the ASPPB, the Board of Directors, and committees and task forces associated with the Association.

Committees include the Annual Meeting Committee, the Board Administrators/Registrars Committee, the Examination Committee, the Finance and Audit committee, the Item Development Committee, the Midyear Meeting Committee, the Mobility Committee, the Model Act and Regulations Committee, and others.

NRHSPP: Purpose

The National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology (NRHSPP) is a list of service providers in the psychology profession who are licensed and/or certified and operating at an independent practice level in his or her state, province, territory or country. Practitioners on the list are trained and experienced to prevent, consult, assess and treat clients in need of these services.

Whereas the ASPPB therefore provides psychologists and students with informative services, the NRHSPP provides and maintains a list of those already qualified and experienced in the field (National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology, 2012).

The stated vision of the NRHSPP is to "Improve the health of a diverse and global community." Furthermore, the mission of the Register is to provide credentials, promote health service psychologists, provide distinction and value, guide students and those early in their career, enhance the profession's contribution to healthcare, and identify those who are qualified in their field.

One major difference between this entity and the ASPPB is that the latter operates mainly across the United States and countries in its vicinity, whereas the Register's operations occur across the globe.

Specifically, the functions of the Register include providing free access to a database of information such as credentialing and contact information for 11,000 health service psychologists. The Register also includes articles, a list of websites that can be of use and self-help resources for those who can make use of these. The National Register also provides the public with specific information such as qualification and general value indications of individual psychologists.

The Register Report is published online and in print, and the Register uses the social media and other online methods to build stakeholder networks. It also offers free continuing education programs for health service psychologists.

The American Psychological Association has approved the continuing education program for psychologists and its sponsorship by the National Register. To provide effective services to the public, the National Register also monitors healthcare reform and provides information for the role of health service psychologists. It provides effective models for quality services, and advocates the integration of psychology into primary healthcare services.

American Psychological Association

According to its Website, the APA is the largest organization representing psychology in the United States (American Psychological Association, 2012). It includes more than 137,000 members, including researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. The purpose of the APA is to provide benefits to society and improve lives by facilitating the communication and application of psychological knowledge.

In this way, the APA encourages the development and application of psychology. It also promotes research in the field and therefore the improvement of the research methods and applications. Other ways in which the Association improves the understanding and use of knowledge in the field is by means of meetings, contacts, reports, papers, discussion and publication (American Psychological Association, 2012).

The APA is governed by volunteer governance members, who are responsible for the direction of the advocacy, publishing, member service, and other functions of the APA. Specifically, the governance members include a Council of Representatives, whose responsibility includes approving policy and the appropriation of revenues. The Board of Directors is elected by members and administers the functions of the Council of Representatives. The APA president is an annual position that is filled by a person who is elected by the membership. The president provides a leadership contact for the Association. Other ruling parties include committees, boards and task forces with specific functions within the APA. The daily operations of the APA are overseen by senior staff members, who work at the APA's Washington, D.C. headquarters.

The three entities described therefore function in association to advance the field of psychology and provide optimal service delivery to the public. This is done by administering and facilitating excellence among those within the profession.

APA Code of Ethics

The APA Code of Ethics has been established in 1953 in order to provide a guideline for decision-making among professionals in the field of psychologists (American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 3). Psychologists must use this code in conjunction with laws and regulations as divulged by the psychology board.

The main function of the Ethics Code is to ensure a higher standard than strictly required by law. It therefore ensures a standard of excellence when providing psychological services to the public. As such the main purposes of the Ethics Code include ensuring the commitment of psychologists to the increase of scientific and professional knowledge of behavior in the field. It is also to ensure the use of such knowledge to increase people's understanding of themselves and others and to promote this sense of understanding in order to help people function at an optimal level in their daily lives.