Training and Education in Professional Psychology, Vol 19(3), Aug 2025, 178-189; doi:10.1037/tep0000512
To examine accredited program directors’ satisfaction with the American Psychological Association’s (APA) accreditation policies and procedures, including the Standards of Accreditation for Health Service Psychology and to examine value perceptions of holding accreditation, the APA Commission on Accreditation research workgroup developed and administered an Accreditation Value Survey. The Accreditation Value Survey assessed program directors’ views of the importance of APA accreditation, ways in which APA accreditation is associated with program improvement, and the perceived usefulness of and satisfaction with APA accreditation. The Accreditation Value Survey was sent to training directors of all accredited doctoral, internship, and postdoctoral programs. Slightly over one fourth of the training directors began the survey, and more than one fifth completed the items. Respondents’ answers largely noted that APA accreditation serves important functions and that accreditation was useful for their own program’s improvement practices. In addition, respondents were generally satisfied with accreditation practices, processes, and tools. Some benefits of accreditation appeared more salient to internship program directors than to doctoral program directors, as internship directors were more likely, for example, to identify accreditation processes as being beneficial for achieving program aims, improving program climate and training in diversity, and recruiting diverse students and faculty. Finally, some training directors reported that obtaining and maintaining accreditation is arduous and that the accreditation process is more useful than satisfying. In conclusion, the authors suggest that quality improvement strategies should be considered, and future directions for research are identified. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)