Should Master's Level Training to Provide Rural Services Survive?

Despite recent efforts to encourage fede-al funding of psychological services for underserved populations such as the elderly and residents of rural areas, ample evidence suggests that rural areas are underserved by psychologists. Drawing on data from rural and urban areas in Pennsylvania, this raper argues that master's level training can provide a means for filling significant gaps in psychological services, especially in rural areas, which are not currently filled by doctoral-level providers. Despite the profession's opposition to subdoctoral training for practitioners, the National Institute of Mental Health in the mid-1980s supported several master's programs with specific rural training goals, but such funding was terminated by the Reagan Administration. As a consequence, the present trends in both federal policy and the training and licensing of psychologists will lead to a large number of rural areas lacking access to even minimum levels of psychological services. The psychological profession should therefore recognize and support various levels of complementary psychological functions, so that appropriately supervised high quality psychological services could more readily be provided to rural communities. (References are included.) (TE) * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document.