Supporting Accreditation for Doctoral Psychology Internship Programs: The APPIC Accreditation Readiness Project

The national shortage of psychology doctoral internship positions, compared to the annual number of internship-ready doctoral students, has historically represented a critical issue for the psychology training community. While this imbalance has largely been ameliorated in recent years, the shortage of accredited positions remains an area of significant concern for the psychology training community. Data from 2018 demonstrate that while there is currently a surplus of available internship positions compared with the number of applicants, there continues to be a shortage of accredited positions. This article provides a summary of Phase II of the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Center's Accreditation Readiness Project, which provided consultative support to 37 psychology internship programs seeking accreditation by the American Psychological Association. A total of 16 participant programs successfully submitted self-studies for accreditation prior to the end of the active project period, and 10 more submitted self-studies following the conclusion of the project. Twenty-three participant programs have since achieved accreditation. The design and outcomes of the project are described.