(1) A doctoral degree qualifies under 37-17-302(3)(c), MCA, if it is obtained from a school psychology program that is approved by the American Psychological Association.

(2) A doctoral degree qualifies under 37-17-302(3)(c), MCA, if it is obtained from a counseling psychology program that is approved by the American Psychological Association.

(3) If the applicant is applying based on 37-17-302(3)(c), MCA, the applicant's course of studies must meet the minimum standards specified in this rule. The course of studies must be assessed by a board-approved evaluator. The board shall consider, but is not bound by, the recommendation of the board-approved evaluator when determining whether the course of studies meets minimum standards. A fee may be required by the evaluator and shall be paid by the applicant to the evaluator.

(4) A doctorate degree qualifies under 37-17-302(3)(c), MCA, if it is obtained from a psychology program which meets the following criteria:

(a) Training in professional psychology is doctoral training offered in a regionally accredited institution of higher education.

(b) The program, wherever it may be administratively housed, must be clearly identified and labeled as a psychology program. Such a program must specify in pertinent institutional catalogues and brochures its intent to educate and train professional psychologists.

(c) The psychology program must stand as a recognizable, coherent organizational entity within the institution.

(d) There must be a clear authority and primary responsibility for the core and specialty areas whether or not the program cuts across administrative lines.

(e) The program must be an organized sequence of study planned by those responsible for the training program to provide an integrated education experience appropriate to the professional practice of psychology.

(f) There must be an identifiable psychology faculty and a psychologist responsible for the program.

(g) The program must have an identifiable body of students who are matriculated in that program for a degree.

(h) The program must include supervised practicum, internship, field or laboratory training appropriate to the practice of psychology.

(i) The curriculum shall encompass a minimum of three academic years of full-time graduate study with a minimum of one year's residency at the educational institution granting the doctoral degree. In addition to instruction in scientific and professional ethics and standards, research design and methodology, statistics and psychometrics, the core program shall require each student to demonstrate competence in each of the following substantive content areas. This typically will be met by including a minimum of three or more graduate semester hours (five or more graduate quarter hours) in each of these four substantive content areas:

(i) Biological bases of behavior: physiological psychology, comparative psychology, neuropsychology, sensation and perception, psychopharmacology.

(ii) Cognitive-affective bases of behavior: learning, thinking, motivation, emotion.

(iii) Social bases of behavior: social psychology, group processes, organizational and systems theory.

(iv) Individual differences: personality theory, human development, abnormal psychology.

(v) In addition, the person's training program must include: adequate training in psychodiagnosis, psychological assessment and intervention procedures. Training must provide skills which encompass several types of assessment and intervention procedures, rather than being restricted to a single type. The applicant must be familiar with major assessment and intervention techniques and their theoretical bases.

(A) The training program shall include at least 60 quarter hours or 40 semester hours of formal graduate study in psychology. The achievement in each course shall have been satisfactory and the instruction shall have been provided in the regular graduate psychology program of a regionally accredited degree-granting institution. The number of university extension credits that may be credited toward the requirement for the doctoral degree shall not exceed 15 quarter hours (ten semester hours).

(B) Of the 60 quarter hours the doctoral program in psychology shall include at least 45 quarter hours (30 semester hours) of course work clearly designated on the university transcript as a graduate level psychology course, exclusive of practicum and dissertation credits and exclusive of transfer credits. The above 45 quarter-hour credits shall be taken during the period in which the applicant is matriculated in the doctoral program. The doctoral program shall include examination and grading procedures designed to evaluate the degree of mastery of the subject matter by the student.

(C) The major emphasis of the doctoral program shall be in applied areas such as clinical psychology, counseling psychology, school psychology or industrial-organizational psychology. The training also must include a set of coordinated practicum, which total at least three terms (two semesters) in the practicum setting.

(D) Training programs should provide a variety of faculty (staff) role models and be relatively stable (e.g., continuity of funding and staff).

(E) A responsibility which all programs share is to convey to students values of professional ethics and scientific responsibility and integrity. This includes principles of professional ethics with regard to the use of both assessment and intervention techniques and with regard to the confidentiality of interviews and records. Ethical principles such as those pertaining to research with human subjects, extent of obligations to parents and to institutions, and the nature and consequences of the psychologist's concern for human welfare should also be conveyed to students.