Quality Assurance

CAPIC has a robust Quality Assurance (QA) program. It starts with our membership criteria and review process by a CAPIC board member, and continues with regular and ongoing program reviews. Compliance with ongoing responsibilities, such as abiding by CAPIC policies and procedures, is also a requirement for CAPIC membership, and is considered part of our Quality Assurance program. A summary of these responsibilities is described further below.

Board Members: Contact the CAPIC Office for internal administrative documentation and assistance for conducting QA reviews. Blank QA forms are also posted further below.

Membership Criteria

CAPIC has adapted the membership criteria for its Internship and Postdoctoral programs from those of the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC). Click on the program type below for its membership criteria:

One significant difference is that CAPIC encourages but does not require stipends for interns at its doctoral internship programs/agencies. CAPIC also requires site visits as part of the application process and explicitly requires comprehensive cultural competency requirements. See the comparison of APPIC and CAPIC Membership criteria.

Membership Application Review Process

As part of the initial application process, a prospective program seeking CAPIC membership submits its application online, thoroughly describing its various programmatic components and needs (e.g. staffing, training, supervision, intern requirements, etc.).

CAPIC also requires the program provide complementary, supporting documentation of its program, including:

CVs of all primary supervisors
Curriculum/Didactic Schedule
Training Manual
Grievance and Due Process Policy
Certificate of Completion
Agency Brochure
Internship Brochure/Information

The CAPIC office conducts a preliminary review of the online application and supplementary documents. When the CAPIC office has determined that these components are accurate and complete, the application is assigned to a CAPIC Board member to review.A site visit is a required part of a program’s application review for CAPIC membership. The CAPIC Board member reviews the online application and then meets with the program’s Director of Training to discuss its program and to assure that the online application accurately reflects its program as it is delivered to interns. If a shortfall is found, CAPIC offers assistance and/or guidance to help the program address it. After a CAPIC Board member has reviewed a prospective program, the review is sent to CAPIC’s Membership Committee and then to the entire Board for discussion, review and when appropriate, approval as a CAPIC program member.While CAPIC Quality Assurance starts with the initial application for CAPIC membership, it continues with periodic and ongoing QA reviews, as described below.

QA Forms (blank):

Rating Sheet (Internship Programs – For both New Applications and Periodic QA Reviews)
Rating Sheet (Postdoc Programs – For both New Applications and Periodic QA Reviews)
Site Visit Form (For both Predoc and Postdoc reviews – New Applications and QA Reviews)
DAP Application Review Form (For Doctoral Academic Program Applications and QA Reviews)
Status Change Request Form (For existing programs, to add a new status or new site)
QA How-To Procedures (For CAPIC Board use only)
QA Site Visit Review Training Presentation (For CAPIC Board use only)
Completed Quality Assurance Site Visit Reports. (For CAPIC Board use only. Maintained by the CAPIC Office).

Active CAPIC Program Members – Ongoing Quality Assurance (QA)

Ongoing Program Responsibilities

Be in compliance with CAPIC Membership Criteria, Polices and Procedures
- Starting with 2018-19, all programs must complete a more detailed self-attestation of their compliance with CAPIC membership criteria, policies and procedures.
- 2020-2021 program attestation: https://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/5120476/Annual-CAPIC-Program-Attestation-2020-2021
Be paid up with one’s annual membership dues.
Keep one’s online profile accurate and up-to-date, including any complementary, supporting documentation.
Be responsive to CAPIC requests for updates, information and/or assistance.
Inform CAPIC of any significant changes to one’s program, including but not limited to:
- Changes in contact info for the internship or postdoctoral primary contact or Director of Training;
  - For Academic programs, changes in the DCT, Registration or CERF contacts;
- Changes in one’s accreditation status;
- Significant changes in a program’s training regimen;
- Changes in the sites where intern services are performed.
Abide by CAPIC online match policies and procedures, including its Offer and Acceptance Policy.
Follow due process procedures when seeking to terminate an internship agreement, including:
- Working first to honor existing agreements (e.g. online matches) when possible.
- Communicating with all parties involved prior to termination (e.g. internship, student, school).
  - Implementing a remediation plan, when appropriate.
- Coming to mutual agreement by all involved parties, when possible.
Cooperate with QA reviews conducted by CAPIC board members or their delegates.
Abide by the determinations of the CAPIC board in QA matters.
Complete annual attestations on (a) the accuracy of your online profile and (b) your compliance with CAPIC membership criteria and policies.

Ongoing QA Reviews:

Annual QA Review and Attestation: After approval as a CAPIC Program member, every program is required to annually update their online profile, including providing the full CV of all licensed psychologist supervisors, current due process documents, didactic program description, and other key educational and procedural aspects of their training program. Every program is also required to separately attest to their continued adherence to CAPIC’s membership criteria, policies and procedures. Online attestation for 2020-2021: https://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/5120476/Annual-CAPIC-Program-Attestation-2020-2021

CAPIC internship and postdoctoral agency programs also annually sign an attestation of the accuracy and completeness of their full profile on our online directory . For CAPIC doctoral internship program members, this also helps ensure that their online profiles are updated for the annual online match process, which begins each Fall and runs through the Spring.

Status Change Review: Existing program members who seek to upgrade their program status (e.g. add a Full-Time program or add a new training site) follow essentially the same procedures as a new application review, although no application fee is required and a site visit is left to the discretion of the CAPIC Board member conducting the review.

As-Needed vs. Periodic QA Site Visits: Policy update (effective 06/02/2018): CAPIC has ceased requiring periodic QA site visits of its programs every five years. Instead, QA site visits of programs are conducted on an as-needed basis, when a violation of CAPIC membership criteria, policy and/or procedure is alleged. When this occurs, a CAPIC Board member is assigned to review the program, contact the relevant parties (e.g. students, supervisors, DCT’s, etc.) to determine the validity of the allegations, and propose actions/steps to address the matter. The board member may, as appropriate, also review the program’s online profile and supplementary documentation, and/or conduct a site visit of the program. If a shortfall or violation is found, CAPIC offers assistance and/or guidance to help the program address it. If appropriate, remedial or disciplinary actions may also be proposed, as described in the Grievance section further below. Documentation of the QA review and/or site visit is maintained by the CAPIC office.

QA reviews and/or site visits may also be conducted at the discretion of the CAPIC board, if other factors warrant it (e.g. significant change in program staffing or training; etc.).

The status of any conducted QA site investigation is reviewed at CAPIC’s quarterly Board meetings. Proposed actions, including remedial ones, are then approved by the CAPIC board and implemented by the CAPIC office.

This quality assurance program is possible only because all members – doctoral academic programs, doctoral internship programs and postdoctoral training programs – are committed to quality training and to actively participating in maintaining it throughout the entire system.

Grievances: Policy update (effective 06/02/2018)

Any party aware of violations of CAPIC membership criteria and/or policies is urged to immediately request compliance by the offending party.

An individual or program (e.g. the DCT or Training Director) is urged to contact the CAPIC Executive Director for violations that remain unresolved after seeking compliance.
Even after contacting CAPIC, compliance and grievance issues should still be resolved through consultation among applicant/intern, internship program, and doctoral academic program DCT, since the primary relationship is between the internship and the doctoral academic program, which has a direct interest in its student’s progress and often also has an ancillary agreement with the internship.

CAPIC will no longer resolve individual Grievances. Instead, CAPIC will continue to address these issues in terms of Quality Assurance (e.g. program compliance with CAPIC membership criteria and/or policies), and will refer a complainant to outside entities for further assistance (e.g. the CA Board of Psychology (BoP)), as appropriate.

Internships remain responsible for properly use its own due process procedures for addressing issues with interns.
A student’s doctoral academic program (e.g. DCT) is expected to serve as the student’s advocate to address and resolve grievance issues, since the doctoral academic program has a direct interest in its student’s progress and often also has an ancillary agreement with the internship program.

Any party aware of violations of CAPIC membership criteria and/or policies is urged to immediately request compliance by the offending party. An individual or program (e.g. the DCT or Training Director) is urged to contact the CAPIC Executive Director for violations that remain unresolved after seeking compliance.

Even after contacting CAPIC, compliance and grievance issues should still be resolved through consultation among applicant/intern, internship program, and doctoral academic program DCT.

Violations of CAPIC membership criteria and/or policies will still be addressed by CAPIC from a Quality Assurance perspective as discussed above and may result in remedial and/or disciplinary actions. Disciplinary actions may include expulsion or exclusion from membership or participation in CAPIC activities.

For example, a violation could result in a student or program being ineligible to participate in future CAPIC matches and/or stipend award programs. A violation by a Program member could also result in its CAPIC membership being revoked.

CAPIC’s quality assurance program is possible only because all members – doctoral academic programs, doctoral internship programs and postdoctoral training programs – are committed to quality training and to actively participating in maintaining it throughout the entire system.