ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: The specialty o f counseling psychology has come under scrutiny as a result o f recent preoccupation with licensing, credentialing, and third-party payments. A lack o f clarity concerning the nature o f the specialization appears to be shared by psychology in general, counseling psychology in particular, and also the general public. In the present study an occupational analysis o f counseling psychology was conducted to determine what counseling psychologists actually "do, how they feel about it, and how (if at all) the field is changing. The results suggest that counseling psychologists are strongly practice oriented and appear to see themselves as engaged in psychotherapy and traditionally “clinical” activities with a reduced emphasis on vocational, academic, and research-focused behaviors. This finding is particularly true o f the younger respon dents. The results are discussed in terms o f their impli cations for the counseling-clinical distinction and the scientist-practitioner model.
