Global Promise: Quality Assurance and Accountability in Professional Psychology

Book excerpt: Psychology has become a global profession. Professionals are now readily able to practice in geographic areas far from where they were trained. In practice, psychology has a social contract with the public to promote human and societal welfare, all the while responsible for the constant upkeep of systems that promote, maintain, and demand quality from health care professionals. In Global Promise: Quality Assurance and Accountability in Professional Psychology, editors Judy E. Hall and Elizabeth M. Altmaier examine the tools needed for evaluating the crucial components of quality assurance- education, training, accreditation and designation, licensing and credentialing, ethics, mobility, and continuing professional development- from an international perspective, with a specific focus on practices in the United States, Canada, the European Union, Latin America, Australia, and The Netherlands and vignettes on the United Kingdom, China and South Africa. An international team of contributors synthesizes the progress made in implementing quality assurance mechanisms across the globe and offers diverse perspectives as to how the wider international community can promote quality and mobility. With an eye toward the future of psychology as well as on the systems that will support it, Global Promise is required reading for universities, regulatory bodies, professional associations, professionals and students.