Framework for Competencies for U.S. Psychologists Engaging Internationally

Abstract

Despite some general guidelines, tips, and calls for international engagement, there are no explicit descriptions of competencies for U.S. psychologists engaged in professional work outside of their own country. This article outlines the rationale for developing such competencies needed to engage effectively outside one’s country and proposes broad descriptions of core competencies and specific competencies for teaching, practice, research, and consultation and policy work. This article’s authors are U.S. psychologists and cannot speak from the perspective of psychologists working in other countries; thus, although competencies for engaging internationally may be helpful for psychologists in all countries, this article is explicitly written through the lens of U.S. psychologists and is focused on outlining and describing competencies applicable to U.S. psychologists working internationally ( Altmaier & Hall, 2008 ). Psychologists from other countries may use the framework developed in this article to gauge the extent to which psychology-specific competencies and examples are generalizable to their specific context.