Division 44 Public Comments to the APA Commission on Accreditation:Promoting Equity, Accountability, and Transparency in Doctoral Psychology Training

Training program accreditation by the American Psychological Association (APA) in doctoral health service psychology (HSP) serves as a critical indicator of basic educational standards and skill proficiencies. HSP training program accreditation standards also require recruitment and retention of diverse groups of students and faculty with marginalized identities. However, the APA Society for the Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity (Division 44) and other stakeholders affiliated with APA have raised con-cerns about potential discrepancies between how APA accreditation standards are represented and how they are enforced. Division 44 and other groups have also raised concerns about (a) potentially biased methods of soliciting feedback from students and faculty, (b) difficulties obtaining information about accredited pro-grams, and (c) a lack of transparency within the accreditation process as it relates to issues of great interest to the public. Thus, in this article, we summarize a series of public comments to the APA Commission on Accreditation submitted on behalf of Division 44 and its allies. We assert that the current accreditation standards and enforcement practices must be improved to (a) enhance public transparency; (b) decrease power imbalances that disincentivize critical feedback from students/trainees, especially among groups of students/trainees from marginalized identities (e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer spectrum; people of color); and (c) provide operational definitions and systematic means of program assessment related to diversity-focused practices of accredited programs. We conclude by summarizing recent positive developments in response to these advocacy efforts.