Clinical Child Psychology

The clinical child psychology track is devoted to training graduate students to provide clinical services and conduct research with children, adolescents, and families. Child-related courses include child psychopathology, child and adolescent assessment, child and adolescent therapy, developmental psychology, family therapy and seminars in school-based interventions and disruptive behavior disorders. In addition, students in the child track receive clinical training in evidence-based assessment and intervention techniques for children, adolescents, and families in the context of the Ohio University Psychology and Social Work Clinic. Child-focused traineeship sites provide experiential training opportunities that prepare students for research and practice in an interdisciplinary climate. Traineeship sites include schools, community mental health centers, residential treatment centers, and medical hospitals. These advanced clinical training opportunities help students develop the competencies necessary for interdisciplinary assessment, consultation, collaboration, and coordination of service delivery.

Many of the clinical child faculty members are engaged in research associated with intervention design and outcome evaluation. Faculty research interests include school-based mental health programming, violence prevention, ADHD children’s self-perceptions, internalizing and externalizing disorders, dual diagnoses, family-related issues and sexual abuse. Specific areas of research are listed below.

Faculty

• Steven W. Evans, Ph.D., Case Western Reserve University (1990),
  Professor – Research interests include evidence-based assessment and treatment of adolescents with ADHD.
   
• Christine Gidycz, Ph.D., Kent State University (1988),
  Professor and Director of Clinical Training - Research interests include the design and evaluation of interventions for the prevention of sexual assault, risk factors for sexual victimization and aggression, and correlates of trauma in sexual assault survivors.
   
• John McNamara, Ph.D., University of Georgia (1971),
  Professor - Research interests include the design and evaluation of behavioral interventions for child and adult disorders, ethical issues in the practice of psychotherapy, instruments for assessing the consequences of partner abuse.
   
• Julie Owens, Ph.D., Purdue University (2001),
  Associate Professor - Research interests include examining the effectiveness and feasibility of implementing evidence-based interventions for disruptive behavior disorders in the context of school-based mental health programs, the effects of integrated, interdisciplinary care in rural communities, and self-perceptions and attributions in ADHD children.