American Mental Health Counseling Association (AMHCA) members' perceptions regarding non -medical mental health professionals' training needs and prescriptive privileges in the area of psychopharmacology

Purpose and design of the study. A national sample of 1000 AMHCA members were selected as subjects of this study since they form one of the categories of Non-Medical Mental Health Professionals (NMMHPs). "The Scovel Survey of Perceptions of Prescription Privileges and Training Needs for the Non-Medical Mental Health Professional" was developed by the researcher and sent to 1000 AMHCA members with a 41% return rate (N = 410). The purpose of this exploratory study was to elicit perceptions regarding training needs and perceptions about obtaining independent and dependent prescription privileges. Items were included to delineate selected characteristics of AMHCA members currently practicing in the field of mental health counseling. Frequencies, percentages, cross-tabs and logistic regression methods were used to analyze the data.;Results. Logistic regression was run to identify the effects of selected characteristics on AMHCA members' perceptions regarding NMMHPs receiving independent and dependent prescriptive privileges. The two most significant characteristics relative to agreement with dependent and/or independent prescriptive privilege were age and years of experience. Cross-tabs were used to address questions of relationship of training to obtaining prescriptive privileges; revealing a strong emphasis on the necessity for training prior to attainment of prescriptive privileges.;There were 240 (58.5%) of the participants who disagreed that the NMMHP should obtain independent prescription privilege and 168 (41%) who agreed. There were 262 (63.9%) of the participants who agreed that the NMMHP should obtain dependent prescription privilege and 146 (35.6%) who disagreed. Over 90% of the participants agreed that basic psychopharmacological education is necessary for the NMMHP to attain in order to accurately refer clients to medical doctors for psychotropics when necessary. Over 90% of the participants believed that the psychopharmacological training should be part of the required curricular core. Consistent with their belief in training, 65% indicated they would seek supervision necessary to utilize prescription privilege and 68% said they would be willing to participate in professional development aimed at enhancing their understanding of prescriptive privilege.;Summary. Mental health counselors are one of the groups of NMMHPs who heretofore have not been the focus of study concerning psychopharmacology and training needs. It is hoped that this study will serve to motivate training programs to broaden curricular experiences in the area of psychopharmacological training and provide a springboard for further research in this area.