Practice patterns and medical professional evaluations of prescribing psychologists

The issue of prescriptive authority for psychologists (RxP) remains a controversial topic within psychology and other closely associated medical fields (McGrath, 2010). Despite concerns regarding the competency of prescribing psychologists and about the impact of RxP on professional psychology, limited research exists related to how such providers practice or are perceived by their medical colleagues. The current study aimed to examine three topics. The first topic had to do with how prescribing psychologists are perceived by themselves and by other medical professionals working with these prescribers. The second topic was current practice patterns of prescribing psychologists, with the expectation that those practices will reflect their core psychosocial training. The third topic was an exploration of factors associated with positive perceptions of prescribing psychologists among medical colleagues, and openness to RxP. Two surveys were developed that included forced-choice questions, quantitative estimates, and open-ended questions, one for prescribing psychologists and one for their medical colleagues. Participants were recruited via email and various professional association and state-based listservs. Prescribing psychologists were asked to forward a link to the second survey to medical professionals familiar with their work as prescribers. The responses of 30 prescribing psychologists and 24 of their medical colleagues were analyzed. Results suggested that the work of prescribing psychologists was viewed favorably by both prescribing psychologists themselves and their medical colleagues. The prediction that prescribing psychologists' practices would still consist primarily of psychotherapy was not supported. Further, perceptions of psychologist prescribers were largely favorable regardless of length of time working with the psychologist, type of medical professional responding, and frequency of interaction. Study conclusions, limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.