Scholarship helps provide memory assessment service

November 12, 2007

The generosity of the New England Credit Union management and staff has enabled the establishment of a PhD scholarship that will help to provide a memory assessment service for people living in the New England region.

The three-year scholarship, which is jointly funded by the New England Credit Union and the New England Division of General Practice, is for a student in the University of New England's new PhD in Clinical Psychology program. The recipient will conduct the memory assessment service within the UNE Psychology Clinic under the supervision of Clinic staff.

Dr Barbara Visser, the Coordinator of the UNE Psychology Clinic, said it was "very pleasing to be able to add this vital service to the range of services already offered to the region by the Clinic".

The inaugural recipient of the New England Credit Union Memory Assessment Program Postgraduate Scholarship in Clinical Psychology is Katrina Leonard, who is in the second year of the four-year PhD in Clinical Psychology program.

While memory assessment services have been available in the region on a "fee-for-service" basis, a shortage of clinical psychologists with experience in doing the specialised neuropsychological assessments has meant that such services have not been available on a continuous basis.

Associate Professor Nigel Marsh, the Course Coordinator of the postgraduate clinical psychology training program at UNE and supervising clinical psychologist for the Memory Assessment Clinic, said that the Memory Assessment Clinic service would "enhance the already comprehensive approach offered by the New England Primary Dementia Care Network’s memory assessment program and support services".

"The provision of this service through the awarding of a postgraduate scholarship in clinical psychology has a number of advantages over a 'fee-for-service' model," Dr Marsh added. "It guarantees continuity of service provision and, through its presence in the UNE Psychology Clinic, will encourage other students in UNE's postgraduate clinical psychology training program to consider a career in working with older adults. There is also the obvious benefit of the specialised training made available to the intern clinical psychologist who is awarded the scholarship."

The PhD in Clinical Psychology is a new professional research degree being offered by UNE. It combines postgraduate professional training in clinical psychology with the research training typical of a PhD program.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at November 12, 2007 05:26 PM