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Eligibility criteria to take the AACP Board Certification in Community and Public Psychiatry exam:

A. Completion of a psychiatry residency training program that is accredited by the ACGME.

AND

B. One of the two options below.

1. Completion of ten or more months of a psychiatric fellowship program in public, community, or community service psychiatry with intent to complete the program*

2. Work in a public or community psychiatry setting for at least one year**.

*We encourage fellows to take the exam in May or June of their fellowship year. Approved fellowship programs are at least 11 months in duration and provide education, supervision, clinical, research or administrative opportunities in public or community psychiatry. For a reference of approved fellowships, please click here or contact Dr. Jules Ranz if you have completed a public psychiatry fellowship described as above and the program is not on the list.

**Public or community settings are those in which the majority of funding is derived from public funds such as Medicaid, Medicare, grant funding, government funds or non-profit organizational funding. Work may include clinical, administrative, educational or research activities in public psychiatry. Services primarily funded by private fees or private insurance do NOT qualify as public or community setting.

1. Applicants may register to take the exam by emailing Frances Bell.

2. Your membership status will be verified and you will be emailed an attestation form.

3. Submit Payment. The exam fee for AAPC members for 2021 is $50. For non members, the exam fee is $250

   • Members can pay here

   • Non members can pay here

4. Return the attestation form, requested references, and proof of payment to Frances Bell.

5. You will receive an access code and a link to the exam.

Prevention & Population Health Approaches

1. Historical Foundations

2. Effective Leadership Practices

3. Administration & Financing

4. Integrated & culturally sensitive care ( eg: Integrated Dual Disorder Treatment, Primary Care Behavioral Health Integration, psychosocial interventions, biologically based interventions)

5. Program Development in Public Behavioral Health Systems

6. Engagement Practices & Recovery Oriented Care

7. Services for Special Populations: (eg: child and adolescent psychiatry, individuals experiencing homelessness, rural psychiatry, individuals with criminal justice involvement, services for LGBTQ individuals)

8. Trauma Informed Care, Trauma, & Disaster Response

9. Professional Ethics & Advocacy

10. Evaluation Methods and System Analysis

Most questions based on articles are derived from abstract level content from the journal articles listed.

Yes! Please find it here.

Background: The American Association of Community Psychiatrists developed and validated a certification exam in community psychiatry as part of a larger effort aimed at certification in community and public psychiatry. This process formalizes the knowledge necessary to practice community psychiatry, supports community and public psychiatry fellowships and builds training interest in the field.

Methods: The scholarship and training committee of the AACP board of directors contacted experts in the field to write questions in each of 10 domains in community psychiatry. 37 experts developed 259 questions which were revised according to guidelines established in the field of psychometrics as well as for clarity. The exam was then piloted with 73 examinees consisting of 25 experts, 36 early career community psychiatrists, and 12 PGY4 residents who were contacted through AACP and public psychiatry fellowship alumni list serves as well as residency training directors. The test was uploaded on an online platform and made available to examinees through a secure link. Test statistics based on classical test theory were used to determine (1) how well the item discriminated between experts and PGY4 residents as well as high and low achieving early career psychiatrists and (2) the difficulty of the items for the entire sample as well as each group of examinees. A passing score was decided upon using the Contrasting Group method (Nedelsy, 1954) to determine the intersecting point between the three groups' performance.

Results: Each item was reviewed to determine its functioning. Items whose difficulty statistic fell at or below chance level (.25) or greater than .90 were eliminated, and items that poorly discriminated between experts and PGY4 residents or within the candidate group were eliminated. Overall 124 items were discarded leaving 135 items. An ANOVA demonstrated the performance of the three groups was different [F (4, 300) = 27.404, p<0.001] with experts and early career psychiatrists performing better than PGY4 residents. Reliability was satisfactory (alpha=.88). All of the members of the expert group passed, as did 67% of the early career psychiatrists. In the PGY4 group 33% passed.

Conclusions: These results suggest public psychiatrists have skills and knowledge distinct from novices. Test development is inherently iterative and additional field tests are needed with more examinees representing the plurality of psychiatry to fully establish the test's validity.