A clinical psychology competency framework and measure: the development and initial validation of the Clinical Subscale for the Competencies of Professional Psychology Rating (COPPR) Scales, the COPPR-Clinical

Objective: Evaluation of professional competence is important at all levels of psychology training and practice; however, there is no tool for practitioners to adequately assess professional competencies at the level of area of practice endorsement in clinical psychology. Designed to be used with the Competencies of Professional Psychology Rating (COPPR) Scales, this paper outlines the development and validation of the COPPR-Clinical Subscale (COPPR-Clinical).

Method: Items for the COPPR-Clinical were developed in accordance with the Australian Psychology Accreditation Council’s (APAC) Accreditation Standards (2025), followed by iterative rounds of expert review. Participants included 177 professional psychologists with Australian registration, and the psychometric properties of the COPPR-Clinical were analysed.

Results: Confirmatory factor analysis showed a unidimensional structure of the COPPR-Clinical consistent with the theoretical foundation of APAC Accreditation Standards (2025). Additionally, internal consistency was strong, with evidence of convergent and divergent validity assessed through a structural equation model, and a strong, positive correlation was found between years of professional experience and scores on the COPPR-Clinical.

Conclusions: In conjunction with the COPPR Scales, the COPPR-Clinical offers the assessment of professional competencies for area of practice endorsement in clinical psychology. Together, they have utility to assess the acquisition and development of professional competencies during training, professional practice over the course of a psychologist’s career, and in research contexts.