The profession of neuropsychologist in Canada: Findings of a national survey

Abstract

Objective:

The purpose of this study was to investigate the demographic characteristics, academic training and types of professional activities of clinical neuropsychologists in Canada.

Method:

282 participants completed an online-based survey.

Results:

Respondents were women for the most part and had a mean age of 43 years. They typically had doctoral-level training (85%) and about one-quarter had postdoctoral training (23%). Nearly half (47%) had a lifespan practice, over one-third (37%) had an adults-only practice, and about one-sixth (16%) had an exclusively pediatric practice. Most worked full-time (79%). Respondents were almost evenly split three ways between those who worked in the public sector, those who worked in the private sector, and those who worked in both. The most common professional activities related to assessment (95%), although clinical supervision (43%) and rehabilitation (42%) were also quite frequent, whereas research (27%) and teaching (18%) were less so. The most common reason for referral was to determine a diagnosis (79%). Pediatric neuropsychologists worked primarily with individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders and neuropsychologists working with adult populations worked primarily with individuals with emotional disorders, acquired neuropsychological disorders (traumatic brain injury, stroke/vascular), and neurocognitive disorders (dementia).

Conclusions:

At time of study, Canadian neuropsychologists seemed to enjoy a fairly balanced situation: Their level of training and the ratio of neuropsychologists per population were both high. However, these varied widely across Canada. This suggests that the profession and public interest would stand to gain from seeing training standardized to some extent nationwide.

Keywords:

• Clinical neuropsychology
• neuropsychological practice
• professional practice
• culture
• education

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank all Canadian colleagues, all the neuropsychologists who took the time to read and comment on the survey instrument, and also Dr. Stephan Kennepohl and Dr. Arnaud Saj on the revision the manuscript. The authors are also grateful and extend thanks for the cooperation and assistance of the associations and colleges who assisted in distributing invitations to participate in the survey. These include the Ordre des Psychologues du Québec (OPQ), Association Québécoise des Neuropsychologues (AQNP), Ontario Psychological Association (OPA), British Columbia Psychological Association (BCPA), Manitoba Psychological Society (MPS), Association of Psychology in Newfoundland Labrador (APNL), Nova-Scotia Board of Examiners in Psychology (NBEP), Association of Psychologist of Nova-Scotia (APNS), Saskatchewan College of Psychologists (SCP), Psychology Association of Saskatchewan (PAS), Prince Edward Island Psychologist registration board (PEIPRB), Psychological association of Prince Edward Island (PAPEI), Collège des Psychologues du Nouveau-Brunswick (CPNB), and Canadian Psychological Association (CPA). Finally, the authors thank the Canadian neuropsychologists who took time to participate.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes

1 Bill 28 reserves specific activities for certain professionals in the field of human relations, including, among other things, the evaluation of NP disorders, the evaluation of mental disorders, and psychotherapy.

2 The recruitment period was very long because several associations or regulatory bodies\professional orders were slow to respond to us or first refused to participate. Some regulatory bodies or associations had a policy stating that no email distribution of any information or advertising by third parties was allowed and some decided to consult their members or board of directors before agreeing to distribute the survey. In some cases, this took many months.

3 For example, based on online directories, we estimated that 2% (35/1670)of Canadian neuropsychologists were members of the AACN. In our survey (see Table 1B), we obtained a rate of 8% (24/282), compared with 31% (34/111) in Nelson et al. (2021). We similarly estimated that 2% (34/1670) of Canadian neuropsychologists were ABCN board certified. In our survey (see Table 2), we also obtained a rate of 2% (6/282), whereas Nelson et al. (2021) reported a rate of 15% (17/111).

4 Calculated by province (mean income of neuropsychologists in a given province / mean income of typical full-time workers in same province), this ratio was closer to 1.5 in Quebec and closer to 2.5 in the other provinces.

5 It should be noted, however, that in Sweet et al. (2021) the conditions listed were “diagnosis conditions serving as bases for neuropsychological evaluation: top-five ranking”. In our survey, neuropsychologists had to indicate the frequency of assessment of various patient groups, which might explain the high rate of emotional disorders (anxiety, depression) compared with Sweet et al. (2021)”.