The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Defense Health Agency, Department of Defense, nor the U.S. Government. Neither the Defense Health Agency, any other component of the Department of Defense nor the U.S. government has approved, endorsed, or authorized this product. This internal organizational survey was not categorized as research. These results are also published in The Air Force Psychologist – the Society for Air Force Psychologists’ internal newsletter; Jinkerson 2025. Although the Introduction and Interpretation sections are novel to this article, the Results sections are essentially paraphrases of each other.
Since 2020, ABPP’s Psychologists in Public Service Committee (PPS) has committed itself to increasing board certification across the public sector, extending its historic focus on Veterans Affairs to the Department of Defense (DoD), Bureau of Prisons (BOP), and Public Health Service (USPHS). My connection with PPS came largely through Dr. Leo Caraballo, PsyD, ABPP, who spearheaded two major efforts: 1) a webinar series highlighting the ABPP process and specialties, and 2) the VA Ambassador program, which program seeks to find an “ABPP Ambassador,” who is recognized as a local expert on the board certification process at each VA location.
As I joined the team, we established “Liaisons” to the services, whose roles would be to interface with their respective organizations’ psychology leadership, enhance positive messaging of board certification, and (to the extent possible) roll out Ambassador programs in their organizations mirroring the VA program. Since that time, successful efforts have included expanding the webinar series to target DoD psychologists as well as rolling out the Ambassador program in the Air Force and preparing to do so in the Army. Additionally, positive board certification messaging has been communicated top-down across the branches including at the Navy’s regular All Hands meetings and in several Air Force channels, such as in-house webinars, emails reaching all USAF psychologists, and the Society for Air Force Psychologists’ newsletter. In the Air Force, we have also infused board certification messaging into our three internship sites, through which most of our psychology accessions enter the force. The Army is preparing to make the same efforts at its four internship sites. To date, there are nine Ambassadors in communication with DoD training sites to promote embedding messaging into training.
Results and Responses
The results of our efforts were evident from a recent poll of Air Force psychologists. Air Force psychologists were polled about whether they held ABPP board certification and whether they were interested in pursuing certification in the future. This convenience sample was obtained through advertisement on the private Air Force Psychologist Facebook group and was distributed to all Air Force psychologists in an internal distribution list. The four-question survey was conducted/collected via Google Forms. It was considered organizational study and was not considered research. Using Calculator.Net was used to conduct a power analysis for results generalizability. Setting the population of Air Force psychologists at 270 (the approximate number of Air Force psychologists serving), the survey would need 159 responses for statistical generalizability. We received 41 responses, a 15% response rate. Thus, the response rate did not meet the generalizability threshold, so all results should be considered with that limitation in mind.
Currently Board Certified
Fifty-four percent of Air Force psychologists who responded said they were board certified through ABPP.
Intention to Pursue Board Certification
Twenty-three Air Force psychologists responded to this question. Of these, 78% indicated their intention to pursue board certification. With 23 of 41 overall respondents answering this question, it may be that some board-certified psychologists self-eliminated. Of the 41 overall respondents, 18 did not answer this question, which represents 43% of all respondents. That statistic does appear somewhat close to the 54% of all survey respondents who said they were currently board certified.
Currently Certified: Specialty Board of Choice
Of the 41 survey respondents, 34 indicated which board they are currently certified with. Twelve of these responding psychologists said “None,” leaving 22 responding Air Force psychologists indicating the boards they are currently certified through. Clinical Psychology appeared to be a preferred board.
Future Plan: Specialty Board of Choice
Of the 41 survey respondents, 28 indicated which board they planned to certify with in the future. Six selected “None.” Clinical Psychology appeared to be a preferred board. Organizational & Business may also be notable, though any interpretation is cautious given limitations of generalizability and low absolute numbers (Jinkerson, 2025).
Interpretation and Thoughts
Of the respondents, 54% of Air Force psychologists said they were currently board certified, whereas 78% said they were planning to certify. Given the small sample that did not achieve power for generalizability, these results are likely not generalizable to a full population of Air Force psychologists. When the limited sample is considered, however, it would appear that our efforts are working. A small majority of the responding Air Force psychologists said that they were currently board certified, and a large majority either were currently certified or planned to do so in the future. This suggests that positive board certification messaging is taking root. Messaging has come directly from top levels of USAF Psychology, through the ABPP Webinar Series, and from the Ambassador program. There have been multiple positive stories about the ABPP process in the Society for Air Force Psychologists newsletter, which may also play a part in this observed success. Even with the lower relative numbers, there does appear to be a preference toward the Clinical Psychology board, which is likely to inform our future actions.
In the military, we have a steady influx of Early Career Psychologists, so there is ample time to discuss board certification in the early career stage. By discussing the process early and often as well as sharing our success stories, we are able to move the needle on board certification. If any military psychologists should be considering board certification, they may reach out to Dr. Deering directly at kittydeering@clayton.edu, and Dr. Deering can provide a direct contact at their specialty board of choice. Please direct any questions about this article to me at jeremy.d.jinkerson.mil@health.mil.
| Leo Caraballo, PsyD, ABPP | Former PPS committee member |
| Kate Morris, PsyD, ABPP | Liaison to the USPHS |
| LCDR Marcus VanSickle, PhD, ABPP | Liaison to the Navy |
| LTC Chaska Gomez, PsyD, ABPP | Liaison to the Army |
| LTC Sierra Symonette, PsyD, ABPP, ACC | Liaisons to the Army |
| CAPT Meghan Corso, PsyD, ABPP | Liaison to the USPHS |
| Kate Morris, PsyD, ABPP | Former Liaison to the USPHS |
| Jay Earles, PhD, ABPP | Former Liaison to the Army |
| Samuel James, Ed.D, ABPP | Former PPS Chair |
| Kitty Deering, PhD, ABPP | PPS Chair |
References
Jinkerson, J. D. (in press). ABPP Board Certification Levels and Interest. The Air Force Psychologist.
Jeremy Jinkerson, PhD, ABPP
Board Certified in Behavioral and Cognitive Psychology
Correspondence: jeremy.jinkerson@gmail.com