Developing proficiency in aviation psychology requires diligence in finding education and training opportunities. Here are some ways to develop skills and cultural competence.
FAA and HIMS offer specialized training and guidelines for psychologists assessing flight personnel. Experiential learning, like flying lessons and listening to air traffic control, boosts cultural competence.
Psychologists and other mental health professionals are key to assessing and treating our aviation populations. Both civilian and military flight crews, air traffic controllers, unmanned aerial systems operators, and pilots must meet medical and mental health requirements to ensure public safety. Providing services to this population requires specialized skills and knowledge to make simultaneous decisions in the context of the individual as well as public safety.
Consequently, these evaluations are high stakes for all involved.and training in what is interchangeably termed clinical aviation psychology, aeromedical psychology, and aerospace psychology. This post provides suggestions to gain professional and cultural competence in the absence of a robust training pipeline in this specialty area. There are excellent aviation museums around the country, as well as routine air shows provided by a number of organizations.
These types of learning opportunities are a good starting point to gain exposure to the occupational demands of flight as well as the psychology of flight personnel. One familiarization flight at the controls of an aircraft is not sufficient to gain cultural competence in working with the aviation population.
However, it does provide a glimpse into the cognitive load, communication skills,, and other skills needed by flight personnel. Additionally, it puts you in a position in which your awareness of your dependence on the pilot for your own personal safety is more profound than when flying as a passenger on a commercial flight. And, contextually, every evaluation that you perform or recommendation that you make that someone is ready to start or return to flying is about people’s safety.
Listening to air traffic control communications also provides a window into the cognitive and emotional functioning necessary for flight duties. Controllers, especially in busy airspace, are juggling multiple aircraft simultaneously in a high-stakes situation, and pilots must constantly adapt to the shifting demands of the airspace and the direction of the controllers.allows you to listen to the radio traffic of many airports and gain an appreciation for the duties, cognitive load, andprovides valuable information for psychologists who are performing evaluations of flight personnel, and it is recommended that any psychologist assessing or treating this population become familiar with these online guides and resources.
The FAA maintains requirements for clinical psychologists and neuropsychologists performing specific evaluations of pilots and air traffic control specialists and routinely provides training for psychologists to meet these requirements. These trainings include:The Tier 2 program provides community psychologists with the training needed to assess ATCS applicants who require additional evaluation following their Tier 1 screening .
Tier 2 assessments are in-person psychological evaluations with stringent requirements such that they can be used by the FAA to make riskThe Human Intervention Motivational Study is not an FAA program, but is a collaborative program of which the FAA is a partner. It is designed to support pilots with a substance or mental health diagnosis. There are two levels of HIMS training for psychologists and neuropsychologists: the Basic Conference and the Advanced Conference.
The Basic Conference provides the necessary education and training for participation in the HIMS program, to include the requirements for the mandated psychological evaluations. The Advanced Conference builds upon the basic training and includes such topics as complex case reviews.annually, which covers a variety of topics relevant to the assessment of flight personnel.
Topics include relevant policy and regulations, assessment,These trainings are required in most cases every three years for psychologists to maintain their status as HIMS/Aviation Psychologists through the FAA. There are journals devoted to medical topics in aviation, and, given its public health and safety significance, many non-aviation-specific journals publish relevant articles.
Two journals that are focused on aeromedical topics areAlthough there are few formal training opportunities outside of the FAA, there has been a systematic increase in relevant conference content across the mental health fields broadly. Finding these sessions requires some diligence, but there are often one or more devoted to aviation at the conferences of large professional mental health organizations. When planning your conference attendance, include these sessions.
For those psychologists serving in the military, the Air Force, Army, and Navy all have formal aeromedical psychology training courses. Military aeromedical training has beenby psychologists and psychiatrists, significantly improving outcomes for both individuals and the organization.
For individuals, flight personnel are twice as likely to be able to continue flying , and for the organization, trained aeromedical professionals make more accurate risk decisions and better streamline the aeromedical decision process, eliminating unnecessary delays that keep flyers out of their aircraft and controllers out of the tower. Assessing and treating high-risk populations requires an advanced standard of professional and cultural competence.
It is up to each individual psychologist performing assessment and treatment of the aviation population to ensure this competence, in an environment where formal training can be hard to come by. Fortunately, it does appear that training opportunities are increasing, though challenges remain and diligence in finding opportunities for yourself continues to be necessary. Carrie H. Kennedy, Ph. D., ABPP is a neuropsychologist with a specialization in military psychology and aeromedical psychology.
An active duty Captain in the U.S. Navy, she has deployed to Cuba and Afghanistan. Self Tests are all about you. Are you outgoing or introverted? Are you a narcissist?
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