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TURKISH PSYCHOLOGISTS SOCIETY
ACTIVITY REPORT OF EDUCATION COMMISSION
(1997-98 season)

by Aslı Çiltaş


In accordance with the society's aim to improve the services provided to the public by the psychologists, the Turkish Psychologists Society offers to his members a series of educational programs since 1994 which include various courses, workshops and seminars. The aims of these continuos educational services are:

  1. To refresh the knowledge and the skill of their colleagues who had graduated long time ago.
  2. To prepare seminars and workshops for their colleagues to inform them about the new advances in the field.
  3. To give certificates (approved by authorities) to those who apply certain test and act as consultants.
  4. In addition to Ankara, İstanbul and İzmir to provide the accelerated and intensified courses in other cities as well to help the colleagues who live there.
  5. To prepare seminars, conferences and educational programs in psychology for the benefit of the public.


İhsan Dağ, current chair of Turkish Psychologists Society
Another service is "International Scientific Studies." As an example to this one can mention two workshops on "Clinical Neuropsychological Tests" for children and adults prepared by doctor Brenda Townes, who is a visiting academician in Boğaziçi University. Similar workshops on traffics psychology, group psychotherapies and cognitive behaviorist therapy are offered.

24 courses and 11 workshops are prepared in the years between 1997 and 1998. These have been attended by 496 colleagues and 353 of them are given a certificate or a document of attendance. Some of the courses are still going on. 23 academicians and experts in psychology and 15 colleagues have contributed on these continuous educational programs.

A 1997 Survey related to courses with the aim of profiling the members (N=49) verified that the mean of satisfaction is 5,9 out of 7 and that none of the courses had been evaluated as lower than 4.

The courses do not only satisfy the needs of the members but also provide a qualitative control mechanism. The aim here is to catch up with the standards set in European and other developed countries by the colleagues and to get an international recognition for the educational efforts.

The evaluation forms filled at the end of the courses, show that a great majority of the participants say that they have benefit it from the courses. They further claim that those courses gave them an opportunity to review their knowledge on the subject material and provided a self-confidence to those participated. Moreover, it helped to establish a contact among the psychologists working at different hospitals and to learn more about various institutions, thus providing a vocational communication. They also became aware of the fact that the problems they encounter are common to most and that it is worthwhile to get a solution together.

The aim of all these courses, if we want to summarize, is to increase the sensitiveness of the psychologist who work for the mental health of the public and to increase the quality of the psychological service by training and educating the psychologists as well.

To give an example, on the days 21st-25th of September 1998 Turkish Psychologists Society organized the seminars for their colleagues in the Eastern and South-eastern region of Anatolia under the headings:

  • Health Psychology by 'Doç. Dr. Ülgen Okyayuz, Ankara Üniv. Psikiyatri.
  • Psychological Services in general hospital environment by 'Psk. Dilek Gürel Küçükbayır, Ankara Hst'.
  • Ethical Principles and Professional Role Definition by
    • 'Dr. Necdet Öztan, Bilkent Üniv. - ODTÜ Psikoloji Böl.'
    • 'Doç Dr. Nilhan Sezgin, Ankara Üniv.'
  • Programs for Adult Evaluation by
    • 'Prof. Dr. Perin Yolaç, Hacet Üniv. Tıp Fak. Psikiyatri.'
    • 'Doç. Dr. İhsan Dağ, Hacettepe Üniv. Psikkoloji Böl.'
    • 'Dr. Elif Kabakçı, Hacettepe Üniv. Tıp. Fak. Psikiyatri'
    • 'Dr. Nadret Öztan, Bilkent Üniv. - ODTÜ Psikoloji.'
    • 'Doç Dr. Cengiz Kılıç, Hacet Üniv. Tıp Fak. Psikiyatri.'
    • 'Psk. Bahar Baştuğ, Ankara Numune Hast. Psikiyatri.'
    • 'Psk. Songül Bozkurt, Ankara Numune Hast. Psikiyatri.'
  • Programs for Adult Psychopathology by
    • 'Prof. Dr. Işık Savaşır, Hacet. Üniv. Tıp Fak. Psikiyatri.'
    • 'Prof. Dr. Perin Yolaç, Hacet Üniv. Tıp Fak. Psikiyatri.'
    • 'Prof. Dr. Nesrin Şahin, Ankara Üniv. DTCF Psikoloji Böl.'
    • 'Doç. Dr. Ceylan Tuğrul, Psk. Değerlendirme ve Tedavi Mer.'
    • 'Dr. Mehmet Akif Sayılgan, Psk. Değerlendirme ve Tdv. Mer.'
    • 'Dr. Elif Kabakçı, Hacettepe Üniv. Tıp. Fak. Psikiyatri'
  • Programs for Children Evaluation by
    • 'Doç. Dr. Neşe Erol, Ank. Üniv. Tıp Fak. Çocuk Psikiyatri.'
    • 'Doç. Dr. Melda Akçakın, Ank. Üniv. Tıp Fak. Çocuk Psktr.'
    • 'Dr. Gülsen Erden, Ank. Üniv. Tıp Fak. Çocuk Psktr.'
  • Programs for Children Psychopathology by
    • 'Prof. Dr. Ayşe Yalın, Ank. Üniv. Tıp Fak. Çocuk Psktr.'
    • 'Doç. Dr. Neşe Erol, Ank. Üniv. Tıp Fak. Çocuk Psikiyatri.'
    • 'Doç. Dr. Melda Akçakın, Ank. Üniv. Tıp Fak. Çocuk Psktr.'
    • 'Dr. Gülsen Erden, Ank. Üniv. Tıp Fak. Çocuk Psktr.'
    • 'Uzm. Psk. Şeniz Özusta Düzen, Hacet. Üniv. Tıp Fak. Çocuk. Psktr'