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This article is adapted from "Uganda National Tour", prepared by P. Baguma, 2005, that appeared in Wedding, D., & Stevens, M. J. (Eds.). (2009). Psychology: IUPsyS Global Resource (Edition 2009) [CD-ROM]. International Journal of Psychology, 44 (Suppl. 1).
History
A full-fledged Department of Psychology started in 1975 at Makere University when the Educational Psychology Department merged with the unit of social psychology that was in the Sociology Department. This was the first Department of Psychology in East and Central Africa. The Department has recently become an autonomous Institute. Western oriented psychology is a young discipline in Uganda and has not had much impact yet. Very few Ugandans hold advanced degrees in psychology or are involved in full-time, active research or consultancies. The few psychologists are mainly teaching at the National Universities, institutes, and training colleges.
Research
Psychological research in Uganda takes place mainly in the field. Experimental research is limited due to the lack of laboratories. Psychological social research mainly covers areas of health, industrial, organizational, educational, counseling, child development, and environmental psychology. Psychological services are at a small scale mainly due to the limited number of qualified personnel. A few psychologists are involved in private practice.
Soon the emphasis will be training in clinical and counseling psychology, educational psychology, and industrial psychology.
Education
Training in psychology is mainly for undergraduates and it involves a lot of theory and less practice. Psychological laboratories are unknown; equipment and other facilities are limited.
Training in psychology is mainly done at university. For employment purposes, one needs to take psychology as a major or as a minor degree course. To train in psychology (undergraduate) requires good passes at high school. The department teaches students from science, medical school, social sciences, commerce, librarianship, and education.
Psychology enjoys no legal status in Uganda and employment opportunities are similar to those of other social sciences in general.
Ugandan psychologists do not have a formal code of ethics. It is hoped that once the government recognizes the Uganda National Psychological Association, then a code of conduct will be developed.
Updated August 2005
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