Monitor on Psychology - November 2011 - (Page 49)

people get sick,’” says Diane Elmore, PhD, associate executive director of the Government Relations Office in APA’s Public Interest Directorate. “We’re going to invest money on the front end — on the prevention and wellness side.” The law broadens coverage for preventive screenings and some preventive care, for example. It also created a Prevention and Public Health Fund to support proven preventive and public health programs to tackle such problems as obesity and smoking. Protecting that fund has been an ongoing struggle, says Elmore, as some in Congress have attempted to raid or even repeal the fund. As part of a group of public health associations, other health-related societies and other groups, APA helped fend off those attacks. Preparing psychology’s workforce Not all practitioners want to work in integrated health-care settings, of course. And that’s OK, says Cynthia D. Belar, PhD, executive director of APA’s Education Directorate. Having multiple models of care not only accommodates practitioners’ desires, but also best serves a public that needs access to a wide variety of services. But given the direction the health-care system is moving, says Belar, it’s critical that APA and the rest of the psychology community work to prepare psychologists who can thrive in integrated, prevention-focused health-care settings. “Health-care reform is based on expanding and strengthening the primary-care system,” says Belar. “We need to train psychologists for broader roles in health care than just the traditional mental health services.” To help achieve that goal, APA has established a Primary Care Training Task Force. The task force’s first priority is to determine what psychology training programs are already doing when it comes to preparing students for work in primary care. The group is now analyzing data from a survey of doctoral programs, internship sites and postdoctoral programs. That information will help the group craft recommendations about what APA can do to help ensure future psychologists are prepared to work in a transformed health-care system. APA’s strategic plan already includes continuing-education programs to familiarize psychologists with service in primarycare settings. The Education Directorate is also working with the PatientCentered Primary Care Collaborative. “We have to ensure that the broad range of psychological services are available in the health-care system, that psychologists are seen as an integral part of primary care teams and that people understand that we provide the education and training psychologists need to be able to fulfill those roles,” says Belar. Along with a family physician, Belar co-chairs the collaborative’s Task Force on Education and Training, which is examining the educational needs of both the current and future work force and faculty across multiple disciplines. APA also participated in a Health Education Summit n ov e M b e r 2 0 1 1 • M o n i to r o n p s yc h o l o g y convened by the Carter Center last year. The discussions resulted in a report outlining five “prescriptions” for overhauling the primary-care education system — including more rigorous training in diagnosing and treating mental illness — as a way of fulfilling health-care reform’s potential. APA also continues to advocate for the Graduate Psychology Education program, which prepares psychologists to work with other health-care disciplines. Psychologists visited Capitol Hill to advocate for the program during APA’s Annual Convention and the Education Leadership Conference in September. The Affordable Care Act also expanded training opportunities for psychologists specializing in geriatrics. Before health reform, the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) had three programs for training providers for the aging field, with psychologists eligible for only one. APA and other members of the Eldercare Workforce Alliance pushed to expand eligibility and create new opportunities. As a result, there are now four programs, and psychologists are eligible for three of them. But winning legislatively is only half the battle, says Elmore, explaining that the next step is to make sure psychologists take advantage of the new opportunities. Take the Geriatric Academic Career Awards, which used to be open only to physicians. At HRSA’s request, APA helped draft the request for proposals that went out to psychologists. “We then did a massive outreach to our geropsychology community, saying, ‘We fought to get you all in there and said how relevant you were and how important it was to include you; now you need to apply,’” says Elmore. The result? Psychologist Kristen Sorocco, PhD, of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center became the first psychologist to win the award. Supporting research APA is also helping to shape the priorities of the PatientCentered Outcomes Research Institute established by the Affordable Care Act. The institute is an independent, nonprofit research organization with a mission of helping patients and caregivers make more informed health decisions. The institute will support research on how to effectively prevent, treat and manage health conditions. So far, the institute has issued two calls for comments to help shape its research agenda. The first asked for comments on the institute’s working definition of “patient-centered outcomes research.” APA encouraged psychological scientists to share their input and submitted comments of its own. “We urged the institute to incorporate the behavioral and social aspects of health into the working definition,” says Christine Jamieson, science policy associate in APA’s Science Directorate. APA also urged the institute to support research on such topics as decision-making, behavior change, treatment adherence, patient/provider interactions and cultural differences in health-related beliefs and behaviors. The second call for comments asked for input on the 49

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Monitor on Psychology - November 2011

Monitor on Psychology - November 2011
Letters
President’s Column
Contents
Guest Column
‘Grand Challenges’ offers blueprint for mental health research
Documentary seeks to reach parents of LGBT kids
Treating veterans will cost at least $5 billion by 2020
Selfless volunteering might lengthen your life
Combat and stress up among U.S. military in Afghanistan
South Africa to host international psychology conference
Study uncovers a reason behind sex differences in mental illness
Navy psychologist gives a voice to combat trauma
In Brief
Psychologist suicide
On Your Behalf
Journey back to Heart Mountain
Psychology is key to pain management, report finds
ACT goes international
Judicial Notebook
Random Sample
Time Capsule
Questionnaire
Science Watch
Behavior change in 15-minute sessions?
Health-care reform 2.0
Perspective on Practice
Giving a heads up on concussion
Practice Profile
Searching for meaning
Inspiring young researchers
Aging, with grace
Public Interest
Thank you!
APA News
Division Spotlight
American Psychological Foundation
The man who gave Head Start a start
Personalities

Monitor on Psychology - November 2011