Monitor on Psychology - December 2011 - (Page 18)

Treatment guideline now under way on depression and obesity. B Y R EB ECCA A. C LAY development APA’s first treatment guidelines will focus F or APA, developing clinical treatment guidelines is an important way to ensure that psychology maintains its autonomy. “It’s far better for psychology to be in the driver’s seat when it comes to figuring out what guidelines about psychological interventions are needed rather than waiting for someone else to do it,” says Lynn Bufka, PhD, assistant executive director for practice research and policy in APA’s Practice Directorate. APA’s Council of Representatives voted last year for the association to begin developing evidence-based treatment guidelines for the first time. A long-term effort that will involve both practitioners and scientists, the guidelines will offer recommendations for treatment of specific disorders and conditions. The steering committee overseeing the process has decided what topics to tackle first: depressive disorders and obesity. The goal is to produce patient-centered guidelines that are useful to consumers as well as psychologists and other healthcare professionals, says Steven D. Hollon, PhD, the Vanderbilt University psychology professor who chairs the steering committee. “If you’re somebody who’s looking to be a good healthcare consumer, you want to know what your various options are, what kind of empirical support they have behind them and what the pros and cons are, so you can make an educated choice,” says Hollon. APA’s decision to develop guidelines was prompted in part by changes in the health-care system. Health-care reform has brought a growing emphasis on comparing the effectiveness of various treatments. As electronic records are developed, they’re starting to incorporate treatment guidelines to help clinicians think through their decision-making about the best way to help patients. Insurers increasingly look to guidelines as they make coverage decisions. And many organizations — including the Institute of Medicine; federal agencies, such as the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and Department of Veterans Affairs; and professional groups, such as the American Psychiatric Association — have gotten involved in guidelines. “Guidelines have become part of the health-care landscape,” says Howard Kurtzman, PhD, deputy executive director for science in APA’s Science Directorate. “If psychology wants to be part of where health care is going, we have to develop our own guidelines. No one else is going to develop clear and complete guidelines for behavioral and psychosocial treatments.” Kurtzman and Bukfa are members of a team of APA staff Monitor on psychology • DeceMber 2011 18

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

Monitor on Psychology - December 2011
Letters
President’s Column
Contents
From the CEO
Willpower Pioneer Wins $100,000 Grawemeyer Prize
Single-Sex Schooling Called Into Question by Prominent Researchers
Maternal Depression Stunts Childhood Growth, Research Suggests
For Boys, Sharing May Seem Like a Waste of Time
Good News for Postdoc Applicants
In Brief
Treatment Guideline Development Now Under Way
Government Relations Update
Psychologist Named Va Mental Health Chief
The Limits of Eyewitness Testimony
Judicial Notebook
Random Sample
Time Capsule
Deconstructing Suicide
Questionnaire
A Focus on Interdisciplinarity
A Time of ‘Enormous Change’
The Science Behind Team Science
Good Science Requires Good Conflict
A New Paradigm of Care
Speaking of Education
Science Directions
New Labels, New Attitudes?
Psychologist Profile
Early Career Psychology
Unintended Consequences
Better Options for Troubled Teens
Saving Lives, One Organ at a Time
New Journal Editors
APA News
Division Spotlight
Guidelines for the Conduct of President-Elect Nominations and Elections
American Psychological Foundation
Personalities

Monitor on Psychology - December 2011