Programs aim to attract minorities to psychology

Last spring, psychology faculty at Harry S. Truman College in Chicago--a community college with a multiethnic student body--introduced a biopsychology course that covers everything from the physiology of stress to behavioral genetics.

In Miami, minority undergraduate students from local institutions are entering 10-week summer research programs, where they work with mentors in the fields of biomedicine and psychology. Such programs are ap-pearing across the country as part of a nationwide strategy to en-large the number of ethnic-minority students, from the middle school through undergraduate levels, who want to pursue careers in the field of biomedical research in psychology.

The efforts are part of a three-year project spearheaded by APA's Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs under a $790,000 grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIMGS). Fifteen schools, including research institutions, four-year liberal arts colleges and community colleges, are participants in the project. Representatives from those schools gathered Dec. 11­13 in Washington, D.C., to share their progress in attracting ethnic-minority students into biomedical research in psychology.

The ethnic-minority affairs office launched the program in 1996 in response to the underrepresentation of ethnic-minority students at the graduate level. According to APA, ethnic-minority students account for 24 percent of college entrants, but only 16 percent of those graduating with a bachelor's degree in psychology, 14 percent of those entering graduate school in psychology, 12 percent of those receiving master's degrees in psychology and 9 percent of those earning their doctorate.

Yet biomedicine drastically needs minority researchers in psychology, especially because of the significant rise in the nation's ethnic population, project participants say. Those researchers, for example, can help identify the specific medical and psychological needs of underserved ethnic populations and develop culturally appropriate treatments for those groups.

To interest ethnic-minority students in biomedical research careers, and to help them actually complete their degrees, project participants are trying out such strategies as:

* Encouraging faculty to serve as mentors for students interested in biomedical research.

* Providing laboratory, clinical and community research experiences for students interested in biomedical research.

* Improving curricula at four-year and community colleges so that students get a strong exposure to biomedical sciences and career options in the biomedical field.

* Developing guidance and social support programs for ethnic-minority trainees.

* Promoting biomedical research to ethnic students at the middle-school level.

Bertha Holliday, PhD, who heads APA's Office on Ethnic Minority Affairs and serves as project director, is optimistic about the program's successes so far. "What we're seeing are different institutions with very different missions really coming to understand the real importance of collaborating to meet our goals," she said after the December meeting. "This whole notion of inter-institutional collaboration is going to be the hallmark of the program."

Under the project, the participating schools have been divided up into five regional centers: Eastern, Midwest, Southeast, Western and Rocky Mountain. Each region is exploring ways to improve its efforts at minority recruitment and retention. Participants will eventually share what they've learned with other institutions around the country. And representatives from regional centers also hope to obtain grants to continue their projects once the NIMGS-funded project is complete.

--S. Sleek

For more information about the project, contact APA's Office of Ethnic-Minority Affairs at the APA address, (202) 336-6029.



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