In Brief
"Enhancing Outcomes in Women's Health: Translating Psychosocial and Behavioral Research into Primary Care, Community Interventions and Health Policy," a conference sponsored by APA, will take place on Feb. 21-23 in Washington, D.C. The conference had been planned for last October but was rescheduled after the Sept. 11 tragedies.
The conference theme is the creation and implementation of multidisciplinary approaches in women's health, particularly those that synthesize psychology and other social and behavioral sciences, medicine, nursing and public health. APA hopes to attract participants from all areas of women's health, including psychologists, psychiatrists, obstetricians, gynecologists, primary-care physicians, nurses, counselors, community health workers, public health educators and other specialists.
The meeting will explore factors that affect women's health across cultures. Some highlights include a panel on emerging models for women's health care and a session that will provide an overview of what researchers have learned from four major national studies on women's health, including a multiethnic cohort study of women transitioning through menopause.
The objectives of the conference are to:
Present evidence-based approaches to women's health that translate psychosocial and behavioral research.
Identify research that critically examines the current systems and structures for health-care delivery to women.
Identify effective psychological and behavioral interventions implemented in women's health-care settings that reduce psychological distress, improve quality of life and improve disease outcomes.
Highlight research that addresses the role of mental health in the risk, onset, course and outcomes of chronic and life-threatening illnesses that affect women.
--R. BALLIE
