Candidates for APA President
Given that there is only so much that an incoming APA president can do during his or her 12-month presidency, state and then discuss the one issue about which you feel passionate and that, therefore, you will pursue with vigor if you are elected.
Explicit designation of psychology as primary in health care.
Achieving this designation in public policy requires identifying opportunities both as a specific agenda and as incidental to other APA activities. The potential outcome:
Inclusion in a wide array of primary-care settings with appropriate reimbursement.
Expanding available intern and postdoctoral positions.
Securing positions specifically for new professionals in integrated behavioral health care.
Expanding behavioral health research funding.
Emphasis in the public education campaign.
Mandates to improve attention to the unique contribution of individual differences and diversity to health and in health-care delivery.
In your opinion, what are the most important contributions of psychology to the education process?
Psychology's strength is its ability to contribute along multiple dimensions to the education process. The broad knowledge base and practical skills represented through our cognitive science and testing/measurement expertise, through our educational, social and developmental psychology, and through our school and clinical psychological practice provide opportunities for important contributions. These range from addressing illiteracy, to violence prevention and creating a safe learning environment; from recognizing various individual "intelligences" to maximize potential for success, to creating curricula which appreciate diversity and individual differences; from improving the valid measurement of what is learned, to facilitating a meaningful learning process.
