VOLUME 30 , NUMBER 5 May 1999

Women's health is theme of August miniconvention

APA's Public Interest Directorate is cosponsoring a broad array of programming at APA's 1999 Annual Convention in Boston, Aug. 20-24. Below are some highlights.

Special miniconvention

The APA Women's Programs Office, of the Public Interest Directorate, will sponsor a miniconvention on "Critical issues for women in the new millennium: creating an agenda for health and well-being." The miniconvention will provide a unique opportunity to bring together federal agency leaders, practitioners, academics, researchers and advocates to begin to develop such an agenda.

Miniconvention highlights include presentations on women's health, mental health, violence against women, managed care, women in academe; women and ethnic minorities in technology, alternative medicine and lifting women out of poverty, just to name a few.

Other programming on women and psychology

"Women and minorities in APA governance: making a difference" is the Committee on Women in Psychology (CWP) symposium, 10 a.m. Monday, Aug. 22.

CWP will also present its annual Leadership Awards at the Div. 35 (Women) Social Hour. There are two categories of awards: emerging and distinguished leaders. Emerging leaders are psychologists who have received their doctorate within the past 15 years, have made a substantial contribution to women in psychology and show promise of an extensive, influential career. Distinguished leaders are psychologists who have worked for 15 years or more after receiving their doctorate, who have a longstanding influence on women's issues and status and are recognized leaders in their area of expertise.

Aging

APA's Committee on Aging will host the one-hour convention session "Successful aging," with a discussion by Robert L. Kahn, PhD, co-author of the book of the same name. The book was based on the MacArthur Foundation study that showed that lifestyle choices--more than heredity--determine health and vitality.

Disability issues

APA's Committee on Disability Issues in Psychology will co-host with Div. 2 (Teaching) "Psychological services for people with disabilities: survey results, future implications." Discussion will focus on the findings of a recent survey and how they may spur future activities.

Children, youth and families

APA's Committee on Children, Youth and Families (CYF) will co-sponsor with the Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest (BAPPI) the invited address "Conceptual considerations in our understanding of immigrant adolescent girls," chaired by Brian Wilcox, PhD, and presented by Carola Suarez-Orozco, PhD.

APA Task Force on Adolescent Girls: Strengths and Stresses will also present the symposium "Adolescent girls' strengths and stresses: therapeutic and future implications," co-sponsored with APA's Board of Directors, the Div. 29 (Psychotherapy), Div. 35 (Women) and Div. 42 (Independent Practice). Dorothy Cantor, PsyD, will chair the symposium. Included will be presentations on the therapeutic implications of a new look at adolescent girls.

CYF will co-list the symposium, "Serving children and families: changing needs, roles and opportunities," co-sponsored by Div. 37 (Child, Youth and Family Services) the APA Board of Professional Affairs. Presenters will be Deborah Tharinger, PhD, Judith Meyers, PhD, Jan Hughes, PhD, and Annette La Greca, PhD, Luis Vargas, PhD, and Louise Silverstein, PhD. Discussants will be Gary de Carolis, PhD, Ronald Rozensky, PhD and Brian Wilcox, PhD. Robert Friedman, PhD will chair the session.

Lesbian, gay and bisexual concerns

APA's Committee on Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Concerns (CLGBC) will hold an open forum, "Promoting lesbian, gay and bisexual research and the CLGBC Outstanding Achievement Award Presentation." At the session, the committee will report on its activities related to promoting unbiased research on lesbian, gay and bisexual issues in psychology and will seek feedback, as well as make its annual awards presentation.

Ethnic-minority affairs

APA's Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs (CEMA) will sponsor the symposium "Aging in a multicultural world: challenges for psychological research and practice." This one-hour program will focus on cross-cultural perspectives of resilience of elders and will feature a keynote presentation by Mary Starke Harper, PhD, an internationally recognized pioneer in geriatric nursing and clinical psychology. Sandra K. Choney, PhD, will be a discussant. CEMA member Roberto J. Velásquez, PhD, will chair the panel.

In addition, CEMA is co-sponsoring with APA's Committee on International Relations in Psychology (CIRP) "Collaboration between traditional healers and psychologists: South Africa and America," a two-hour symposium that will address issues related to developing cooperative relationships between psychologists and indigenous healers in South Africa, the West Indies and America. Presenters will include Patrick T. Sibaya and R.S. Zubane, of the University of Zululand, the Republic of South Africa; G. Rita Dudley Grant, PhD, of the Virgin Islands; Melinda A. García, PhD of Albuquerque, N.M.; and Sandra K. Choney, PhD, of Okmulgee, Okla. García, 1998 CEMA chair, will chair the symposium.

AIDS and psychology

The Committee on AIDS and Psychology (COPA) will sponsor two sessions at the convention. The first, "Immigrants and HIV," is a symposium chaired by Alex Carballo-Diéguez, PhD, HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies, NYS Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University. Presenters Gail Pendleton, JD, Frank Wong, PhD, Patricia Hawkins, PhD, and Alex Carballo-Diéguez, PhD, will discuss HIV infection among immigrants, especially those who are undocumented. The session will offer a brief overview of laws followed by a presentation of case studies that involve populations labeled as "minority" in the United States. Psychologists can play different roles in this area, providing support, connecting immigrants with community resources, advocating and highlighting in public forums the xenophobia and discriminatory practices underlying much of the current views, treatment and legislation concerning immigrants with HIV.

The committee will also sponsor "The invisible epidemic: mental health consequences of HIV for women," a symposium chaired by Jeannette Ickovics, PhD, Yale University. Speakers will include Kathleen J. Sikkema, PhD, Center for AIDS Intervention Research, Milwaukee, on "Psychosocial factors and intervention issues in AIDS-related bereavement among HIV-infected women"; Cynthia A. Gómez, PhD, Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, University of California at San Francisco, "Sex, drugs and survival: the mental health challenge for HIV+ female injection drug users"; Jan Moore, PhD, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Predictors of adherence to antiretroviral therapy in a cohort of HIV-infected women"; Jeannette Ickovics, PhD, Yale University, "Chronic depressive symptoms hasten mortality and CD4+ lymphocyte decline among women with HIV"; Gina M. Wingood, Emory University, "A safer sex and coping intervention for women living with HIV. Discussant: Margaret Chesney, UCSF.

Urban initiatives

APA's Committee on Urban Initiatives will sponsor a roundtable discussion on psychology and law enforcement, Friday, Aug. 20, 56:50 p.m. It will be chaired by Dorothy M. Tucker, PhD, with participation by Ellen Scrivner, PhD, of the Office of Community Oriented Policing, U.S. Department of Justice. Local police chiefs and psychologists who work with law enforcement will discuss how psychology can help police organizations develop and maintain effective community-policing programs.

The committee will also co-sponsor a symposium with the Public Interest Miniconvention and Div. 9 (Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues) entitled "Lifting women out of poverty: building a positive future," Sunday, Aug. 22, from 34:50 p.m. Dorothy M. Tucker, PhD, will chair the session. Participants are Angela Browne, PhD, Harvard Injury Control Research Center; Julia Scott, National Black Women's Health Project; Heather E. Bullock, PhD, Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee; Barbara Gault, PhD, Institute for Women's Policy Research; and Rita Henley Jensen, a prize-winning investigative reporter. The symposium will explore the impact of poverty on women, current welfare-reform legislation and moving women and their families out of poverty.

Other Public Interest Directorate programming

Among the other highlights is "The importance of violence prevention in early childhood," an invited symposium chaired by Jacquelyn H. Gentry, PhD, and with discussant Mark Ginsberg, PhD. Other speakers are Ross W. Greene, PhD, Amy Hitter, PhD, Myrna B. Shure, PhD, and Dorothy G. Singer, PhD.

APA's Healthy Adolescents Project, funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau's Office of Adolescent Health, has co-sponsored with Div. 43 (Children, Youth and Family) the workshop "Strategies to enhance family communication about sexual health." The workshop will feature "Raising healthy kids: Families talk about sexual health," a production of Media Works, a nonprofit production company. The presenter will be Jeanne Blake, a medical writer and president of Media Works. Missy Fleming, PhD, director of child and adolescent health at the American Medical Association will chair the workshop.

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