What if psychology had a revolution?

VOLUME 30 , NUMBER 7 July/August 1999

PRESIDENT'S COLUMN

By Richard M. Suinn, PhD
APA President

This summer's temperatures have prompted some "heated" thoughts that I'd like to share in hopes they might stir you out of a summer lethargy, as they did me. I've been thinking about revolutionary changes we could promote in the new millennium. Here are a few ideas--some from my own musings, some from others' visions, some reflecting current experimentation, some that may face major existing barriers.

Education: What if...

University programs were separated into an undergraduate college and a graduate college, and perhaps a postdoctoral institute? Each would involve the best faculty whose abilities matched the purposes of that organizational unit. Students would experience the best teachers as undergraduates, the best graduate scholars and supervisors as graduate students and the highest level of training as postdoctorates.

All graduate courses in professional psychology integrated research, hands-on experience, theory and applications, and lecture formats were rarely used? The best skill acquisition comes from such experiential learning.

Terminal master's degrees were not offered? The exception would be programs that can complete training within two years for career goals. Programs would design curriculum requirements and performance criteria that closely relate to career outcomes.

People considering faculty careers were required to acquire the skills essential for success? These include teaching skills, understanding the academic environment, managing funding, organizing research teams and advising. Simply possessing a graduate degree should not automatically qualify a person to teach.

Practice: What if...

Practitioners' offices were located within neighborhoods to give patients easy access to services? Shopping malls have moved to where the people are in order to remove barriers. Surely, psychologists recognize the value of being near their clientele.

Every practitioner routinely offered community consultation to achieve behavioral changes? This involves both a social commitment and a broadening of approaches to intervention.

One-stop shopping for health services became the norm for providing primary and mental health care, crisis management, organizational consultation, and community and family services within one location? Communities are best served where psychologists with diverse expertise and experience can collaborate.

Clinicians could leave one day free for writing, stress release, consultation with peers or continuing education? This might improve the quality of care, reduce the chance of burnout and enhance psychologists' quality of life.

For each patient session, psychologists wrote a detailed treatment plan with targeted goals and a concrete intervention plan? Following each visit, the psychologist would plot some form of outcomes assessment. Through later review, patient progress and factors influencing such progress could be readily identified, and shared through case-study articles--an important way every practitioner can advance the field through offering effectiveness data to go with efficacy studies.

Science: What if...

Researchers formed listserv consortiums to collaborate on data collection? Teams of psychologists from different backgrounds could work together on common research goals.

Journal abstracting services would enable us to retrieve articles on designated topics, and provide a summary analysis of results? A researcher could then have immediate access to references and an indication of the basic findings. Journals could also periodically reprint abstracts of articles grouped by common categories, such as "assessment and treatment of eating disorders" or " workplace stress-outcomes and interventions." This would allow us to see all relevant abstracts in one place, rather than scattered across several issues.

Every graduate student designed and conducted, with a colleague, a research project that tested hypotheses that had basic science and applied implications? By reinforcing the connection between science and application early, we can foster mutual understanding and respect, and joint activity that will be long-lasting.

Journal articles were separated into "research pilot" and "research findings"? Pilot articles would have design limitations, eg., small sample size where statistical significance derives from a large sample size rather than from actual differences. Research findings articles would be those from which conclusions can be appropriately drawn.

Meta-analyses were conducted only on studies that met minimum research standards of quality, such as reasonable sample size, acceptable reliability and validity of instrumentation? Conclusions could, therefore, be offered with confidence.

Changes like these will improve psychology's quality and increase its contributions, making our role in the 21st century as exciting and rewarding as it can and ought to be. Imagining new visions is the beginning.

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