American Psychological Association Office on AIDS

Past, Present, and Planned Activities from 1987 - 1997. The AIDS Office provides information, training, and technical assistance on a wide range of HIV/AIDS-related topics pertaining to behavioral research, mental health services, ethics, networking, and educational resources. Informational and educational materials on behavioral aspects of HIV/AIDS are created and updated on an ongoing basis to reflect new knowledge and developments in the field.
The Task Force on Psychology and AIDS was created by the American Psychological Association (APA) Board of Directors on the recommendation of the Board of Social and Ethical Responsibility for Psychology (BSERP). The initial goal of the Task Force was to assess the implications of the AIDS epidemic for mental health services and behavioral research and to formulate APA's organizational responses to emerging health and mental health care needs. In June of 1987, the Office on AIDS was established as a part of the Public Interest Directorate to provide administrative support for Task Force activities.

The Task Force fulfilled its original charge and in November 1989 submitted a Final Report to the Board of Directors. This report included an impressive list of APA accomplishments in the areas of HIV-related science, practice, education, training, publications and advocacy. The report also included the Task Force recommendation that oversight responsibility for HIV-related activities within the association be assigned to a seven member panel of HIV/AIDS experts, the Ad Hoc Committee on Psychology and AIDS (COPA).

In August 1990, the Board of Directors and the APA Council of Representatives approved funding for COPA for three years. COPA was charged with the following responsibilities: a) provide policy direction and oversight for current APA activities related to AIDS; b) advise APA Office on HIV/AIDS staff and establish liaisons with governance groups regarding HIV/AIDS issues; and c) formulate new APA initiatives to meet the continually changing challenges posed by the epidemic. At its August 1993 meeting the Council of Representatives reauthorized COPA for five additional years.

Mission and Function of the APA Office on AIDS

The primary mission of the APA Office on AIDS is to sustain psychology's nationwide leadership in the ongoing pursuit of the following objectives: (1) to educate psychologists and society at large on the various and unique roles psychology can contribute to the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic; (2) to encourage and support psychologists in their efforts toward eliminating the epidemic through effective strategies of preventive education and intervention; (3) to stimulate behavioral research in a variety of areas associated with HIV prevention and mental health services for persons affected by HIV/AIDS; (4) to facilitate linkages between APA, behavioral researchers, medical researchers and community-based organizations for the purpose of coordinating and improving HIV-related research and mental health services; (5) to create HIV/AIDS educational resources for dissemination to APA members and the public; and 6) to provide guidance and direction for APA HIV/AIDS advocacy activities at federal, state and local levels.

The APA Office on AIDS provides information, training, and technical assistance on a wide range of HIV/AIDS-related topics pertaining to behavioral research, mental health services, ethics, networking and educational resources. Informational and educational materials on behavioral aspects of HIV/AIDS are created and updated on an ongoing basis to reflect new knowledge and developments in the field. Office on AIDS staff obtain emerging research findings from the field and network with HIV/AIDS experts in psychology through routine contact with APA divisions, governance committees, and various organizational structures of the APA central office. Networking with the field is further enhanced through the use of a wide variety of interactive information and database systems.

Routine Activities

Support Activities of the Committee on Psychology and AIDS (COPA)
Office on AIDS staff provide administrative support for the seven-member Committee on Psychology and AIDS (COPA). Administrative functions include: preparing briefing materials and agenda books for committee meetings; coordinating the exchange and review of materials between meetings; coordinating special projects initiated by COPA and providing status reports on pending projects; communicating with liaisons and monitors to COPA; arranging meetings with other APA committees, APA staff, federal agency personnel, and others as requested by COPA; providing logistical and technical support for committee meetings.

Maintain AIDS Resource Network Database
The AIDS Resource Network provides information and referral services for members interested in AIDS issues. The Network database now holds information on more than 2,000 mental health professionals who have an interest and expertise in AIDS issues. The Network file is updated continually and can be searched by area of practice expertise, research interests, geographic location, occupation and other variables.

Publish Psychology & AIDS Exchange Newsletter
The Psychology & AIDS Exchange newsletter was first issued in January 1990. Distributed quarterly to AIDS Resource Network members, it is designed to keep them informed of APA AIDS activities and to serve as an information exchange on new developments in the field. Each issue contains summaries of recent research issues relevant to practitioners, updates on HIV/AIDS advocacy issues, new publications and scheduled trainings and updates on COPA and Office on AIDS activities.

Respond to Requests and Inquiries
Office on AIDS staff respond to questions about HIV/AIDS received from APA members, other mental health researchers, practitioners and the media. Staff routinely provide information, training and technical assistance in the areas of behavioral research, mental health services, ethics, networking and resources pertaining to HIV/AIDS.

Maintain Resource Files and Affiliations
The Office on AIDS subscribes to numerous professional publications on HIV/AIDS and it maintains a resource library containing books, articles and major governmental reports on HIV/AIDS. Through the Office on AIDS, the APA maintains contact with national HIV/AIDS coalitions as well as numerous state and local AIDS service organizations.

Produce APA Convention Programs on HIV/AIDS
The Office on AIDS organizes, coordinates and sponsors a wide variety of HIV/AIDS symposia, workshops and networking sessions at the annual APA convention. In 1993, the Public Interest Directorate and the Office on AIDS sponsored a miniconvention on AIDS Mental Health Services that featured 55 hours of specialized programming, including a dinner symposium on AIDS Mental Health Services Research funded by the National Institute of Mental Health.

Support Public Communication Initiatives
The Office on AIDS routinely collaborates with the APA Communications Office to increase and improve media coverage of HIV/AIDS-related issues. Efforts in this area focus on communication to members through various APA publications as well as communication to the public through interaction with members of the media who routinely inquire about HIV/AIDS issues.

Legislation and Public Policy
The APA Office on AIDS collaborates with the APA Public Policy Office to develop national policy on HIV/AIDS, behavioral science and mental health service delivery. Information pertaining to HIV/AIDS advocacy issues are routinely developed and distributed to APA members, members of Congress and federal agency officials.

Projects Funded by Federal Grants and Contracts

AIDS Community Training (ACT) Project 1988 - 1991
Supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (Training Grant # NIMH-ES-87-0008, 1989-1991) at the rate of $250,000 per year, this three-year project was designed to train health and mental health service providers on psychosocial aspects of AIDS and HIV-related disorders. Project staff and consultant faculty conducted training conferences in 12 medium-sized cities where numbers of AIDS cases were increasing and uncoordinated AIDS-related services were struggling to meet growing needs. In addition to its training function, the ACT Project was designed to encourage the development of linkages among AIDS-related service organizations and individual service providers in order to foster comprehensive service systems and continuity of care.

Beginning in early 1990, the ACT conferences included a one-day skills-building symposium developed by and for people of color. This program significantly expanded the involvement of ethnic minority persons in ACT Project training and it contributed to the development of more comprehensive and better coordinated AIDS services for ethnic minority communities in the areas where conferences were held.

HIV Office for Psychology Education (HOPE) Program 1991-1997
The (HOPE) Program, originally funded in October 1991 by a $200,000 per year, three-year contract with the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) (Contract # 280-91-0009), created and pilot tested seven, seven-hour continuing education curricula on effective delivery of mental health services for people infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS. Over 230 psychologists were trained and certified to deliver these seven standard curricula at local continuing education programs for psychologists in their area. By the end of the three-year project in October 1994, over 4000 psychologists participated in these highly interactive trainings.

A new $150,000 per year, three-year contract with CMHS began in January 1995. The new contract builds on the accomplishments of the HOPE Program and will involve the following components:

Ethics Workshop Curriculum: Contract staff will convene a panel of experts and develop a curriculum on ethical issues involved in mental health service delivery for persons infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS. The curriculum will reflect a balance of male and female perspectives, as well as the diverse cultural, ethnic and sexual diversity of those affected by HIV/AIDS. It will be in a format that can be shared by the full range of mental health services professionals.

Survey of Graduate Psychology Programs: Contract staff will conduct a nationwide needs assessment survey that will focus on assessing the extent and nature of HIV/AIDS-related training activities at APA-approved graduate schools, professional schools and internships in psychology. Data collected from the needs-assessment survey will aid in the development of the stand alone semester-length Psychology and HIV/AIDS Course Curriculum addressing the clinical aspects of working with people affected by and living with HIV disease as well as the development of the Instructional Guide for Faculty on HIV/AIDS.

Graduate Faculty Instructional Guide: Contract staff will develop an Instructional Guide addressing three major formats for education: graduate programs, professional schools and internships. The guide will be made available to graduate faculty and will support the development of a nationwide program of graduate education to train psychology faculty to organize and present HIV/AIDS topics in existing courses.

Graduate Course on Psychology and AIDS: Program staff will developa model graduate level curriculum for a semester length course on the clinical aspects of treating people affected by and living with HIV/AIDS. In addition to an overview of the medical, neuropsychological, psychosocial, psychotherapeutic, ethical and practitioner issues pertaining to mental health services for people with HIV/AIDS, the course will address clinical and attitudinal issues involved in working with specific groups of HIV-infected individuals including: (1) gay men, (2) women, (3) children and adolescents, (4) communities of color, (5) persons who are seriously and persistently mentally ill, and (6) persons who are chemically dependent. It will be an interactive curriculum based on adult learning theory. It will offer a balance of didactic teaching and experiential learning to enhance awareness and practical skills. Copies of the curriculum will be made available at cost to all graduate programs, professional schools and internships in psychology.

HIV Mental Health Services Resource Directory: APA contract staff will collaborate with the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), the American Nurses Foundation (ANF) and the American Psychiatric Association (ApA) to develop an HIV/AIDS Mental Health Resource Directory. The document will be submitted to the Government Project Officer (GPO) on or before the contract expiration date. The Directory will include the names, addresses and phone numbers and areas of expertise of practitioners and researchers who are experienced with HIV/AIDS and are members of one of the four associations listed above.

National Training Conference: Contract staff will develop and conduct a National Training Conference (NTC) to expand the training capabilities of the HOPE Program existing network of 230 Regional Trainers by providing them with instruction in two additional special population curricula. The NTC will provide 40 hours of continuing education for psychologists and will feature nationally renowned psychologists speaking on behavioral science research as applied to HIV prevention and treatment.

Recruit 50 New Regional Psychologist Trainers: HOPE Program staff will conduct a program of intensive outreach and recruitment for additional Regional Trainers in states that lack a sufficient number of qualified regional trainers. New Regional Trainers will be selected primarily from applicants who work with underserved populations such as incarcerated individuals, migrant workers, runaway youth and persons with serious mental illness.

Technical Assistance to Regional Trainers: HOPE Program staff provides ongoing technical assistance to Regional Trainers. In that capacity they:

Multidisciplinary HIV Mental Health Training Initiatives: Contract staff will convene a group of practitoners and researchers from the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the National Association of Social Workers and the American Nurses Foundation to provide ideas for new training initiatives involving psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers and nurses. The best of these ideas will become the foci of training conferences jointly planned and delivered by the four professional organizations.

Report on HRSA Special Projects of National Significance Program
Under a contract from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the APA Office on AIDS conducted a comparative analysis of the mental health projects supported from 1991-1994 through HRSA's Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) program. The final report, 'Integrating Mental Health Services and HIV/AIDS Primary Care: A Comparative Analysis of the Experiences of Seven Special Projects of National Significance funded under the Ryan White C.A.R.E. Act', was presented to HRSA and to the APA Committee on Psychology and AIDS in September 1994.

The purpose of the study was to identify and describe factors across projects that may have influenced project operations and service delivery and that would not have been evident from any single project 's evaluation. The study team focused on variables related to organizational structure, institutional culture, leadership and management characteristics, community surroundings and operational procedures that influenced the ability of the SPNS projects to accomplish their goals. The study methodology included a review of HRSA documents related to the seven projects, telephone interviews with staff from each project, and a national meeting of SPNS project staff with the APA study team and HRSA representatives, followed by telephone interviews with primary care providers associated with each project. Findings were reported on responses to the HRSA Program Guidance, program characteristics that contributed to models of integrated services, resources and barriers to integrated care, evaluation and measurement problems, and the reactions of primary care providers. Based on these findings, eight major recommendations were offered to HRSA and other funding organizations.

HRSA awarded APA a small follow-on contract for disseminating the results of the study. The Fall 1994 Psychology and AIDS Exchange newsletter featured articles about the study, and 500 extra copies were provided to HRSA for distribution. The study team conducted a seminar on the study for HRSA staff and other Public Health Service officials in Rockville in March 1995. An article describing the study has been prepared for submission to a professional journal.

Report on Behavioral and Social Sciences and the HIV/AIDS Epidemic
The APA Office on AIDS and the APA Public Policy Office, under contract with the National Commission on AIDS, developed a policy report on the role and contributions of behavioral and social science research in the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The report made a variety of specific recommendations regarding behavioral and social science research activities that should be supported by the federal government and emphasized the critical importance of providing technical assistance to prevention workers. The final report was published by the National Commission on AIDS in August of 1993 and distributed free of charge to federal officials, policy planners, and behavioral scientists and more than 5,000 APA members.

Special HIV/AIDS Projects Funded by APA and Develop Resource Manual on Ethical Issues in Mental Health Service Delivery
The Office on AIDS convened a team of experts to develop a Resource Manual on Ethical Issues in Mental Health Service Delivery to assist practitioners faced with the complicated issues associated with delivering mental health services to HIV infected and affected clients. The Resource Manual will feature sections dealing with the application of ethical principles to case examples, models of ethical decision-making, legal issues and common reactions of practitioners faced with ethical dilemmas.

Summarize APA HIV/AIDS Training Activities 1988 - 1995
APA has been a national leader in HIV/AIDS related mental health training for many years. Office on AIDS staff, in consultation with Dr. Suzanne Randolph, will prepare a report on the APA HIV-related mental health training activities conducted between 1988-1995. The report will be produced in two forms; one for distribution to APA members and the public and one for submission to a professional journal.

Develop HIV/AIDS Advocacy Network
The APA office on AIDS is sponsoring an internship in conjunction with the George Washington University Public Policy Department to develop a grass-roots HIV/AIDS advocacy network. The network will utilize an interactive electronic mail system to coordinate psychology HIV/AIDS advocacy efforts directed toward state and federal lawmakers.



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