While historically industrial and organizational (I/O) psychology has focused on applying its science to workplace issues within companies, a cadre of I/O psychologists is directing its expertise elsewhere: underserved populations.
"In the last several years, there has been an increasing interest in using the skills, talents and training of organizational psychologists to help the marginalized," says Mary O'Neill Berry, PhD, a psychologist involved in an emerging field known as humanitarian work psychology (HWP).
Psychologists in this field are working to increase the effectiveness of delivering humanitarian aid, says Lori Foster, PhD, a psychology professor at North Carolina State University. They are also helping underserved populations develop their own marketable skills in a way that is sustainable and not reliant on aid, Foster explains.
As an example, humanitarian work psychologists are involved in implementing a concept known as "task shifting" in certain countries in Africa. The goal is to train lower-level health-care workers to perform specific jobs — such as HIV testing and home delivery of antiretroviral therapy — and subsequently increase access to health care in those countries. In Mozambique, for instance, surgical technicians and midwives are learning how to perform caesarian sections.
Psychologists are also applying their expertise to vulnerable populations in the United States. Foster is working with the White House Social and Behavioral Sciences Team to design studies aimed at helping the unemployed return to work more quickly and find jobs that match their skills.
The term "humanitarian work psychology" was first coined in 2009 in London when a group of I/O psychologists involved in the field met and shared an interest in organizing more formally as a group, Foster says. In 2012, the Global Organisation for Humanitarian Work Psychologyopens in new window was formed and now includes 300 members from low-to-high income countries around the world.
"The organization allows people who are engaged in this work to collaborate and network," Berry says. "We're also seeing this area of psychology make its way into the curriculum in graduate schools."
As the movement grows, an important message to convey is that this work is inherently connected to the development goals outlined by the United Nations, Foster says. These goals range from ending poverty in all its forms everywhere to achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls.
"To some degree, the accomplishment of the [U.N.] global goals depends on effective work behavior," Foster says. "They require meaningful, productive collaboration among people and organizations. If we use the science of organizational psychology to understand what promotes effective work behaviors, then any one of the U.N. goals will be more achievable."
To help psychologists grasp how the field is forwarding these goals, Berry and psychologists Ishbel McWha-Hermann, PhD, and Douglas C. Maynard, PhD, co-edited a book that includes HWP case studies and how the studies are connected to the U.N.'s goals. The book, "Humanitarian Work Psychology and the Global Development Agenda" was released in August.
— Heather Stringer
For more information about the book "Humanitarian Work Psychology and the Global Development Agenda," see https://www.routledge.com/products/9781848723689opens in new window.
