As an association, we are committed to using psychological science to address society’s most complex challenges. To do this most effectively, APA and those we work with need to be intentional about shifting our paradigms and reframing issues to have the greatest impact. Below are a few examples.
- Advancing health equity. 2021 APA President Dr. Jennifer Kelly’s focus on health equity has provided guidance and demonstrated psychology’s key roles in addressing health disparities. But the research questions we generate need a greater emphasis on factors beyond the individual, such as social determinants and system-level issues. While these factors predict more of the variance in health outcomes, we lack the range of studies needed to inform policy and system-level interventions. The interventions we pilot should more explicitly target social determinants of health, and our research goals should extend beyond publication to implementation in communities—increasing our work’s reach and benefit to society.
- Exploring the future of work. APA continues to help psychologists, employees, and employers address the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on the workplace by demonstrating that psychology’s role goes beyond the individual level, working with those experiencing mental health crises. Across a variety of work settings, psychology can also proactively help shape these environments to promote people’s psychological health and well-being. The work psychologists do to coach leaders, build strong teams, and design effective workspaces not only helps accomplish this but elevates the visibility of industrial-organizational psychology and other areas of the field with which the public is less familiar.
- Elevating population health. APA recognizes that our current paradigm for addressing health, particularly behavioral health, is inadequate given the complexity and ubiquity of these conditions, especially given the impact of the pandemic. Consequently, we are placing greater emphasis on using a whole population approach that expands beyond a singular focus on treating illness to promoting psychological health across the entire population—for those who have diagnosable conditions, those at greater risk, and even those who are healthy. This approach emphasizes “working upstream” to help people before they are in crisis, focusing more on prevention and addressing social determinants of health, which account for a large proportion of the variance in people’s health status.
As we increasingly advance our strategic priority to use psychological knowledge to address complex societal issues, we need to reframe these issues so that we develop novel solutions and incorporate the full breadth of our field. This will be critical for our success.