Board of the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest (BAPPI): 2015 Annual Report

BAPPI met during the Spring Consolidated Meetings on March 27-29, 2015, and during the Fall Consolidated Meetings on Oct. 30 – Nov. 1, 2015. BAPPI members also met individually with their respective committees during the first round of Consolidated Meetings, Sept. 18-20, 2015.

The members of BAPPI in 2015 were: M. Dolores Cimini, PhD (Chair); Gayle S. Morse, PhD (Chair-elect); Linda M. Forrest, PhD; Claire G. Gastañaga, JD (Public Member); Gary W. Harper, PhD, MPH; Michele Harway, PhD, ABPP; William D. Parham, PhD; Jack Tsai, PhD; Erlanger “Earl” A. Turner, PhD; and Elizabeth M. Vera, PhD.

Cimini, Forrest and Parham completed their terms on the Board at the conclusion of 2015. April Harris-Britt, PhD, Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, PhD, and Susan Opotow, PhD joined BAPPI beginning in January 2016.

During the Public Interest Plenary held during Round I Consolidated Meetings, Public Interest Committee Chairs-elect reported on the activities and accomplishments of their respective groups over the past year, and received commendation for the quality, amount and relevance of their work. Each committee provided BAPPI with a summary sheet that highlighted activities, initiatives and projects (current and upcoming).

In 2015, the Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest (BAPPI) identified and selected six members to serve on the task force for the new Race and Ethnicity Psychology Competency Guidelines. This Task Force is charged with reviewing the abundant literature published since 2002 on race and ethnicity and determine a new framework of guideline statements that organizes the totality of scholarship both within psychology and from other disciplines about race/ethnicity.  The Task Force held two conference calls in 2015. The first conference call was held on Sept. 14, 2015, the second on Oct. 19, 2015, and an in person meeting was held at APA Headquarters on Dec. 11-12, 2015.

Four task force members, Kevin Cokley, PhD; Suzette L. Speight, PhD; Sandra Mattar, PsyD; and Karen L. Suyemoto, PhD attended the meeting in person. Joseph E. Trimble, PhD; Helen Neville, PhD; and Gayle Morse, PhD (BAPPI Liaison) also participated in the meeting via the GoToMeeting online platform. During the meeting, the task force was able to update their timeline for completion of the guidelines, draft a very detailed outline of the guidelines document; identify potential consultants to address relevant content that may be outside of the expertise of TF members and assign writing assignments for each member.  Regular conference calls were scheduled through the summer with August 2017 as the target date for guideline submission to the COR. The first conference call of 2016 was held on Feb. 8, 2016.

At its meeting held Aug. 5-7, 2015, the Council of Representatives adopted Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Peopleopens in new window. Development of the guidelines was a recommendation of the 2009 Report of the APA Task Force on Gender Identity and Gender Variance. The guidelines were posted to the APA website on the day of adoption and by the end of the month had received more than 10,000 hits.

In February 2015, it was agreed upon by all parties that the 2015 Chair of the Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest (BAPPI), Cimini would conduct a preliminary review and comparison between the current APA policies which pertain to issues related to Aid in Dying: APA Resolution on End-of-Life Issues and Care, and "APA Resolution on Assisted Suicide" and that the proposed Substitute Main Motion (NBI#23D) would be assessed and incorporated into this review. After this review, BAPPI decided that a working group be convened as a more detailed review was necessary to carefully examine the current literature and assess APA materials and resources related to this topic.

At its December 2015 meeting, The Board of Directors formally appointed the seven members of the APA Working Group on End-of-Life Issues and Care. Its members are: Elizabeth Goy, PhD (chair), Oregon Health & Science University and VA Portland Health Care System, Portland, Ore.; Rebecca S. Allen, PhD, ABPP, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Ala; Brian D. Carpenter, PhD, Washington University, St. Louis, Mo.; Carol J. Gill, PhD, University of Illinois at Chicago, Ill.; Julia Kasl-Godley, PhD, VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Calif.; Maureen E. Lyon, PhD, ABPP, Children’s National Medical Center, Washington, D.C.; Veronica L. Shead, PhD, South Texas Veterans Health Care System; and, James L. Werth, Jr., PhD, ABPP, Stone Mountain Health Services, Pennington Gap, Va. The charge to the Working Group is to: examine the current state of the issue, including relevant literature of the last fifteen years; review APA’s two existing policies, the APA Resolution on End of Life Issues and Care (2001) and the Resolution on Assisted Suicide (2001) to assure they are informed by current scholarly literature and consider the points raised in Council New Business Item #23D Draft Resolution on Aid in Dying (introduced at the August 2010 Council meeting); consider how diversity and health disparities influence choice about end of life care; and recommend how to increase the visibility of psychologists going forward. The Working Group held its first conference call in January 2016.

The Children, Youth and Families office staffed the Task Force on Violent Media. The task force conducted a comprehensive review of the research literature published between 2005 and 2013 focused on violent video game use. This included four meta-analyses that reviewed more than 150 research reports published before 2009. The research demonstrated a consistent relation between violent video game use and increases in aggressive behavior, aggressive cognitions and aggressive affect, and decreases in prosocial behavior, empathy and sensitivity to aggression. In August 2015, APA Council approved the Resolution on Violent Media and received the task force’s Technical Report.

The Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest Senior Career Award recognizes an individual whose single extraordinary achievement or a lifetime of outstanding contributions meet one or more of the following criteria: (a) courageous and distinctive contribution(s) in the science or practice of psychology that significantly supports efforts toward a solution to one of the world’s intransigent social problems; (b) distinctive and innovative contribution(s) that makes the science and/or practice of psychology more accessible to a broad and diverse population; and (c) an integration of the science and practice of psychology that serves the public interest and advances social justice and human welfare.

The Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest Early Career Award recognizes an individual whose single extraordinary achievement or a lifetime of outstanding contributions meet one or more of the following criteria: (a) courageous and distinctive contribution(s) in the science or practice of psychology that significantly supports efforts toward a solution to one of the world’s intransigent social problems; (b) distinctive and innovative contribution(s) that makes the science and/or practice of psychology more accessible to a broad and diverse population; and (c) an integration of the science and practice of psychology that serves the public interest and advances social justice and human welfare. To be eligible for this award, the nominee’s terminal degree (generally a doctorate in psychology) must have been conferred no more than 10 years prior to the award year. For the 2016 award, nominees must have received this degree during or since 2006.

The APA Award for Distinguished Contributions to Research in Public Policy will honor an individual who has made a distinguished empirical and/or theoretical contribution to psychological research in public policy, either through a single extraordinary achievement or a lifetime of work dedicated to informing public policy through psychological understanding. Examples of relevant achievements include research leading others to view specific public policies differently; research demonstrating the importance of the application of psychological methods and theory to public policy; or research clarifying the ways scientific knowledge of human behavior informs public policy.

Each award recipient will receive $1,000 honorarium, an opportunity to present an invited address at the 2016 APA Annual Convention in Denver, Colo. and an invitation to submit a paper to the American Psychologist^® on the topic of the address. Honorees will also be granted a waiver of 2016 convention registration fees and reimbursement of up to $1,500 in expenses related to attendance at the 2016 convention.

The BAPPI Committee on Public Interest Awards will evaluate each nomination based on the extent to which the nominee has exhibited knowledge and/or experience with the criteria identified in the above description of each award.