Anna Kratz, PhD, and Paul Perrin, PhD

Kratz is currently a professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Michigan.

Perrin is currently a professor of data science and psychology at the University of Virginia.

Tell us a bit about your background: What is your area of research? What is your most recent journal-editing experience?

Anna Kratz: I am an associate professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Michigan. My research is focused on assessing, characterizing, and treating pain and fatigue that interfere with functioning and quality of life across multiple clinical populations. I am also very passionate about mentoring trainees in rehabilitation research. Before becoming an editor-in-chief of Rehabilitation Psychology, I served as an associate editor for the journal; I also serve on the editorial boards of The Journal of Pain and Arthritis Care & Research.

Paul B. Perrin: I am a professor of data science and psychology at the University of Virginia and a research psychologist and codirector of the Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems Program at the Central Virginia Veterans Affairs Health Care System. My research area of social justice in disability and health encompasses three facets: (a) cultural, familial, and international approaches to disability rehabilitation and adjustment, particularly in medically underserved and minority populations with neurological conditions; (b) social determinants of health (e.g., stigma, access to integrated care and telehealth, personal and collective strengths); and (c) social justice approaches to understanding and dismantling oppression. Before becoming an editor-in-chief of Rehabilitation Psychology, I served as an associate editor for the journal.

Briefly, what are your main priorities? For example, how will you grow readership, what type of scholarship would you like to see in the journal, and what kind of content are you hoping to attract?

Our top priority is to continue to promote the quality and impact of rehabilitation psychology research. Toward this goal, we (a) emphasize a high level of service by providing robust and rapid reviews to authors; (b) demand a high level of methodological rigor in the research we publish; (c) welcome submissions that reflect the broad and varied contributions of a rehabilitation psychology perspective; and (d) communicate the values of the field, particularly our commitment to elevating disability as a critical social issue in discussions about diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Why is this journal important for the field? What is its relevance to society/public health? What are the hot issues in your area right now?

As the flagship journal for American Psychological Association (APA) Division 22, Rehabilitation Psychology plays several critical roles in the field. One role is to define and demonstrate the scope of rehabilitation psychology. As an editorial team, we believe that rehabilitation psychology can contribute to issues that span rehabilitation, neuropsychology, social psychology, clinical psychology, health psychology, health policy, and beyond, and therefore we espouse a broad but coherent conceptualization of the field.

At this time in history, issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion are simultaneously emphasized by professional organizations and attacked in the broader society. This makes our vision for Rehabilitation Psychology as the premier journal for diversity in disability all the more urgent and important. We believe that diversity and social justice are the heart and soul of rehabilitation psychology. Tamara Dembo and Beatrice Wright, pioneers in disability research, have articulated holistic, psychosocial research and clinical perspectives that incorporate all aspects of disability. They focused on the connection between disabled people and the social environment, the person-environment fit. Doing so ensured a social justice value system was driving the field, wherein disabled peoples’ social and physical environments must be modified to facilitate maximal functioning, adjustment, and life opportunities. We will ensure that this core value system drives all we do, and we will focus on disability identity not only as a critical form of diversity itself but as it intersects with other forms of diversity (e.g., racial and ethnic identity, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious and spiritual identity, socioeconomic status).

What challenges, if any, lie ahead for the field?

It is a complex time for rehabilitation psychology. Although we plan to emphasize research that is theoretically based, the field has an inherent orientation toward the application of research findings. Unfortunately, many challenges to implementing evidence-based interventions exist. Findings, tools, and approaches that are easily implemented in real-world clinical settings are needed. This highlights another major challenge to the field: the sense that clinicians are being asked to do more with less. How can the implementation of evidence-based approaches be supported without adding to the existing burdens of rehabilitation psychologists? And how do we, through our stewardship of Rehabilitation Psychology, contribute to excitement and interest in the field to feed the pipeline for more rehabilitation psychologists?

Do you have plans for a special issue or changes to the editorial process? Have you introduced or are you planning to introduce any changes?

Promoting high-quality methods in rehabilitation psychology research is a top priority, and so we are currently soliciting submissions for a special section on innovation and best practices in rehabilitation research methods.

Although we are very supportive of the APA’s adoption of Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines for new submissions, the new TOP requirements may be viewed as one more hurdle for submitting to APA journals. Therefore, we are interested in easing submission requirements in other ways, such as loosening formatting requirements and allowing a “your paper, your way” format for the first submission to the journal (and APA Style formatting for revised manuscripts). This is a change that we are exploring and have not yet implemented, so stay tuned for updates!