Tag Archives: Psychology

Where Science Meets Policy Part 1: Involving Stakeholders in Every Step of Your Research

Where Science Meets Policy

Part 1: Involving Stakeholders in Every Step of Your Research

Melanie Arenson, Renee Cloutier, Travis Loughran, Mary Fernandes

There is a well-known lack of consistent translation of scientific research into public policy. To address this, the scientific community has instituted a substantial push to involve “stakeholders” in our research, in order to make it more targeted, translatable, and impactful. But what does that mean practically, and how do we do it?

What is a stakeholder?

According to the American Psychological Association, stakeholders include anybody that could be influenced by the research you conduct (e.g., they have a “stake” in it). What does that look like? Well, imagine you’re developing a new intervention for adolescents. Stakeholders for such a project might include the people receiving and providing the treatment (e.g. the adolescent and therapist), as well as the child’s parents, teachers, and peers, the administrators in both the treatment setting and the school, and the policy-makers dictating the allocation of school-based resources. Depending on your area of research, this group of stakeholders may expand to include businesses, insurance companies, curriculum writers, and nonprofits.

Why involve them at all?

Too often in academic settings, we formulate a question, conduct the research in our labs, find exciting results, publish a paper in an academic journal, and then that research gets cited by other academics in other academic journals. The problem with that? The information we’ve discovered doesn’t ever actually leave the world in which it was created.

Stakeholders, if engaged properly, are uniquely positioned in two ways to help change that: (1) their opinions can be sought to ensure that the questions we ask, the research paradigms we create, and the treatments we develop appropriately reflect the real-world applications that interested us in the first place; and (2) they hold connections that can help with dissemination when we find those really cool results. They are mired in the frequently messy reality that we try to emulate in our labs, and understand what is feasible and what isn’t because they live it, day to day, in a way we as researchers rarely do. They also hold connections in the community and have specialized insights into the most appropriate and impactful way to translate our research to the populations that need to hear it the most.

So how do we involve them?

This can depend on your setting, but below are a few options:

1) Use your existing network. Most likely, you can think of a few stakeholders you already know, whether in a professional or personal context. One of the easiest ways to get stakeholders involved is to ask those people to have coffee with you and chat. If they’re interested in what you’re doing they might be a good person to get involved, but they also can likely suggest people they know that might be able to help.

2) Focus groups are extremely helpful. They can be used as sources for more permanent stakeholder involvement (e.g. you can recruit stakeholders that will remain involved for the duration of the project), but they also are formalized way to engage stakeholders just as they are. Recruit as broad of a range of stakeholders as you can, know the questions you want to ask, and be prepared to lightly guide a discussion. Keep in mind that it may be helpful to group participants by stakeholder type, depending on your project and the diversity of stakeholders. If someone seems particularly insightful, motivated, and you think they may be good fit for your research team, talk to them about the possibility of getting more involved (and keep a list of these types of people as possible stakeholders for future projects!).

3) Use conferences to build connections. When you’re talking to colleagues about your research, don’t forget to talk about recruiting stakeholders (they may know someone that would be a perfect fit!), and attend talks that are related to the research you want to do as they may give you an idea for stakeholders you haven’t thought of. Check the program for any stakeholder-related gatherings, which may include a talk by patients, booths run by educators and/or companies, or division-specific events related to specific providers.

4) Don’t forget about your professional organizations. Many organizations have committees and departments dedicated to influencing and crafting policy. These sub-organizations can connect you and your academic work to the policy arenas you want to influence. Reach out to committee members and tell them about your research and the implications you think it has. They’ll be perfectly positioned to help you translate your findings to the community stakeholders you want to reach. They also may be able to direct you resources and stakeholders you haven’t thought of.

5) Finally, use your research. Talk to your participants, their parents, and the community connections you use to recruit your sample, and ask them if they would like a summary of your findings once your research is complete. If you haven’t already built a relationship with them, offering to reach out (and taking the time to do it!) is a great foundation. Similar to focus groups, if you think any of those people would be a good fit for your research, offer the opportunity for them to get involved in future projects.

Breaking the academic loop:

Once you have successfully designed, executed, and analyzed your research project, how do you convey the findings to a broad range of stakeholders? Researchers and policy makers often have different decision-making processes, time-lines, vocabularies, and incentives (Brownson, Royer, Ewing, & McBride, 2006; Grande et al., 2014), which create barriers to effective communication. Overcoming these barriers requires several, multi-level actions, many of which will be addressed in this series. Follow us for our next piece on how to write academic papers for a broad range of stakeholders.

References:

Brownson, R. C., Royer, C., Ewing, R., & McBride, T. D. (2006). Researchers and policymakers: travelers in parallel universes. American journal of preventive medicine, 30(2), 164-172.

Grande, D., Gollust, S. E., Pany, M., Seymour, J., Goss, A., Kilaru, A., & Meisel, Z. (2014). Translating research for health policy: researchers’ perceptions and use of social media. Health Affairs, 33(7), 1278-1285.

Graduate Student Voting Rights: What Do Our Presidential Candidates Think?

The APAGS Committee has proposed an APA Bylaws and Rules change that will allow for graduate student affiliate members of APA to vote in elections for the President-elect and Members of the Board of Directors, along with bylaws amendments and the distribution of seats on the APA Council of Representatives.

The APAGS Committee is bringing this proposal to Boards and Committees of APA this fall, and to the Board of Directors and the Council of Representatives next year. If the change is approved by Council, and then by the current voting members of APA, approximately 21,000 graduate student members of APA could be eligible to vote in 2020 and beyond.

We asked the five members currently running for APA President-elect the following question:

“Should APA Graduate Student members be given the privilege to vote on all association matters within APA after one year of membership?”

Here’s how they responded. You can learn more about the candidates here.

Armand R. Cerbone, PhD

“I strongly support APAGS in seeking voting privileges. Having organized graduate representation within my department, I know the importance of enfranchising graduate voices. As a faculty member introducing a course on homosexuality in 1983, I recruited at my expense a lesbian student to co-teach because we both understood I could not appropriately represent the experience of queer women. While the future affects all psychologists, it affects psychology students most. My campaign is about the future of psychology even more than our past. I will seek the critical input of APAGS in developing a 25/50-year vision plan for psychology.”

Jean Lau Chin, EdD

“Graduate students make up a significant portion of our APA membership. They should have a voice because they are the future of our profession. As APAGS, they have already demonstrated that their participation in governance has been meaningful and relevant, and that they have been responsible in providing important input on association matters. We need to view the vibrancy of our profession and association as one where we seek and value the perspectives of members along the entire spectrum of their career. Hence, I support giving graduate students the privilege to vote on association matters including elections after one year of membership.”

Steven D. Hollon, PhD

“APA is getting older and has trouble getting students to join and early career professionals to convert. The best way to excite new professionals entering the field is to give them the vote while they are still students and I would not make them wait the year. You join you vote. If we want students to invest in the discipline then we need to invest in them. We secure our future as an organization if we trust our future generations.”

Sandra L. Shullman, PhD

“Graduate students have an important voice to contribute to APA. I value their contributions and support their voting and representation. Voting is an opening invitation that can lead to greater engagement in APA, but we must couple voting with opportunities for leadership training/development; meaningful ways to give feedback to our discipline/profession; and encouragement to support/engage in advocacy, public policy and social justice initiatives. These experiences, along with the opportunity to vote, can build career-long engagement and commitment to APA’s future. As APA President, I would look forward to working with APAGS to turn this goal into successful action. www.SandyShullmanForAPAPresident.com #sandys4apaprez #sandy2020”

Susan Krauss Whitbourne, PhD

“As a long-time supporter of the work of APAGS, I am in favor of the proposal to grant voting privileges to graduate students in APA-wide elections. This step would represent an important way to ensure that APA reflects the concerns of those who are entering our discipline and also to provide graduate students with a voice in the future of the association. One of the key components of my presidential platform is that APA needs to reflect the interests of early career psychologists, and therefore this proposal is consistent with my own priorities to keep the association vital and flourishing.”

We thank all candidates for their openness to this proposed seismic shift in APA.

CARED perspectives: So what is this psychology diversity committee all about?

This blog post is a part of the series, “CARED Perspectives,” developed by the APAGS Committee for the Advancement of Racial and Ethnic Diversity. This series will discuss current events and how these events relate to graduate students in psychology. If you are interested in contributing to the CARED Perspectives series, please contact Lincoln Hill.

Engagement with diversity, cultural, and individual differences has become a core aspect of clinical training, supervision, and research in psychology (American Psychological Association, 2006). In this spirit of proactively interacting with diversity in its varied forms, many psychology departments have created dedicated “diversity committees.” While a name and general scope may be shared, diversity committees take many forms: from a student led forum to address graduate program concerns, to a faculty committee working towards recruiting diverse staff and students (Rogers & Molina, 2006). Diversity committees can be a positive vehicle of change, but also a burden on faculty and students with diverse identities who take on the invisible labor of serving on many such committees, and face greater expectations to do so than are placed on their majority group peers (Vasquez et al., 2006)

To better understand the inner-workings of diversity committees, I gathered the perspectives of four psychology graduate students who served on a diversity committee at their respective institutions. In particular, I asked these students to: reflect on the value in having a departmental diversity committee; to identify what was achieved through their committee’s work; and to share the extent to which student voices guided, were heard, or were marginalized by the fellow committee members. Below I offer a summary of their varied perspectives and some considerations for students and faculty considering developing a diversity committee within their department.

What is the value in having a diversity committee?

Dedicated space conducive to making change – a key prerequisite to undertaking any further work
Having an avenue for dialogue that doesn’t naturally occur between students, faculty, and staff
Ensuring accountability at the department level to operating in a manner consistent with principles of equity and diversity
Providing a sense of safety for students who have reservations about coming forward with their concerns
Addressing qualitative inclusion of diverse perspectives, experiences, and identities

What was achieved on the committee during your tenure?

Making faculty more aware of student concerns
Creating professional development opportunities
Developing workshops/brown bag lunches in response to current events
Inviting speakers with expertise in diversity topics
Developing events (e.g., diversity recruitment weekend) and tools (e.g., website re-design) to recruit more students from diverse backgrounds
Creating a survey to assess climate, student experiences and needs

How were student voices engaged on the committee?

Diversity committee formats varied greatly – from student led efforts to faculty committees with one designated student representative. Students on faculty committees indicated varied experiences. One reported receiving respect and useful professional guidance, while another reported not being “truly heard” by faculty. Perhaps as a result of these dynamics, some students reported that creating departmental change through the work of a diversity committee is a slow moving process, which may involve only surface level changes in the beginning. Several students commented on the value of models where they were able to hold separate meetings with their peers to amass a list of students’ perspectives and concerns, which they could report back to the faculty-led diversity committee. One student in particular indicated that this mode is effective because students often feel more comfortable bringing concerns forward to other students, as opposed to faculty.

While diversity committees are diverse in their form, tasks, operation, and membership, all students acknowledged the value in their existence and several expressed gratitude in being able to advocate for diversity at a higher level. As one student said, “diversity efforts take some trial and error to evolve for the better, but these programs are most valuable when we learn from and correct our mistakes.”

What do you think? We want to hear from you in the comments!

Have you been involved in a diversity committee? What the impetus was for establishing this committee? Was your committee initiated by students? Or staff/faculty? Has your committee filled a gap that was there prior to the committee starting up?

Have you found that individuals of color and those with other diverse identities have disproportionately taken on this work?

What’s your take on this topic?

Acknowledgments: A huge thank you to the students who shared their experiences for the purpose of this post!

References

American Psychological Association. 2006. Guidelines and Principles for Accreditation of Programs in Professional Psychology (G&P). Retrieved from: http://www.apa.org/ed/accreditation/about/policies/guiding-principles.pdf

Rogers, M. R., & Molina, L. E. (2006). Exemplary efforts in psychology to recruit and retain graduate students of color. American Psychologist, 61(2), 143.

Vasquez, M. J., Lott, B., García-Vázquez, E., Grant, S. K., Iwamasa, G. Y., Molina, L. E., … & Vestal-Dowdy, E. (2006). Personal reflections: Barriers and strategies in increasing diversity in psychology. American Psychologist, 61(2), 157.

Check out previous CARED Perspective posts:

Dear Me, Future Psychologist. Yours truly, Dr. Erlanger Turner

APAGS is thankful for all of the psychologists that participated in the Dear Me series for the gradPSYCH Blog. Considering the success of these posts, APAGS is expanding the series to include early career psychologists that have been doing amazing things since graduation.

We’ve asked early career psychologists to write a letter to their 16-year-old self. We hope you enjoy these letters and glean some wisdom and guidance as you decide whether to enter graduate school in psychology, as you navigate the challenges of graduate school, and as you make decisions about your career and life.

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Dr. Erlanger “Earl” Turner is a licensed psychologist and assistant professor of psychology at the University of Houston-Downtown. He is also the Director of the Race and Cultural Experiences Research (R.A.C.E.) Lab, and often serves as a media psychologist. Dr. Turner writes a blog, The Race to Good Health, and has been quoted by numerous media sources on mental health, race relations, and cultural competency. Dr. Turner’s current research examines (1) correlates of ethnic minority health, (2) identifying mechanisms of help-seeking, and (3) developing interventions to improve utilization and adherence to psychological treatments. While in graduate school, he served as the APAGS Member-at-Large (Practice Focus) and was the first former APAGS member to be elected to an APA standing board. He was the 2017 Chair of the APA Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest and is the first early career psychologist to serve as chair of BAPPI. Recently, he was elected as the first African American male to be president of the Society for Child and Family Policy and Practice (APA Division 37).

. For more information, please visit Dr. Turner’s website.

DEAR-ME

FROM THE DESK OF Erlanger Turner:

Dear Earl,

You have always been an introverted person with a comedic personality that only those close to you (e.g., family and friends) truly have an opportunity to witness. Who is to say that you have to share with the entire world the person God made you to be?

In life, you will face great challenges and maybe not experience much success. However, self-doubt will not push you towards achieving any goal in life. I know that one of your biggest fears is failure. Let that be the driving force in your life to keep running over any obstacle that you may face either personally or in your career. Growing up in Louisiana should not be your final destination nor your highest aspiration. Seek guidance from those who motivate you and always keep your mind on the powers that be to lead you to accomplish “your goals”.

As a first generation college student, you will have the chance to set the mark for your siblings and other family members to step out on faith. Don’t allow your internal conflicts and doubts determine how you live or what career you will pursue. Remember that it is great to help others, but always remember to do what is best for yourself. Pursuing a career in medicine will not be an easy task and you will face challenges as a Black man from the outside world.

As you move forward in life and work towards being the 1^st in your family to graduate from high school, keep these things in mind:

You control your destiny and what you accomplish in life. Don’t hold yourself to others expectations and stay focused on what makes you happy. In the midst of difficult challenges do not doubt the decisions you make. Those decisions will be the lessons you learn and will help others to recognize how experiences shape who you are as a person.

Being Black is beautiful! Don’t get caught up in the stereotypes that exist in society. You should love all the aspects of who you are. Each person is uniquely created and you should value your individuality as a person that is embedded within a community that is often perceived as not good enough.
You can be great at whatever you do in life. Remember that greatness is not defined by the lack of struggles but how you overcome those obstacles that you face. Set a goal and keep working towards it until you are satisfied.

In closing, “setting a goal is only your starting point. It’s the hard work that determines your final destination”.

–Erlanger A. Turner, Ph.D.

Editor’s Note: Dear Me, Future Psychologist is inspired by the Dear Me book series by Joseph Galliano. Special thanks to David A. Meyerson, Ph.D. for creating this series for the gradPSYCH Blog. Please check out other letters in this series:

What is Imposter Syndrome?

Have you ever felt like an imposter? Do you often look at your colleagues and feel like they are smarter, faster, or just generally better than you? Do you feel incompetent? Do you feel that you landed in your current position by luck rather than by skill or hard work? There is a term for that feeling: Imposter Syndrome.

Imposter syndrome is a term coined by psychologists at Georgia State University, Pauline Clance, PhD and Suzanne Imes, PhD in 1978. Imposter syndrome (also known as imposter phenomenon, fraud syndrome, or imposter experience) refers to the anxious feeling that one has gained success and fame only by luck and coincidence, having deceived others. People with imposter syndrome consider their successes as resulting from external factors and thus think of themselves as imposters. That is, they do not acknowledge that success was made by their effort and performance, but rather by luck, timing or coincidence.

Imposter syndrome is not limited to graduate students! In fact, Hollywood actors, Jodie Foster, Natalie Portman, Emma Watson, and the COO of Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg, have all stated that they have suffered from imposter syndrome. At some point, they all believed that their wealth and fame were gained only by luck, that people were overestimating their talent and would soon discover their incompetence.

What are the causes of imposter syndrome?

There are many factors that contribute to imposter syndrome. After an initial success, sometimes people’s perceived expectations become higher, adding additional stress and anxiety around the potential of disappointing others. Other causes include how one was raised, emotional traits (insecurity, perfectionism, etc.), and psychological problems.

The high suicide rate of Ivy League students may also be attributed to imposter syndrome. Many of these students graduated high school at the top of their class, and are now surrounded by equally smart and talented individuals. Comparatively, these students are now average in a much larger pool of students, no longer the top students in the class. As they compare themselves to other students, their self-esteem may drop considerably and they may fear no longer being able to meet others’ high expectations. This fear of being exposed along with lowered self-esteem can lead to severe depression which can be linked to suicide attempts.

People with Imposter syndrome tend to continuously question their ability and try to become perfect, potentially even discounting the fact that they have already made great achievements. Fearing failure, they may use the imposter syndrome as a defense mechanism. Believing that they are incompetent from the beginning, in order to avoid the psychological trauma caused by failure. However, such reactions can cause anxiety, low self-esteem, and negative self-concept, which in turn tends to lower their actual rate of success.

How can we keep from falling into the trap of imposter syndrome?

1. Avoid perfectionism.
Perfectionists can be so strict on themselves that they may miss smaller achievements and successes. A perfectionist tends to set extremely high (maybe even unattainable) goals, and then experience shame or defeat when they do not meet these goals. This behavior can be self destructive. Remember, the final outcome of a situation is not the only thing that defines you. Make an effort to look at a situation in totality to be able to glean other positive outcomes. For example, if you worked on a group project that did not earn the highest praise from your professor, think about positive outcomes that you did achieve– learning to work well with a diverse group; effectively managing your time; or perhaps learning new material that you may be able to apply in other settings. Finding ways to recognize accomplishments big and small can go a long way to alleviating feeling like an imposter.

2. Put less stock in what others may think of you.
The most important opinion of you is YOURS! Others may have expectations of you that are unrealistic or may be reflective of their own insecurities. While a healthy dose of “caring what others think” is useful, putting too much stock in someone else’s opinion of you may be harmful to your own self-esteem.

3. Acknowledge and celebrate yourself.
You should acknowledge that your success is the result of your effort and action, and not by luck or good fortune. In other words, one’s success is made possible by oneself. Unsure of what you have accomplished? Try making a list. Include all achievements, big and small. Add to the list throughout your graduate school career. You will be amazed by how many things you have been able to accomplish. That feeling of accomplishment will help relieve self doubt or other insecurities that may arise. When you are confident about something that you did well, that positive energy can lead to future successes.

4. Ask for help.
Do not feel ashamed to ask for help. Asking for help does not show incompetence, but rather exhibits a desire for successful outcomes. Ask freely, as there may be other people who also do not know what you don’t know, and try to find solutions together.

5. Develop resilience.
Do not be frustrated if you fail. As we have learned how to ride bicycle after several failed attempts, we finally succeed and from that point forward, we know how to ride successfully! So try not to dwell on small failures or mistakes.

6. Secure individual private time.
If you compare the success of others to your own progress, or feel the need to meet the expectation of others, you may experience discomfort or uncertainty, which can lower self-esteem. In that case, it is important to find space to be able to consider and understand the source of our insecurities and organize our thoughts to recharge and focus on our positive achievements.

We all have vulnerabilities and the desire to be acknowledged. However, perfection does not exist in this world. So let’s reframe our thinking and change our lives to enjoy and celebrate our value!

Get more information on imposter syndrome:

Hanna Park received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at Columbia University and Master’s degree in Cognitive Studies in Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She worked as a journalist for the Korean Psychological Association.