ontents un matters: contributions of apa interns …my international congregation ( ongregation of...

www.apa.org/international/pi

Psychology International ◦ SEPTEMBER 2015

UN Matters: Contributions of APA Interns at the United Nations: Youth Informing the Post-2015 Global Agenda By Juneau Gary, PsyD and Neal S. Rubin, PhD, ABPP

Juneau Gary, PsyD, (APA main representative to DPI) is a professor in the department of counselor education at Kean University in New Jersey. Neal S. Rubin, PhD, ABPP (APA representative to DPI) is a professor at the Illinois School of Professional Psychology of Argosy University in Chicago. Both are APA NGO representatives to the United Nations Department of Public Information and are coeditors of this column.

CONTENTS

COVER: UN Matters: Contributions of

APA Interns at the United

Nations: Youth Informing the Post

-2015 Global Agenda

PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION: The

World is about Global Issues …..4

SENIOR DIRECTOR’S

COLUMN:

Capacity Building in Psychology:

Advancing the Discipline, Building

Organizations, and Serving

Society ……….……………..…...8

COLLABORATE!:

Gratitude, optimism and

determination—the G.O.D.

principle in research

collaborations ……...……..…....12

Selected Review from

PsycCRITIQUES ......................15

Recently

Published .................................18

ANNOUNCEMENTS ................19

Volume 26, Number 3, September 2015

For an online version, visit: www.apa.org/international/pi

NEWS AND UPDATES FROM THE AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS | SEPT 2015

APA Office of International Affairs

In recent years there has been increased attention on the importance of youth perspectives at the United Nations (UN). The representation of youth is widely visible in meetings and forums and the voices of youth are frequently heard in a range of venues in this global organization (United Nations, 2015a). Concurrently, UN representatives have been intensely engaged in formulating a post-2015 global agenda focused on Sustainable Development. The planning process has involved representatives of Member States negotiating the details of a vision for the future of humankind and our planet (United Nations, 2015b). While it might appear obvious to include future generations in this global planning process, envisioning youth as integral contributors has previously been overlooked. Sustainable development has been described as systems and interventions that meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future

(Continued on page 2)

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generations to meet their needs (IISD, 2015). The concept acknowledges past shortcomings regarding a failure to recognize the value of creating interventions that endure over time. Sustainable development goals identify how embedding programs in local communities can facilitate a sustainable strategy rather than merely a short-term intervention. This philosophical underpinning in strategic engagement involves a shift from a “top down” problem solving approach to one valuing the contributions of all relevant stakeholders who will be engaged over time. Sustainability, then, is a longitudinal concept in that planning needs to address not only current crises, but must not leave persons and communities vulnerable to recurring crises and repeated states of stress as well as not adversely affecting their resilience. Essentially then, sustainability challenges us to envision our future as we plan in the present. Securing the future, as envisioned by representatives at the UN, necessarily involves the next generations of human rights activists. Hearing from them and preparing them for leadership are essential components of realizing sustainability. Therefore, it becomes eminently logical to emphasize the role of youth engagement with our future global agenda. Sustainable Development Goal # 3 Psychologists consulting at the UN have been partnering with representatives of Member States and other stakeholders to advocate for the inclusion of mental health and human well-being in drafts of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Their dedication and perseverance have paid off. There are currently 17 proposed goals and some now address mental health:

Sustainable Development Goal #3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.

Target #3.4: By 2030, reduce by one-third pre-mature mortality from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) through prevention and treatment, and promote mental health and well-being.

The acceptance of Goal #3 represents a pivotal moment in the history of the UN as it is the first time that mental health and well-being have appeared in such a significant document. The reference to well-being is understood to be a reference to health and mental health in this context (Target #3.4). As representatives of Member States of the General Assembly decide to sign on to this document, they are committing themselves to work toward the targets of each of the SDGs. Their government leaders then will be expected to implement relevant plans in their countries and will need to provide outcome data on progress toward these targets. It is the role of civil society to ensure that their governments marshal the political will to keep their commitments and implement determined efforts to realize the targets of the SDGs. APA’s 2014-2015 Interns in Their Own Words During the 2014-2015 year, the APA UN Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Team’s interns have been presenting papers and speaking out on a range of topics related to mental health and well-being. For example, several of the interns presented their initiatives at a program sponsored by the UN’s NGO Committee on the Family and at the 2015 Eastern Psychological Association (EPA) Annual Conference. Additionally, in a first of its kind all-youth panel, several interns gave a briefing to the UN NGO community. The web cast of this briefing is available at: http://webtv.un.org/meetings-events/other-meetingsevents/watch/future-psychologists-impacting-the-sustainable-development-goals-and-global-issues-dpi-ngo-briefing/4238378731001. We have dedicated this column to our impressive interns and future psychologists. Each, presented in alphabetical order, has written a brief paper summarizing one of their initiatives or interests. Dalal Alhomaizi presents a mental illness anti-stigma awareness campaign in Kuwait, developed in

conjunction with her sister Alaa. Noor Baker details current research regarding the mental health of Syrian refugees.


http://webtv.un.org/meetings-events/other-meetingsevents/watch/future-psychologists-impacting-the-sustainable-development-goals-and-global-issues-dpi-ngo-briefing/4238378731001

http://webtv.un.org/meetings-events/other-meetingsevents/watch/future-psychologists-impacting-the-sustainable-development-goals-and-global-issues-dpi-ngo-briefing/4238378731001

www.apa.org/international/pi 3


Roxane Caires focuses on the social justice issues for youth and female offenders in criminal justice systems.

Jin Hashimoto articulates how mental health is vital to achieving the UN SDGs. Eri Imahori discusses intervention models to promote resilience and bonding in fragile families. Leah Kaylor outlines the psychological impact of human trafficking worldwide. *Each intern’s article can be found here: http://www.apa.org/international/pi/2015/09/united-nations-interns.aspx Conclusion As the world community rises to the challenge of addressing key issues in ensuring sustainable development in the years to come, a range of stakeholders in this process must be engaged. As future leaders of the human rights community, youth hold the promise of sustaining progress toward “the world we want” (United Nations, 2015c). Now that for the first time, the UN is committing itself to addressing mental health and well-being, psychological science becomes highly relevant to aspects of the post-2015 global agenda. As illustrated by the papers of our interns, APA’s UN NGO Team is facilitating youth engagement by creating opportunities for them to inform stakeholders of the salience of psychological research in attaining many of the SDGs. We are very proud of their vision, commitment, and contributions. We eagerly anticipate learning about their future human rights advocacy initiatives. References International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). (2015). What is sustainable development? Retrieved from https:// www.iisd.org/sd/ United Nations. (2015a). Youth assembly at the United Nations. Retrieved from http://www.faf.org/main/youth-assembly-at-the-un/ United Nations. (2015b.) Time for global action for people and planet. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/ sustainable-development-goals/ United Nations. (2015c). Beyond 2015: The world we want. Retrieved from http://www.beyond2015.org/world-we-want-2015-web-

platform Ψ

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outside the United States and Canada? Join

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experience outside the United States and Canada. It is

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The World is about Global Issues By Maria Clara Kreis, PhD

Maria Clara Kreis, Ph.D., is the Assistant Director of Duquesne University’s Counseling Center and Licensed Psychologist. She can be contacted by email ([email protected]).

Issues arising locally in one part of the world often have an international impact on the rest of the world. In

many parts of the world there is a great need for mental health services. Many psychologists in the United

States of America are privileged and often have resources that can be shared with those parts of our beloved

but vulnerable world that are in need of mental health services and training. I believe psychologists have a

chance to be true to our mission toward systemic change, particularly if we can expand and enhance our

training for future psychologists. The creation of international internships or postdoctoral programs with a

particular focus on those areas that have limited mental health training and access to services can be a

durable way to produce sustainable systemic change.

I felt called to religious life at a very young age. I was inspired to join by the example of the German Sisters of

my international congregation (Congregation of the Sisters of Divine Providence, CDP) who trained me to be

an early childhood educator. In particular, it was the CDPs dedication to the charism and mission in which they

ceaselessly expressed their commitment to be of service to those in need.

Growing up tri-lingual and simultaneously in three cultures (German, Greek, and Hearing Impaired), I have a

strong desire to further a movement of cross-cultural living by becoming a Global citizen. A global citizen is

someone who loves and values the uniqueness of each culture and the richness each brings to one’s own life.

A global and planetary citizen is also someone who promotes efforts toward the development of kinships

across cultures and the stewardship that we all have in preserving the varied resources of our world.

Therefore, it was intriguing and inspiring to me to live in such a community and experience a rich prayer life

with the German CDPs. Today the Sisters of my international congregation provide social justice, pastoral,

educational, mental and physical health services world-wide. During my initial journey with this group, I

repeatedly encountered the emotional pain that was deeply seated in the souls of homeless, traumatized, and

refugee children/youth that were placed in our then residential youth program. Over time, these experiences

elicited for me a profound compassion to be a healing presence to them. It also began a curiosity in the study

of psychology. I still feel that same compassion for others and the curiosity to better understand human

behavior, which continue to sustain my commitment to life as a woman religious [the term for a woman who

has taken religious vows and is a member of a particular religious congregation – ed] and to a profession of a

psychologist.

While in graduate school at Marquette University, I expressed to my advisor my desire to be a Sister and a

psychologist while serving other women religious world-wide. I completed my training and internship in the

United States, and did not begin to complete this dream until 9 years later. On November 16, 2014, I arrived in


PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION!



Cameroon, Africa to provide a three week wellbeing program as a part of a renewal program offered to 14

Sisters of four Roman Catholic African women religious congregations. I received the invitation to provide this

wellbeing program through the Franciscan Common Venture (FCV), which supports efforts toward systemic

change by empowering African women religious in their efforts to eradicate social justice concerns. The FCV

was looking for a woman religious who was both a Sister and psychologist. I was considered as a potential

candidate because I had lived with one of the communities belonging to the FCV during my graduate program

and also through my dissertation research in which I established the first instrument (LSSAWR) that assesses

“Satisfaction with Religious Life” among women religious. The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation has awarded

$390,000 for the development of a manual to

support the use of this instrument. Additionally, the

funding will be used to translate the instrument and

manual to Spanish for its use with Spanish speaking

women religious.

Women religious all over the world provide services

to those in need. In fact, responding to social justice

concerns is the core of the vocational call and

commitment of Roman Catholic apostolic women

religious. The wellbeing program that I offered was

requested to provide African woman religious time to

attend to their personal and professional

development as well as their service. The ongoing

formation/education programs that others and I are

able to offer to the women religious in Cameroon,

empower these sisters to continue their mission as

they minister to those in need. This program

emerged when three US Franciscan communities

decided to assist one of the largest congregation of

women religious (Tertiary Sisters of Saint Francis,

TSSF) in Cameroon in their efforts to provide their

members with well-rounded education and continued

formation programs. Religious life in the US and Europe has shown a steep membership decline since 1960s

(CARA), meanwhile membership of women religious has increased on the continents of Asia and Africa.

Overall, the presentations in the wellbeing program I offered were focused on living a balanced lifestyle and

striving for holistic wellbeing while being mindful of the context and reality of African women religious. I

opened the program with a “Wellbeing Speech” written by Ian Edwards, PhD, which was well received by the

participants. Edwards is the Director of the “Counseling and Wellbeing Center” of Duquesne University of the

Holy Spirit in Pittsburgh, PA, where I minister as the Assistant Director and Coordinator of Outreach. Edwards’

emphasis on the messenger within the bible scripture of the “Annunciation,” who comes in disguise as an

angel and call to attend to all levels of our wellbeing, struck a chord with the participants.


Sisters participating in the wellbeing program perform an

opening dance



The program also included information about human life span development, and imparted skills training

related to time, stress, and conflict management. The schedule of the program, which ran from 9-5, was

integrated with other aspects of the Sisters’ lives, including Morning Prayer (at 6 am), daily mass, meals,

and breaks. At times, the participating sisters would ask for an individual conversation with me in which

they would share their stories and/or reflect on their personal and professional growth as result of this

program. The format included lectures, creative and small group activities, role play, and large group

discussions in order to promote and sustain overall wellbeing.

The Sisters were very appreciative of the program. They shared that the presentations helped them

understand the importance and the dimensions of self-care. They also appreciated the training sessions

related to time, stress, and conflict management for personal growth. These topics provided resources and

skills that would be useful in their ministerial services as well as their personal lives. For example, many

stated feeling more confident and skilled to share the difficult news, such as that informing a couple in their

outpatient clinic that one of them has HIV. After the sessions on human lifespan development, the Sisters

recognized how their own unresolved personal issues or those of others could surface in conflict situations,

and how they could be expressed in the form of distorted thinking, emotional dysregulation or reactive

behaviors. They realized that it is the lack of awareness and/or inability to regulate and to peacefully

integrate strong and hurtful emotions (e.g., traumatic experiences) in one’s life that may interfere with a

desire to live religious life satisfactorily. Overall, the sisters reported that they felt better prepared to

approach conflicts that occurred in their private and ministerial lives.

As the presenter of this three-week wellbeing program, I was personally moved by the participants’

sincerity and strong desire to gain and integrate the knowledge and skills related to wellbeing and

satisfaction with religious life. I was particularly inspired by the Sisters’ active participation expressed in

their open sharing, deep and insightful questions and responses, and creative expression in the design of

art, role plays, drumming and dance. The Sisters even taught me a few of their Cameroonian dances and

how to play the drum. Overall, the Sisters’ openness and vivacity have deeply enriched me as they shared

their rich heritage of the Cameroonian religious life, their life-giving community experiences, dynamic

prayer rituals, and outreach service to those in need.

I also learned a lot about the health care needs in Cameroon. The world health organization does offer

information on the disparity between health care needs and available resources (http://www.who.int/

mental_health/evidence/atlas/profiles/cmr_mh_profile.pdf).

Although there are hospitals and even a cardiac center (based on US standards) in Cameroon, there are no

mental health clinics attached to these hospitals. I was struck by the severe need for mental health services

during my stay in Cameroon. According to information listed on Commonwealth Health Online there is no

definitive knowledge about the prevalence different mental health diagnoses in Cameroon. There seems to

be an association between a high rate of depression and high levels of HIV/AIDS and the economic

instability and incidents of substance use have been identified as risk factors for mental health concerns.

One of the major goals of African women religious, especially the TSSF, is the eradication of social injustice,

a goal that is certainly intrinsically shared by the American Psychological Association. While each of us

could give individually and share some of our resources for a few weeks, as I did in Cameroon, the needs in


http://www.who.int/mental_health/evidence/atlas/profiles/cmr_mh_profile.pdf

http://www.who.int/mental_health/evidence/atlas/profiles/cmr_mh_profile.pdf



the country are far greater and require sustainable and long-lasting programs. Therefore, I decided upon my return to

the USA to become a social activist who inspires others to share their resources with and provide support to the

people in Cameroon and other countries that are similarly lacking mental health resources. There are many ways that

organized psychology could help.

While there is already an established organization for the medical profession, “Doctors without Borders,” one could

envision the American Psychological Association creating and supporting a similar program for psychologists and those

in the later stages of training. Such an organization would attract established professionals and students who would

like to become Global citizens. One could think even further and envision opportunities for training and internship

experiences. The development of international internship/postdoctoral programs could provide intercultural living

and learning experiences and opportunities to be fully immerged in other cultures. I recall in February 2009 anxiously

sitting at my computer, feeling restless about my psychology match results. I was overwhelmingly relieved to find out

that I had been matched to an internship site. But every year there are many qualified doctoral students who

experience similar anxiety but do not get matched. Perhaps such international internships could help ease the

internship crunch as well as allow psychologists to be pioneers in those parts of the world that are lacking trained and

skilled mental health professionals.

These thoughts occurred to me after I returned from Cameroon and was reading through the articles of the December

issue of Monitor on Psychology. I was excited to read Rebecca Clay’s article, in which she highlighted the important

but often overlooked role of access to mental health services for medical personnel who are helping address severe

needs in third world countries. Cameroon is a prime example of a country with a dire need to receive support and

resources to increase the scarce mental health clinics (I edited to scarce because see the WHO stats – there are 10 in

the country). Such clinics could serve those who have mental health concerns and those who have been exposed to

trauma either directly, or vicariously, such as women and men in social and spiritual professions. Some of the women

religious who participated in the wellbeing program shared with me their personal and ministerial stories in which

actual and vicarious trauma experiences did have a lasting impact on their lives. Listening to the accounts of the

sisters, I came to understand the impact of such experiences on peoples’ lives and the value of psychology’s

contributions. In fact, I now understand that efforts toward systemic change cannot be limited to the establishment

and execution of local and national outreach programming, but must extend in their global reach.

References CARA, Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (http://cara.georgetown.edu)

Commonwealth Health Online http://www.commonwealthhealth.org/africa/cameroon/mental_health_in_cameroon/ Ψ

3rd Caribbean Regional Conference of

Psychology

November 7-11, 2016

Port au Prince, Haïti

Web: WWW.CRCP2016.ORG

Extended Early Abstract Deadline:

October 15, 2015



SENIOR DIRECTOR’S COLUMN

Capacity Building in Psychology: Advancing the Discipline, Building Organizations, and Serving Society

By Merry Bullock, Senior Director, APA Office of International Affairs (OIA)

At the opening session of the recent conference Latin American Regional

Conference of Psychology/COLPSIC/ASCOFAPSI Gonzalo Tamayo Giraldo, president

of ASCOFAPSI, the Colombian association of departments of psychology, asked

three important questions:

Have we grown psychology to be relevant to our societies?

Have we targeted our education to construct the world we want it to be?

Have we inserted psychology into public policy?

These questions illustrate an increasing urgency to address how psychology can be relevant to solving

societal challenges, proactive in directing the world’s attention to the importance of behavior and mental

health in promoting wellbeing, and can provide unique insights to policy making . Psychology as a

discipline has been voicing the need to address these areas since George Miller urged us all to “give

psychology away”. Today, there is growing international dialogue, perhaps due to the increasing

recognition of the importance of the mind, attitude, behavior and mental health in addressing broad global

challenges such as violence in all forms, discrimination and prejudice against vulnerable groups, climate

change, promotion of global health and wellbeing, and socially responsible governmental, educational and

economic institutions.

We often talk about capacity building in psychology to meet the varied challenges of the 21st Century.

“Capacity building” is a term that arose in the 1970’s to refer to a framework for international aid and

development. It focused on strengthening individual, organizational and community resources. The idea

was that development was best served not by providing financial resources alone, but by strengthening

peoples’ and organizations’ capacity to determine their own values, priorities and goals, and to take steps

towards achieving them.

Capacity Building in Psychology

What would such capacity building look like in psychology? How does psychology frame initiatives to

increase the extent to which our discipline is relevant, coherent and serving society, especially

internationally? How do we address the vision framed by Tony Marsella when he wrote “The challenges of

today‘s world require a new psychology – a global psychology – that recognizes and acknowledges the

major global forces and events that are shaping the context of our daily lives, and that acknowledges and

prizes the cultural variations in psychologies across the world ...” (2007, p. 333) (Marsella, A. J., (2007).

Education andtraining for a global psychology: foundations, issues and competencies. In MJ Stevens & U.P.




Gielen (Eds). Toward a global psycvhology: Theory, research, interventions, and pedagogy. Mahwah, NJ:

Lawrence Erlbaum.)

Some recent examples serve to illustrate.

Advancing the discipline through specific learning communities

A first example is a series of capacity building workshops launched by the International Union of

Psychological Science (IUPsyS) to develop psychology in areas of the world where the discipline has been

weak or nonexistent. These workshops have focused on specific areas: disaster research, trauma and

bereavement, positive development, and conflict prevention. After the first of the workshops, held in 2005

to develop psychology capacity for psychosocial interventions following the Asian Tsunami, the IUPsyS

workshops have since focused on developing research, education and application in Central Asia and the

Asian-Pacific Regions. IUPsyS has now had 3 annual workshops on disaster intervention and intervention

research in Sichuan and Beijing with a 4th this year inTapiei, and 4 workshops focused on the Central Asian

region (the Caucasus) on intervention after bereavement. The goal in all cases is to build research and

application capacity within regions (see http://www.iupsys.net/events/capacity-building-workshops/

index.html) as a means to strengthen psychology departments, local psychologists’ research and application

capacities, and the discipline within a specific local context.

Developing regional networking and organizational collaboration

A second example is the development of regional groupings of psychology. The last decade has seen the

establishment of ARUPS (ASEAN Regional Union of Psychological Societies) in Southeast Asia; CANPA

(Caribbean Alliance of National Psychological Associations) in the Caribbean; and PAPU (Pan-African

Psychology Union) in Africa. What is unique about these new organizations (which join EFPA, the European

Federation of Psychological Associations, the first regional organization of national psychology associations,

founded over 30 years ago) is their explicit capacity building objectives – to develop a psychology that is

focused on and relevant to the issues, perspectives and needs of their region; to build national organizations

of psychology within the countries in the region, and to develop psychology education and training for the

local community that is both global in scope and local in application. Because these are regional groupings,

they also increase transnational networks and collaboration within these regions). These groupings are an

important model, as they have an explicit goal of encouraging the development of a regionally-based

psychology that will help ameliorate the domination of North American and European perspectives in

psychology educational texts, research literature, and application.

Raising the visibility and strength of psychology as a profession

A last example arises from the recent conference in Colombia in which leaders from psychology

organizations across Latin America participated in two days of discussions and workgroups on strengthening

Latin American national organizations of psychology, addressing education and training needs, addressing

social issues, and raising the visibility of Latin American psychology globally. In addition to discussion of how

to raise the visibility and organizational strength of psychology, there was much attention given to how to


http://www.iupsys.net/events/capacity-building-workshops/index.html

http://www.iupsys.net/events/capacity-building-workshops/index.html



bring psychology into the public arena, and how to showcase important global lessons for psychology in

how Latin American countries are addressing challenges of poverty, education, and recovery from

violence.

A global psychology

What is common across these examples is a perspective that psychology must develop ways to

accommodate a broad international scope. Marsella’s admonition to “recognize global forces” and

“acknowledge cultural variations” is much strengthened as psychology works to ensure that its “voice” is

inclusive to perspectives from around the world, and does so by strengthening local and regional

education and research systems. This perspective is reflected in another way that psychology is building

capacity – by developing international consensus frameworks on some of its core identities. The Universal

Declaration of Ethical Principles for Psychologists, a set of four guiding principles for ethical action (see

http://resources.iupsys.net/iupsys/index.php/ethics/declaration) was developed over more than a

decade of discussions, involving psychologists from a broad representation of countries, cultures,

languages, specializations and histories. Adopted in 2010, it provides an international framework for

discussion of ethical issues and for the development of national codes of ethics.

An analogous current effort is to build international consensus on the definition of a psychologist – the

International Project on Competence in Psychology (IPCP (http://www.psychologistsboard.org.nz/

cms_show_download.php?id=320)) is working to develop agreement on the minimal competencies

required for entry level into professional psychology – with the intention to promote competence as a

common language for professional identity and international recognition. The goal is to develop

consensus across all parts of the discipline in all parts of the world on the knowledge, skills and attitudes

necessary for competence as a professional psychologist.

A last effort that is still ongoing is to develop a common, international framework for psychology

education and training that is universal in its core structure but that reflects the need for all curricula to

address local needs and perspectives, and that reflects broad variation in constructs, measurement and

explanatory systems. These efforts provide a good model for addressing capacity building that will

address today’s challenges – to build a psychology that addresses important local needs, that has an

international voice, and that is sustainable. Please send your comments to [email protected], subject

header ”Internationalization.”Ψ

APA International Learning Partner Program (WWW.APA.ORG/INTERNATIONAL/OUTREACH/LEARNING-PARTNER.ASPX)

The 2016 APA trip to Cuba is to attend HOMINIS 2016 in Havana, Cuba (May 9-13, 2016). The conference

is organized by the Cuban Psychological Society with an

interdisciplinary and international focus. Hominis 2016 will

be held in the Havana Conference Center. Travel to the

conference with an APA-organized trip (May 6-15, 2016)

that will include attending the conference, meetings with

psychology colleagues and other planned excursions.

Conference registration is included in the trip cost.

Please send an expression of interest in this trip with the

subject line Cuba 2016 to [email protected].

http://resources.iupsys.net/iupsys/index.php/ethics/declaration

mailto:[email protected]




Congress Theme

Diversity in Harmony: Insights from Psychology July 24-29, 2016, Yokohama, Japan

——————————————————————————————

TRAVEL GRANTS TO ATTEND ICP2016 Sponsored by the American Psychological Association (APA) and the U.S. National Committee

for Psychology (USNC) of the National Academy of Sciences, this program will support early

career/ graduate student psychologists and midcareer/senior psychologists to attend the

International Congress of Psychology in Yokohama, Japan, July 2016. Participants will present

to and discuss their research to with an international audience, and engage in a mentoring

program to promote the development of international collaborations and networking. Grants of

up to $2400 are available to Early Career/ Graduate Student research psychologists, and to mid

-career/senior research psychologists with experience in international collaborations/

conferences. The program is funded by the National Science Foundation. Eligible recipients

must be engaged in research that falls under the purview of NSF programs in Cognitive and

Behavioral Sciences.

Deadline: December 1, 2015

For more information, visit: http://www.apa.org/about/awards/international-travel-mentoring.aspx

———————————————————————————————————————————————

FRANCES M. CULBERTSON TRAVEL GRANT $1,500 to support an early career woman from a majority world country who is in the early

stages of her career to attend a conference in psychology (preference for the International

Congress of Psychology, Yokohama, ICP2016). Recipients of the grant also receive a two-year

affiliate membership to the American Psychological Association.

Deadline: February 15, 2016

For more information visit: http://www.apa.org/apf/funding/culbertson.aspx

http://www.apa.org/apf/funding/culbertson.aspx



Sometimes you need a miracle for a collaborative international research project to succeed. Choosing collaborators

who share your vision and have the necessary skills and time is crucial, but your attitude to the collaborative project is

equally important. In the Culture and Family Life Lab, we have conducted collaborative international research in

Jamaica, Haiti, South Africa, Zambia, and the United States. Across these projects, we have found that having strategic,

long-term international partners is necessary but not sufficient for the success of an international research program.

We have also needed Gratitude, Optimism, and Determination (G.O.D. principle) to cross the finish line on all our

international projects. Invariably, some information gets lost in translation, you have less control over some aspects of

the research process than expected, and you find that the best laid plans only get you so far. When moment-to-

moment problem-solving becomes your exhilarating or exasperating reality is when you need the G.O.D. principle

most.

Forming Your Collaborative Team: Maximize Perspectives

There are many considerations in assembling

an ideal international research team (see other

articles in this e-newsletter for tips). In this

article, we highlight the need to consider the

variety of perspectives that will best contribute

to your research project, including those of

undergraduate student research assistants

(RAs). One goal of the Culture and Family Life

Lab is to better understand the acculturation of

21st Century Jamaican youth and families living

on the island and in the United States (see

Ferguson, 2013). In this work, we have found

the best configuration for a collaborative

international research team to include: 1) a full

cultural insider living in the country being studied (brings the emic perspective); 2) a full outsider living in another

country (etic perspective); and ideally 3) a third person with significant experience in both worlds. As a Jamaican

immigrant who moved to the United States for college at 18 years old, the first author has played this third role in

multiple studies conducted in Jamaica (e.g., Ferguson, Bornstein, & Pottinger, 2012; Ferguson & Iturbide, 2013) – she

maintains a foot in Jamaican culture and a foot in U.S. culture and travels between the two countries at regular

intervals. Her familiarity with the Jamaican culture (e.g., way of speaking) gives her enough of an ‘in’ to communicate

effectively with administrators and participating families, but her relative foreign-ness (e.g., U.S. institutional

affiliation) still allows her to receive island hospitality, which facilitates work completion at the research sites.


COLLABORATE! By Gail M. Ferguson, Ph.D., Melissa Bravo, B.S., Tashaine Morrison, and the Culture and Family Life Lab - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and University of the West Indies, Open Campus.

Gratitude, optimism and determination—the G.O.D. principle in research collaborations

Culture and Family Life Lab, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Fall 2014:

(left to right): Gail Ferguson, Christy Clarke (grad RA), Julianna Ge (undergrad RA),

Melissa Bravo (undergrad RA), Maria Iturbide (postdoc), Taylor Lindbom (post-bac

RA).



A Little Bit of G.O.D. Goes a Long Way

Collaborative international research is hard work and not for the faint-hearted. Special stamina is needed even for

those seasoned international researchers embedded in strong collaborative teams. We have found that G.O.D. is most

helpful when the going gets tough, especially during the data collection and data entry phases.

Gratitude: A successful international collaborator frequently expresses genuine gratitude to local partners. She recognizes that facilitating international research takes time and resources that many settings can hardly afford. She never leaves for an international research trip without thank you cards and thoughtful

gifts from the university bookstore. She nurtures the relationships with international collaborators, knowing

that they are more than just business partners (e.g., they often host each other in their homes). Optimism: A successful international collaborator is unwaveringly committed to seeing the glass as half full

even in the most trying situations. His stubborn optimism imparts flexibility and creativity for solving daily problems, inspires continued hard work among team members, and avoids the pitfall of blaming the international partners/setting for challenges. He keeps a pep in his step while on the job, and at the end of each day is able to appreciate the humor of the situations navigated.

Determination: A successful international collaborator has a will of steel and is indefatigable in meeting project objectives as best as possible within local constraints. She expects roadblocks to occur and mentally prepares to handle them graciously each day. When faced with a closed door she usually pries open a window, except on rare occasions when she decides it is better to cut her losses in service of reaching the overall project goals (e.g., ending data collection early at an unresponsive research site).

The G.O.D. Principle at Work: The Culture, Health, and Family Life Study

Here we will highlight one recent collaborative international research project of our lab, which illustrates this principle

at work. The Culture, Health, and Family Life Study1 investigated remote acculturation (i.e., Americanization) and

health among adolescents and their parents in Jamaica, and was headed by the first author as principal investigator

(PI), along with two co-investigators at the University of Illinois and one co-investigator at the University of the West

Indies in Jamaica. The research team also included five student research assistants (RAs), two of whom were

undergraduate students and co-authored this article: Melissa Bravo2 (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA)

and Tashaine Morrison (University of the West Indies, Open Campus, Jamaica). Their perspectives as 21st Century

youth and cultural experts in their respective countries were valuable for study design and data collection, and will

again be useful for the interpretation of findings.

After months of advanced planning with international partners for the study, a mosquito-borne virus called

Chikungunya visited Jamaica on its Caribbean tour (Campbell, 2014; Robles, 2014) and spread rapidly just before the

PI (first author) arrived to begin data collection. A leading local newspaper labeled Chikungunya as “the beast of

2014” (Jamaica Observer, 2014) and for good reason. Local school partners were struggling to cope with

unprecedented medical absences among administrators, teachers, and students (including a key contact person/

facilitator and intended participants). What is more, Chikungunya threatened to decimate our research team: the

head local RA (third author) caught the virus the day before data collection was scheduled to begin and the PI

manifested symptoms after the first week in the field. The team had to lean on the G.O.D. principle during that period

by 1) showing appreciation for the local partners’ facilitation in an unusually chaotic time; 2) maintaining energy and

optimism to hire and train new RAs while exercising good self-care; and 3) having the determination to sample all the

planned schools despite initial difficulties with illness, staffing, and space.

Like faculty members, postdocs, and graduate students in our lab, undergraduate RAs gave a lot to and gained a lot

from this collaborative international research team. In addition to learning the ropes of research, they benefitted from




its fruits. The second author presented a poster highlighting preliminary study findings at the 2015 University of

Illinois Undergraduate Research Symposium (Bravo, 2015), both RAs are co-authors on this article, and there will be

future opportunities to co-present findings at national and international conferences. Below, each RA reflects on her

experiences as a member of this collaborative international research team.

Melissa Bravo, undergraduate RA, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. Working on the Culture,

Health, and Family Life Study team has been an incredible experience. My primarily role was to format and edit the

questionnaire that was distributed to the students in Jamaica. Editing and formatting the questionnaire was a bit

challenging and time consuming. As a researcher, I wanted to make sure that the questionnaire was concise and easy

to follow so students would be able to complete it without any major obstacles. Communication between the

researchers in the United States and Jamaica was essential. One of the problems that the researchers in the United

States encountered was pairing the mother and student questionnaire together in a few cases. In these cases, errors

occurred during data collection in Jamaica such that two pairs of participants were given the same ID number or the

mother and student were given different ID numbers. In order to solve this problem, we had to contact our peers in

Jamaica as soon as the error was noticed (during the data collection phase) in order to explain our problem and

come up with a solution together. This international research project gave me the opportunity to learn new things

about the Jamaican culture and understand how the American culture has been incorporated into it.

Tashaine Morrison, undergraduate RA, University of the West Indies, Open

Campus, Jamaica. I was one of three Research Assistants in Kingston for the

Culture, Health, and Family Life Study conducted in Jamaica over a period of three

weeks. My main duties were to assist Dr. Ferguson in data collection by recruiting

and enrolling students, taking height and weight measurements, and issuing

incentives when required. It was an especially rewarding experience for me as I

received first-hand knowledge of critical research ethics and procedures (including

specialized training for research with international populations) and the

importance of following special ethical protocol when working with children and

adolescent participants. Communicating with other collaborators on the project

who were based in Illinois, was done mainly by way of Skype video calling. This

allowed us to exchange thoughts on our experiences and challenges faced, and to

highlight the contributions of each team member to the various stages of the

project and to the project overall. My advice to other undergraduate students who

may not yet be involved in international research collaborations is that

confidentiality is vital to ensure the integrity and validity of the research project.

In sum, strategic research collaborations involving experts and students with a generous helping of the G.O.D. principle have made for successful international research in our lab. We are grateful to all our international collaborators, especially our long time partners at the Caribbean Child Development Center, University of the West Indies, Open Campus, Jamaica. And to our readers, we would love to hear your experiences with this principle in your own international research collaborations. Email us at [email protected].

Notes:

1 The Culture, Health, and Family Life Study was partially funded by an International Seed Grant awarded to the first author and two co-

investigators by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

2 Melissa Bravo has since graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as part of the Class of 2015 and is now a

graduate student at Loyola University. Ψ

CHFLS Data Collection in Jamaica: (Left

to right): Tashaine Morrison

(undergrad RA), Gail Ferguson, and

Nadja Murray (undergrad RA) set up

for CHFLS data collection in a Jamaican

school.



International Book Review: Selected Review from

PsycCRITIQUES

The book review reprinted here is courtesy of PsycCRITIQUES editor Danny Wedding. PsycCRITIQUES is an online journal that

provides reviews of books, monographs, films, and other productions in psychology stretching back to 1956. Readers can also access selected

reviews and discuss books important to the science and profession of psychology by visiting the PsycCRITIQUES blog at

psyccritiquesblog.apa.org. For more information see www.apa.org/psyccritiques. If you are interested in reviewing, please contact editor

D a n n y W e d d i n g a t

The World of Psychology:

Wide and Polycentric

A review of

Psychology Serving Humanity:

Proceedings of the 30th

International

Congress of Psychology

By Saths Cooper and Kopano

Ratele (Eds.)

London and New York: Psychology

Press, 2014 301 pp. ISBN:

978-1-84872-256-9. $155.00

Reviewed by Ruben Ardila

PsycCRITIQUES CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOLOGY: APA REVIEW OF BOOKS American Psychological Association

The 30th International Congress of Psychology was held in July 2012 organized by the International Union of Psychological Science (IUPsyS). The two volumes of this book contain a selection of the Invited Lectures and the State of the Science Conferences presented in this Congress, which is the main forum of psychology at the world level. One of these volumes is dedicated to the works of Western Psychology and the other to Majority World Psychology. The books present an updated, systematic and very well documented panorama of psychology at a global stage, emphasizing scientific research and also applications to social problems of great scope. These Proceedings are part of a series of works published throughout the last few decades with the Invited Lectures and the State of the Science presentations of the International Congresses of Psychology. In this particular case, it is been organized into two volumes, based on the origin of the works: Majority World Psychology (vol. 1) and Western Psychology (vol. 2). Note that in the previous Proceedings, groupings were not based on the origin of the works or authors but instead by Invited Lectures or State of the Science. In addition, when the developments of psychology at a global level are contrasted, the order of the presentations is usually the exact opposite: first, Western Psychology, and second, Majority World (or developing world) Psychology.


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This Congress was held in Africa, for the first time in the history of this series of Congresses. Psychology as claimed by the editors of these books has been more developed in the First World, or Western World, and not so much in the periphery, which embraces the greatest part of the planet’s population and that is why it is called the Majority World. Cooper and Ratele expound on this in the Foreword:

Mainstream psychology finds its largest number of exponents and leading personalities in the high-income countries of the global West, specifically the United States of America (USA) and, to a different degree, Western Europe, the birthplace of the discipline. The latter is what gives mainstream psychology its name of Western Psychology. However, the centre of research and theoretical gravity of mainstream psychology is found in the USA. (vol. 1, p. xi)

In fact, the major developments during the early years of the history of psychology took place in Germany, France, Russia, Belgium, Holland, Sweden, the United States and Canada, but few other countries. The internationalization and the relevant contributions of the countries called “peripheral” is recent, only in the last couple of decades. The congresses organized by the IUPsyS and also the ones organized by the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP) reflect this situation, and in the Proceedings predominance of the works presented by the United States and Western Europe psychologists is obvious. Let us also keep in mind that the same happens in other scientific disciplines and it is not at all an exclusive phenomenon of psychology. Biology, astronomy, linguistics and information technology, to mention just some examples, were developed mainly in Western Europe and the United States and only in recent decades can we count the advances of great importance such as the ones made in astronomy in Chile, linguistics in Mexico, biology in Brazil or information technology in India. In the case of psychology, internationalization has been a relatively recent process. It has reached milestones such as indigenous psychology, cross-cultural psychology, and above all the inclusion of non-western cultures, of other worldviews, of other traditional cultures in the study of psychological phenomena. At this moment, we are trying to achieve that difficult equilibrium between being a science with universal principles (etic) and a culturally contextualized discipline (emic). All of this is reflected on in the two volumes of Psychology Serving Humanity. Contributions from many countries and regions are included. Social, community and critical emphasis, relevant to solving today’s problems, is very clear in this work. One of the authors (M. Seedat, from the University of South Africa) asks himself: “How may psychology begin to re-imagine its relevance, critical place and human welfare contributions to the twenty-first century?” (vol. 1, p. 13). This uneasiness has been presented on the part of many psychologists, among them Martín-Baró in Latin America and a great number of specialists in social issues, peace psychology, war and violence, poverty, discrimination, from the Majority World as well as from the United States and Europe. Research has been carried out, solutions have been proposed, and many of these advances are described in this publication. On the other hand, the scientific emphasis of psychology is very clear and it is framed in the tradition of the discipline, in mainstream of psychology. Contemporary research on memory, health, cognition, clinical issues, neuropsychology, cognitive development, the world of work, socialization, relationships among groups and many other central topics of today’s psychology, as a science and as an applied field, are presented in these two volumes. The scientific mainstream of psychology permeates many chapters with evidence-based psychology, and relevant social implications.




In volume 1, Mona M. Armer refers to the Arab Spring and the way it can contribute to the development of the Arab community psychologists’ identity. She declares that psychology in the Arab world has been centered on clinical and educational matters and has left out the community. Egypt has been the leading country in this part of the world, and these values have spread to other Arab nations. The Arab Spring and its search for autonomy, tolerance, social justice and the struggle against totalitarianism promise to have important social implications. However, in order to do that, psychology needs to center on the community, at all levels. That new community psychology could contribute in a decisive way to the creation of an Arab community of psychologists. Several chapters criticize the consumerism of western society, note its lack of respect for nature and ecology, and point out the frequent artificial separation between human beings and the context in which their behavior occurs. This is shown especially in the chapters written by the authors of India, with their reference to classical philosophies and their role in today’s psychology, which needs to be emphasized much more. A sustainable psychology requires sustainability of the ecosystem. As Misra notes, the challenge of balancing economic development with sustainable environment has become a tough task, and, without doubt, “the sustainability of the discipline of psychology would depend on the extent to which it prepares itself to contribute to the sustainability of the ecosystem” (vol. 1, p. 203). The concepts of community, diversity, education, novel experiences, integration of philosophical traditions with a great psychological content, family, multi-ethnic visions different from the Western point of view, among other topics, make this volume especially rich with ideas that can contribute significantly to international psychology. Volume 2 addresses Western psychology and also contains quite original works having great contemporary relevance. The authors are people with ample recognition and a great commitment to psychology. Among the topics dealt with are cyber-bullying, aging, cognitive memories, optimal functioning, neuropsychology, pain, stressful life events, terrorism, human rights, peace, along with many other topics. In the case of peace psychology, Daniel J. Christie presents a comprehensive and well documented chapter, noting that psychologists traditionally have worked on the topic of war, as was the case during the two World Wars and the Vietnam War, while ignoring the topic of peace. The well-known exception is an essay by William James titled “The Moral Equivalent of War” which is considered the first effort to create a psychology of peace. Then, during the Cold War, many systematic and more organized efforts arose to study the psychological factors associated with peace, conflict solution, reconciliation, and the postconflict and related issues. Today peace psychology is an area of great relevance at an international level, with research groups, positive research results, influence in governments, books and journals, and professional associations. Christie states, “Hence, peace psychology. . . is foundational to the trans-disciplinary project of peace studies that seek to serve humanity through the pursuit of peace and social justice for all” (vol. 2, p.42). It is interesting to compare the works on peace, structural violence, conflict resolution, human rights and similar topics with the work of Kimmel (also in volume 2) in relation to torture. Kimmel criticizes the “investigations” that he qualifies as unsafe, illegal, unethical, and ineffective. The role of a few psychologists in the cases of torture, and the control that the professional associations have tried to implement to protect the persons and institutions against abuses, are current matters of interest and concern to the profession of psychology. Many other current scientific advances are presented in these books, including the ones related to the refugees’ experience, burnout in the workplace, depression, and also other topics with a more positive emphasis such as optimal functioning. All are the work of experts in their own fields, treated in depth, and are also accessible to psychologists in other areas of the discipline. The editors have done an excellent job in selecting the papers and placing them in context. Saths Cooper, the president of the IUPsyS, organizer of the 30th International Congress, and one of the editors of these books, is an important leader of psychology at the majority world level and also at the global psychology level.




In summary, the two volumes of Psychology Serving Humanity could be useful for those interested in international psychology, in the recent developments of new fields of research and application, for advanced students, and for many people of other disciplines who wish to know more about the state of psychology and its multiple contributions for understanding human beings, their society and to achieve the utmost development of the potentialities of individuals,

families, groups and communities. We have come a long way, but there is obviously still a long way to go. Ψ

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