Member surveys of the Pennsylvania Psychological Association: Uses for planning and policy decision making.

Abstract

Every year since 1996, the Pennsylvania Psychological Association (PPA) has its surveyed members to monitor practice patterns, changes in workforce demographics, and to determine the opinions of its members on issues related to the practice of psychology. This article reviews those surveys and discusses how PPA has used the information. Implications for professional psychology and other state, provincial, and territorial psychological associations are discussed.

What Oregon Psychologists Think and Know About Prescriptive Authority: Divided Views and Data‐Driven Change

“…Consistent with past research (Baird, ; Knapp et al., ; Simpson & Kluck, ), the current findings highlight a pattern of lack of knowledge, low interest in advocacy, and conflicting attitudes about RxP. Although there was broad agreement that training should be commensurate with other prescribers, less than one‐quarter agreed that psychologists should use existing pathways toward licensure.…”

“…However, consistent with past research (Baird, ; Campbell et al., ), the support is relatively shallow with fewer than 15% expressing interest in pursuing the training and even fewer planning to pursue training and becoming prescribers (7%). In the context of survey data collected from Pennsylvania psychologists between 1997 and 2011 that indicated fairly broad support for RxP but continuous low prioritization of RxP for legislative action (Knapp & Bowers, ; Knapp et al., ), the current data similarly signal a lack of enthusiasm with few Oregon psychologists showing interest in pursuing the training to become a prescriber and similarly low numbers expressing a willingness to be involved in legislative efforts (7%). Again, this underwhelming commitment and interest are not consistent with a policy shift that would significantly impact access to psychiatric care.…”

“…Additionally, as noted by Knapp et al. (Knapp & Bowers, ; Knapp, Leitzel, & Keller, ), across time, RxP seems to be among the lowest legislative priorities, signaling that there are more pressing issues in need of attention. The current study builds on this work in exploring what Oregon psychologists think about legislative costs and efforts and whether they would pursue prescription privileges should legislation pass.…”

What do psychologists most value in their state organizations? The Connecticut Psychological Association (CPA) perspective.

“…Barriers to accessing contact information for all psychologists in the state presented challenges that were only recently addressed through the freedom of information act (FOIA). Future surveys will make a concerted effort to focus on nonmember perspectives as well as to repeat the survey at regular intervals to ensure CPA is continuing to address the needs of potential members (Knapp et al, 2013). Future surveys may benefit from further refinement of survey items and a potentially deeper analysis of the quantitative and qualitative responses collected.…”

“…The foundation of CPA's membership growth strategy was to field a survey of both CPA members and nonmembers, an approach utilized by other states including Pennsylvania (Knapp et al, 2013) and Ohio (Drude, 2008). CPA's survey explored what CT psychologists most valued about the organization and what factors most affected their membership decisions.…”