2011 CEMRRAT GRANT PROPOSAL
Joint Proposal Submitted by the Society of Indian Psychologists’ Ethics Committee
and the APA Ethics Committee
(a) Problem, Goals and Activities: The Ethics Committee and Office has been
working hard to create an understanding of cultural diversity as central to ethical
awareness. A question that arises often in the APA Ethics Committee meetings is:
How does our understanding of culture and diversity inform our discussions and
decisions? Members of the APA Ethics Committee recognize that cultural
understandings based on dominant culture have highly influenced the development
of the APA Ethics Code, what we see as ethical and how we reason and decide about
ethical dilemmas. Thus committee members have been and are seeking ways to
expand and deepen our understanding of other cultures and bring that
understanding to our work on the Ethics Committee.
The Ethics Committees of the Society of Indian Psychologists (SIP) and the American
Psychological Association (APA) are requesting CEMRRAT funds to support a joint
endeavor to build greater connections and understanding about cultural differences
and similarities between the two cultures and organizations and how these inform
the work of each committee (the ethical issues addressed, ethical reasoning and
decision-making, adjudication, educational programming, and consultations). We
are seeking funds to support opportunities for members of the two committees to
meet for initial conversations and to develop plans for future joint projects to
further the development and education of our members about the centrality of
cultural influences on ethics. Both Ethics Committees have as part of their mission
an educational function to improve their members understanding and
implementation of ethical practices. With this goal in mind, possible future projects
include joint presentations and publications.
APA Ethics Committee Background: The APA Ethics Committee has been building a
stronger diversity focused agenda both internal to the committee workings and
externally by focusing much of their educational presentations on diversity topics.
Internal to the Committee, each committee meeting involves a standing item on the
agenda focused on diversity and often involves inviting an outside speaker with
expertise on a diversity topic to join us for a luncheon and lead a focused discussion.
Guests have included:
Spring, 2011--Dr. Carolyn Barcus telling stories about her upbringing in rural
Montana, her journey as a psychologist, the development of the Utah State
University psychology program and its focus on recruiting and supporting
students of color in the master’s and doctoral program, and ethical issues
from the perspective of a Native psychologist.
Fall, 2010—A videotape of Dr. Mark Jordan, Professor, Harvard Divinity
School, and panel of speakers on LGBTQ youth and religion.
Spring, 2010-- Dr. Elyn Saks, Professor of Law at University of Southern
California talking about her personal, work, educational and other life
experiences living with schizophrenia.
Fall, 2009--Drs. Irene W. Leigh and Virginia Gutman from Gallaudet
University talking about deafness as an aspect of diversity and the challenges
that psychology students who are deaf experience in their training and
professional development.
External to committee work, the Ethics Committee has been offering diversity-
focused educational programs at the APA Convention. Examples of such programs
include: “When Aspects of Client Diversity Collide: Ethical Considerations,” “Am I
Competent Enough? Latina/o Voices and Diversity,” and “Ethics and issues of cultural
competence and diversity.” At the last two National Multicultural Conference and
Summits, the Ethics Committee has presented multiple programs on diversity issues.
Most recently, the Ethics Committee presented two symposium at the 2011 NMCS in
Seattle: The Ethics of Assessing Cultural Competence” and “Ethics in International
Settings.”
The Ethics Committee has also established with Division 44 and APAGS, four student
travel awards for students of color who are sexual minorities to attend the NMCS.
Students submit essays about critical ethical issues at the intersection of
race/ethnicity and sexual orientation. The Ethics Committee made its first four
awards at the 2009 NMCS and this January at 2011 NMCS honored the second set of
awardees. In addition to these efforts of outreach to students, many of the ethics
workshops offered by the Ethics Office focus on presentations to students from
diverse and non-dominant cultural backgrounds.
At our recent spring committee meeting, Dr. Barcus during her conversations with
the APA Ethics Committee suggested that members of the APA Ethics Committee
might want to attend the upcoming 23th Annual Convention of American Indian
Psychologists and Psychology Graduate Students to be held June 27-28th in Logan,
Utah. Attending the convention would allow members to gain insights into Indian
cultures and also to meet with members of the SIP Ethics Committee. Initial
conversations have begun between Drs. Art Blue, Chair Emeritus, and Dan Foster,
Incoming Chair, of the SIP Ethics Committee and Linda Forrest, Chair, APA Ethics
Committee. Together we have decided to submit this proposal to CEMRRAT seeking
funding to support the development of joint work between the two Ethics
Committees.
(b) Procedures: The SIP and APA Ethics Chairs will continue their communication
via email and conference calls to further develop the plans for a meeting of
members from both Ethics Committees at the Annual Convention of American
Indian Psychologists and Psychology Graduate Students. At the meeting, future
plans will be developed for joint endeavors.
(c) Expected Outcomes/Work Products: Given that the members of the two Ethics
Committees have not yet met, the actual outcomes have not yet been determined.
Members of the two Ethics Committees plan to meet to develop next steps.
In working with Native cultures, relationships are critical. Thus, a key product
coming out of this meeting will be the initiation of an on-going relationship between
members of the APA Ethics Committee and Native psychologists. The
demonstration of this product will be an on-going commitment from both the APA
and SIP Ethics Committees to maintain contact including, but not limited to,
continued attendance at the annual SIP meeting. It is our hope that written
products will ultimately emerge from this collaboration. However, such endeavors
must be developed within the context of the relationships and identification of
specific publications or presentations would be premature at this time.
From the perspective of the APA Ethics Committee we hope that committee
members will develop a deeper understanding of Indian cultures and how Indian
cultures frame and provide guidance about ethical issues, reasoning, and decision-
making. The ultimate goal of this joint endeavor will be to inform and educate SIP
and APA members about the intersection of ethics and cultural considerations. The
exact shape of the outcomes will be determined as the relationship develops and the
project unfolds. Regular communication with CEMRRAT will be part of determining
the desired outcomes/products.
(d) Proposed Budget: We are requesting travel, and lodging/meals for 3 members
of the Ethics Committee to attend the upcoming convention of the American Indian
Psychologists and Psychology Graduate Students
Travel: $500. X 3 individuals
Lodging: $69.00 X 3 nights X 3 individuals
Meals: $50.00 X 3 days X 3 individuals
Total: $2571.00
Matching Funds
APA Ethics Office will cover the airfare, lodging and meals of the Director to attend
the conference. The funds will come from honoraria received from ethics education
workshops conducted by the Ethics Office.
The Society of Indian Psychologists (SIP) and their host, Utah State University
(USU), will provide matching funds in a number of ways.
1.
SIP and Utah State University will provide lodging and meals for members of
the SIP Ethics Committee for the duration of the Retreat (Saturday and Sunday, the
first two days of the convention) at the upcoming 23rd Annual Convention of the
American Indian Psychologists and Psychology Graduate Students to be held June
27-28th in Logan, Utah. Further SIP will provide funding for Dr. Art Blue, Chair
Emeritus to attend the convention and the joint meetings of the two Ethics
Committees.
2.
SIP/USU will provide the venue for the joint Ethics Committee meeting.
3.
SIP will provide lunch for a joint APA-SIP Ethics Committee meeting during
the convention.
4.
Consistent with its’ policy of inclusion and to prevent cost from deterring
participation to the greatest degree possible, SIP does not charge a conference
registration fee. However, SIP and Utah State University cover all the convention
costs including the venue and breakfast each morning. SIP would continue to cover
the conference costs, including the participation of the APA Ethics Committee at
subsequent annual meetings.
(e) This proposal is consistent with two of the CEMRRAT goals. Of the five goals
described in the CEMRRAT Request for Proposals, we believe outcomes of this work
would: (a) promote and improve multicultural training in psychology, and (d) provide
national leadership for diversity and multiculturalism in education, science and human
services.
Under funding priorities, #7 Leadership Development for Advancing Diversity and
Multiculturalism, is the best fit for this joint proposal being submitted by the SIP and
APA Ethics Committees. Initially, we hope to promote leadership in ethics education
focused on multicultural issues among Ethics Committee members. With SIP’s Ethics
Committees help, the APA Ethics Committee as an APA governance group has
substantial reach via its educational mission to improve the cultural awareness,
knowledge and skills of its members. Helping psychologists understand that cultural
diversity is central to ethics will improve how psychologists respond to ethical issues and
dilemmas they face. We also believe that the educational programs and publications that
will arise from this joint work will ultimately improve multicultural training in
psychology.
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