Guidelines for psychological
practice with men and boys
APA developed Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Girls
and Women in response to a variety of concerns including
that for years, mental health research had only been conducted
by men and with male subjects, says Lynn Bufka, PhD, APA’s
assistant executive director of practice research and policy.
Gender bias in psychological practice was first documented in
1975, and the guidelines highlighted ways in which these biases
affect women.
In 2005, APA’s Board of Directors provided discretionary
funds to support a planning meeting for the development
of practice guidelines for working with boys and men.
From there, Div. 51 (Society for the Psychological Study of
Men and Masculinity) provided support for a task force to
develop guidelines that reflected the growing body of research
and practice evidence on working with boys and men that
could substantially improve the delivery of services to this
population.
The task force created a 160-page draft of practice
guidelines, which cover a range of issues, including male
challenges in seeking help, risk-taking behavior, and
institutional biases, says Frederic E. Rabinowitz, PhD, who
chairs the group. The draft was submitted for formal review in
accordance with policy to APA’s Board of Professional Affairs
and Committee on Professional Practice and Standards. All
APA boards and committees, divisions, state, provincial and
territorial associations and members of the public will have an
opportunity to provide comments and input on the revised
draft. These comments will be incorporated into a final draft
by the task force in advance of final review by APA’s Board of
Directors and Council.
—EVE GLICKSMAN
By the numbers
3
The percentage of primary-care visits that include
discussions of stress reduction, according to
an article in the November Archives of Internal
Medicine. That’s less often than counseling on
nutrition, physical activity and weight, which the
researchers found occur 17 percent, 12 percent
and 6 percent of the time, respectively.
48
Number of countries that formed a global
alliance to fight child sexual abuse by identifying
and helping victims, prosecuting offenders and
reducing the availability of child pornography
online, according to a joint declaration at the
December conference in Brussels for the Global
Alliance Against Child Abuse Online.
5 to7hours
How many more hours
most telecommuters
work per week than
employees who work
exclusively in the office,
according to a June
2012 study in Monthly
Labor Review.
Jupiterimages
2 times
How much higher the mortality rate is for light
smokers — those who average one cigarette
per day — than non-smokers, according to an
October study in The Lancet.
