Psychology and Policy

Obviously, there are many areas of psychological research that inform public policy, but few topics affect as many people as informed decision-making in the realm of healthcare. Enter Psychological Science in the Public Interest as a guide for policy-makers, clinicians, and doctors alike. In the recently published PSPI “Helping Doctors and Patients Make Sense of Health Statistics” by Gerd Gigerenzer, and “Current Status and Future Prospects of Clinical Psychology: Toward a Scientifically Principled Approach to Mental and Behavioral Health Care” by Timothy Baker, set to be published early this Fall, the authors presented two separate but equally important issues in modern healthcare.

Gerd Gigerenzer supplied several examples of how and why statistics are misinterpreted by doctors and patients and explained the impact this “statistical illiteracy” has on the understanding of diagnoses and treatment. “Much of the understanding comes from outside in the way information is being presented,” he explained. This is the basis for Gigerenzer’s research: in order for patients to fully understand their risks, the doctors need to be educated on how to interpret accurately and to explain health statistics.

As Timothy Baker explained, proper healthcare should include mental health as well, and unfortunately, it doesn’t always. The good news, Baker imparted, is that clinical psychology can weather a change toward a more scientifically-based approach to therapy. “The bad news is that we are not making these cases to the stakeholders, the clinical psychologists who are out here making these cases,” he said. Baker suggested an alternative accreditation system, one that monitored the effectiveness of therapy using empirical research, one that APS is already sponsoring, the Psychological Clinical Science Accreditation System (www.pcsas.org).

-Katie Kline