The Committee on Aging ( CONA) has been focused on a number of critical issues this year. First, the group worked on feedback for the new APA strategic plan, and relayed priorities to APA focused on a number of concerns related to plan's goals and objectives. Specifically, CONA stressed the importance of APA serving the large, growing, and increasingly diverse older adult population across settings of care and residence, family and other caregivers, professionals involved in practice and/or research with older, basic and applied researchers whose work has implications for lifespan development and, students across all educational levels, and the public, who will better benefit from scientific advancement and services provided by psychologists. A number of specific challenges for APA to address were also included in the feedback, including ageism, lack of exposure and educational opportunities with older adults, research priorities, reputational confusion, stigma attached to mental and behavioral health, lack of access to integrated health, and interdisciplinary competition, to name a few.
Second, CONA reviewed and provided input on a number of APA draft resolutions and guidelines, as well as CRSPPP petitions, to ensure adequate attention is given to older adult and aging issues. Thus far this year, CONA has provided comments on the: Resolution on Sexual Orientation Change Efforts; Resolution on Gender Identity Change Efforts; Resolution on Combination Biomedical and Behavioral Approaches to Optimize HIV Prevention; Resolution on Neuropsychological Assessment and HIV Infection; Guidelines for Psychological Practice for People with Low-Income and Economic Marginalization; Race and Ethnicity Guidelines in Psychology; Guidelines for Education and Training in Psychological Assessment in Health Service Psychology ; and the Presidential Initiative on Deep Poverty (to which CONA member, Katherine Ramos, PhD serves a liaison).
Last, CONA will be updating the 2002 APA Resolution on Ageism, as well as convening a Board for Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest/CONA working group to update the 2011 Guidelines for the Evaluation of Dementia and Age-Related Cognitive Change. CONA is also seeking nominations for two new full members of APA with substantive expertise in aging issues to serve a three-year term beginning January 2020 and ending December 2022. This year CONA is seeking psychologists with expertise in neuropsychology or applied and experimental psychology. The deadline for nominations is Sept. 2, 2019. Self-nominations are welcome.