The American Psychosocial Oncology Society (APOS) requests support for the next three annual conferences (2016-2018). APOS is dedicated to advancing the science and practice of psychosocial care for people affected by cancer and is the only multidisciplinary professional organization in the U.S. dedicated to the psychosocial aspects of cancer treatment. APOS' 454 members represent the disciplines of psychiatry, psychology, nursing, social work, clergy, patient advocacy, and social and behavioral health scientists. This nation lacks sufficient providers and researchers with the requisite knowledge to implement recommendations and standards to achieve health equity in psychosocial cancer care. Therefore, APOS has prioritized health equity in the training and delivery of high quality cancer care, with a dedicated focus on implementation via this conference series.
The specific aims of our proposal are: 1) To educate practitioner and scientist attendees across disciplines about health disparities and promotion of health equity in psychosocial oncology; 2) To mentor 10 APOS scholars each year during the conference and throughout the subsequent years in research and practice; and 3) To educate 10 APOS Scholars from diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds in the major content areas of the APOS core curriculum (principles of psychosocial oncology, psychosocial quality standards, psychosocial interventions for survivors and their families, health equity, psychosocial oncology programs). We will educate attendees through preconference workshops and 2-day conference programs that present leading-edge science and best practices to promote health equity for diverse populations who suffer health disparities due to racial, ethnic, gender, sexual preference, age or other characteristics. Conference planning will be by an inter-professional executive team and each conference will be evaluated to ensure we are meeting our objectives. We will award 10 APOS Scholar Awards each year over three years and will pair these Scholars with a senior practitioner or scientist. During the conference, mentors and mentees will meet and outline an education schedule for during the conference and a timeline to achieve their goals (e.g., proposal submission, changing practice,) outside the conference. We will use a systematic process to select and evaluate both Mentors and Scholars. Three specific impacts post Scholars Program are: (1) improved clinical practice, (2) improved networking with leaders in the field with established mentor-mentee relationships, and (3) increased research in psychosocial oncology to reduce health disparities and promote health equity.
The American Psychosocial Oncology Society (APOS) is dedicated to advancing the science and practice of psychosocial care for people affected by cancer. APOS members recognize that there are many health disparities in cancer care due to racial, ethnic, gender, sexual preference, age or other characteristics. With a dedicated focus on training clinicians and scientists through a conference series, APOS will educate multidisciplinary providers and scientists and provide support for 10 junior clinicians and scientists each year. This will enable these clinicians and scientists to obtain the knowledge needed to improve 1) clinical practice, 2) networking with leaders in the field, and to 3) increase research in psychosocial oncology to reduce health disparities and promote health equity.
