Moving Forward With Hope: Advancing Health Equity in Pediatric Psychology Through Science, Practice, and Advocacy

For the last decade, the annual meetings for the Society of Pediatric Psychology have centered on defining the ever-changing state of the art of our field. This has required intention and willingness to adapt to rapidly shifting healthcare and political landscapes as we work together to trailblaze a path forward for our science and clinical practice. As a profession, we are learning to stretch our skillsets beyond the traditional confines of our roles as clinician-scientists to meet the call to be advocates and change agents across science, practice, training, and policy.  SPPAC 2024 provided the space to come together and reflect on the work we have done as a field, pushing us to collectively define the path forward. Building off of the energy and momentum from SPPAC 2024, we are excited to announce the conference theme: Moving Forward with Hope: Advancing Health Equity in Pediatric Psychology through Science, Practice, and Advocacy.

Our goal for SPPAC 2025 is to develop a conference program that is relevant to our membership across all career stages and showcases the innovation in science and practice that is at the core of the work we do as pediatric psychologists. This includes emphasizing the development of culturally competent therapeutic interventions, integrating trauma-informed care practices, and enhancing provider training and competence to address health disparities. We also aim to highlight groundbreaking research on health disparities, community-engaged research, and the integration of behavioral and physical health. Moreover, SPP is committed to fostering advocacy for health equity, understanding the impacts of policy on pediatric health, and training future advocates to lead the charge in promoting mental health equity. By doing so, we strive to advance health equity in pediatric psychology through a comprehensive approach that encompasses science, practice, and advocacy. Below are examples of topics aligned with the conference theme intended to support the generation of ideas.  

 Science and Dissemination: 

• Research on health disparities in pediatric populations, such as longitudinal studies tracking the impact of social determinants of health, interventions aimed at reducing health disparities and improving outcomes.

• Community-engaged research, such as partnerships with communities to identify research priorities, participatory action research methods in pediatric psychology, evaluating the impact of community-based interventions on child health.

• Research training and mentorship of underrepresented trainees.

• Innovations in measurement and assessment, including developing and validating culturally relevant assessment tools, novel methodologies for capturing health equity data, use of big data and machine learning to understand and address health disparities.

• Innovative strategies for integrating implementation science at the outset of research.

Clinical Practice: 

• Innovative interventions for diverse populations, such as developing culturally competent interventions, case studies highlighting successful implementation of health-equity focused treatments, and telehealth/digital tools for enhancing access to care to underserved communities.

• Trauma-informed care in pediatric psychology: Integrating trauma-informed practices into pediatric settings, addressing the psychological impact of systemic racism and socioeconomic disparities, best practices for supporting children and families experiencing chronic stress.

• Enhancing provider training and competence: Cultural humility and bias reduction for healthcare providers; training on health equity and social determinants of health, mentorship programs for underrepresented groups in pediatric psychology.

Advocacy for Health Equity: 

• Innovative strategies for pediatric psychologists to engage in policy advocacy, for example, case studies on successful advocacy initiatives for children’s health, strategies for building coalitions to address systemic barriers to health equity.

• Analyzing the effects of healthcare policies on child health outcomes, policy recommendations for promoting pediatric psychological health.

• Efforts to expand perspectives on pediatric health equity beyond the U.S., such as comparative analyses of health equity policies across countries, lessons learned from international health equity initiatives, and collaborative efforts to address global pediatric health challenges.

• Training and mentorship of future pediatric psychology advocates, such as curriculum development for advocacy training in pediatric psychology training programs, workshops on effective communication with policymakers and stakeholders.

 

Lauren E. Harrison, PhD
SPPAC 2025 Conference Chair
leharr@stanford.edu | twitter.com/harrison_laur 

Colleen Cullinan, PhD
SPPAC 2025 Conference Co-Chair 
Colleen.cullinan@ucsf.edu | twitter.com/colleencullinan