Listserv

The APA Division 54 listserv provides a forum to update members regarding Division activities and pediatric psychology issues, to discuss topics relevant to the field, and to exchange relevant information (e.g., job openings, patient referrals). The areas of discussion are guided by the email list members and all are welcome and encouraged to participate. Involvement in the email list is critical to maintain frequent and current discussions, which are educational, practical, and beneficial to its members. The Division 54 email list is open to all members of SPP and has approximately 2,000 subscribers - membership is restricted to current SPP members. The email list is managed by SPP.

POSTING MESSAGES

Members may post messages at any time by emailing to div54-members@lists.apa.org.

Messages are not archived by the division and are therefore not searchable after they have been posted to the email list.

SUBSCRIBING AND UNSUBSCRIBING FROM THE LISTSERV

You must be a current member of SPP to join the listserv (click here for membership information).

If you are already a member and wish to join the listserv, send an email to info@pedpsych.org with the command:

ADD DIV54-MEMBERS [Email address] [First name] [Last name] in the body of the message. Do not include brackets and do not write anything in the subject line.
For example: ADD DIV54-MEMBERS janedoe@pedpsych.edu Jane Doe

Please allow up to 5 business days for your request to be processed, as we have to manually verify your membership before processing your request.

Members may unsubscribe from the list at any time by sending a message to listserv@lists.apa.org and typing SIGNOFF DIV54-MEMBERS in the body of the message. Do not type anything in the subject line of the message. This request will be processed automatically.

LISTSERV OPTIONS

A list of commands/options can be obtained by sending a message to listserv@lists.apa.org with the words INFO REFCARD in the body of the message (do not type anything in the subject line of the message).

There is a digest option that may be requested. If members choose the digest option, messages posted throughout the day are stored and consolidated and mailed to members at midnight each night. Note: the digest feature does not store attachments.

LISTSERV RULES

Rule 1: Do not use the forum for illegal purposes, including but not limited to defamation, violation of intellectual property laws, violation of antitrust or unfair competition laws or violation of criminal laws.

Rule 2: Do not intentionally interfere with or disrupt other forum members, network services, or network equipment. This includes distribution of unsolicited advertisement or chain letters, propagation of computer worms and viruses, and use of the network to make unauthorized entry to any other machine accessible via the forum.

Rule 3: Do not post requests to participate in research, or other research related recruitment on the Division 54 listserv. Further, in order to protect member’s privacy and to avoid scientific flaws related to conducting research via email distribution lists, Division 54 will not release Division members’ email addresses for the purposes of research solicitation or sampling. Please see “Reasons that research requests are not allowed” (bottom of this page) for a more complete statement by APAGS regarding this issue.

The SPP Listserv Manager and SPP Board require pre-review of all “surveys” or “questionnaires” sent to the listserv. The SPP Board may approve surveys directly related to SPP Board business (including related to our journals), directly related to the field or practice of pediatric psychology, or APA-sponsored surveys relevant to our listserv members. All authorized surveys or questionnaires will be directly posted by the SPP Board, or will include a statement that they were reviewed and approved by the SPP Board. Please send requests to post a survey or questionnaire on the listserv to SPP at info@pedpsych.org

Rule 4: Do not use the forum for commercial purposes. "Commercial" as used for purposes of evaluating email list messages means communications whose primary purpose is to advance the business or financial interests of any person or entity, or otherwise to promote a financial transaction for the benefit of the author directly or indirectly. Examples of prohibited communications include advertisements for products or services, notices regarding rental of office space, or direct solicitations of email list members to purchase products or services.

Examples of messages that may be of financial benefit to email list members but are not prohibited because they do not inure to the financial benefit of the author include news of job listings or position openings, or discussion of professionally-related products or services where the email list member conveying the information is not in the business of selling the products or services. Announcements that provide useful professional information to listserv members but may also have some incidental commercial benefit to the sender (e.g., an author who is a listserv member merely advising the listserv of publication of a professional book) typically would not be “commercial” for purposes of this restriction.

Rule 5: Do not use this forum for any communication that could be construed in any way as support for or opposition to any candidate for a federal, state or local public office. The Federal law providing for the American Psychological Association's tax exempt status absolutely forbids the use of APA resources or facilities, including this forum, in any way that would even appear to support or oppose such a political candidate.

Rule 6: Maintain client confidentiality when discussing clinical issues.

Rule 7: The listserv may not be used for electioneering (e.g., campaigning, solicitation of support)

Rule 8: Do not post messages that contain defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive or illegal information.

Additional Guidelines

In addition to these rules, SPP leadership and the Communications Committee have developed a set of guidelines and questions which may help us all express ourselves thoughtfully in discussion with each other. Please note that we do not seek to avoid or shut down discussions; professional disagreements can advance the field and foster personal and professional growth. At the same time, we invite members to consider the words chosen, timing, and impact of statements made on the listserv. We also encourage members to remember that the listserv includes psychologists at many different stages of practice, as well as trainees who may be quite new to our field, and we are all shaped by our diversity of lived experiences. Thus, words intended to express one thing may be perceived differently based on the receiver’s experiences, training, or current setting.

With that in mind, we offer some guidelines for listserv postings:

Please treat each other with dignity and respect. This does not mean keeping quiet, especially when you find something to be incomplete, misinformed, or otherwise in error. We invite your comments to start by assuming good intent in your colleagues and by seeking to provide information.
Please use evidence to support and refute statements or positions that are based on data. Similarly, please make it clear when you are sharing your own experience and opinions, which are valid and welcome.
Please remember that our listserv reaches more than 2000 pediatric psychologists and trainees: this is a place of public discourse. Further, please remember that no one is required or expected to contribute. Many are observing and are learning both about the topic at hand, and the ways in which information, ideas, and opinions are shared in a professional setting.
Please consider when the discussion is no longer constructive. At that point, the conversation may be over. On the other hand, please consider further venues for that discussion, for example a phone call or virtual meeting seeking mutual understanding, meeting in person to share experiences and ideas, or even a professional discussion in some format viewable to other members.

Finally, we also offer some questions for self-reflection before clicking “send”:

What is my emotional state while drafting these words?
How might someone who disagrees with me feel after reading my words?
How might my clients/patients/students/loved ones feel if they read my words?
What assumptions am I making?
Are these words helpful?
Am I prepared to handle any negative consequences of my words?

For further reading, you might also see APA's guidelines for Civility on email lists, which discusses respecting dignity and worth of all people, use of inclusive language, establishing a digital community and considering its culture, and valuing equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Job/Fellowship Listserv Posting Guidelines

SPP allows job posting on the listserv; at the same time, we suggest the job board is the best location to share about positions, and we request that you post judiciously to help reduce the flood of job postings at certain times of year. Specifically, we offer the following as guidelines (not rules):

Fellowships:

Please post fellowships on the job board. This will be a great place for people to find them, and since these are on a schedule they will generally be seen.
Please do not send fellowship announcements to the listserv; SPP will continue to send every other week announcements about new positions which will cover these.
With that said, it is ok to email the listserv about a fellowship if:
1. It is a late-breaking one, for example if the deadline to apply is within a couple weeks
2. There were significant changes to it after posting on the job board, for example if funding increased dramatically
3. You didn’t fill it on the uniform notification date and want to let people know it’s still available.

Internships:

Please do not post internships on the listserv; these are already well listed and found through APPIC
Similar to fellowships, there may be certain cases when it is needed to email the listserv about an internship, and we leave it up to your judgment.

Other jobs:

Please post all other jobs, faculty level, post-bacc, etc, on the job board!
Please email the listserv only when needed. For example:
1. Jobs posted at the typical timeline (late summer through early winter) and intended for new or junior-level faculty probably do not need to be emailed to listserv. These people are looking for jobs and will find them on the job board and through the every other week emails to the listserv.
2. Jobs that are late in posting, and/or recruiting more senior faculty might be appropriately sent to listserv.
3. Big changes in already-listed jobs might be a reason to email the listserv
4. In general, try to avoid sending the same job to the listserv more than once

We are not going to police this, and people won’t get in trouble. Please use the listserv judiciously for job postings and play nicely with each other =)

We encourage those posting jobs to recognize that not everyone is interested in jobs right now, AND
We encourage those tired of seeing lots of jobs on the listserv to recognize that there are times that a listserv email will get a job noticed when other things haven’t.

REASONS that research requests are NOT allowed:

APAGS has created a policy on solicitation of research participants which states the following:

Outside research requests or requests for research participants will not be posted to email lists maintained by APA. Research that samples via email list postings relies on flawed and indefensible methodology. Research that must discuss and defend its sample, the population, response rates and representativeness or generalizability of the data would be hampered in these pursuits by using mailing lists.
Email lists (division and other APA discussion lists) make no claim to be exhaustive collections of members who may fit into one or more specific category (e.g., clinical psychologists, practitioners, educators, and so on). In fact some 45% of APA members do not belong to any one division. By using a division as the "universe" for one's respondents, researchers are excluding a large number of eligible participants and hence may be introducing bias into their research.
Many members belong to more than one Division, and if the research is being sent to more than one division, the researcher faces the problem of defining response rate given duplication.
APA members and others belong to divisions and topical email lists for a number of reasons, some of these may not reflect the fact that the member works in the area covered by the Division or list in any more than a tangential sense - raising questions about the suitability of the sample to the research.
Concern was raised as to whether the APA could be seen as condoning this poor methodology by allowing these requests to be posted.
These weaknesses in sampling can cast serious doubt on the defensibility and worth of research that was conducted using email lists. Cases in which division electronic mail lists would be a good choice as a source for respondents include projects that are looking at how the Division (or APA offices) serves the members, or why members may have joined, among other division specific questions.

Failure to comply with the above rules and stated purpose of this email list will result in removal from the list by the email list manager.

Thank you for participating in the APA Division 54 listserv.