Advocacy: The seventh foundational principle and core competency of rehabilitation psychology.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE: Advocacy has received increasing attention in the field of psychology over the past few years, including in the subfield of rehabilitation psychology. Psychology has been criticized for over-focusing on individual responses to complex sociopolitical problems. Rehabilitation psychology has tended to do this in much the same way, by placing the onus on individual disabled persons' responses to disability and overlooking the systemic and structural concerns of the environment. Advocacy has a long and important history as a competency for the practice of Rehabilitation Psychology. Yet, rehabilitation psychologists rarely receive formal training or guidance about performing effective advocacy efforts. The original six Foundational Principles include the person-environment relation, the insider-outsider distinction, adjustment to disability, psychological assets, self-perception of bodily states, and human dignity. Beatrice Wright advised that the guiding principles must be subject to review and open to expansion. RESEARCH METHOD/DESIGN: N/A. RESULTS: N/A. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS: These authors believe that advocacy should be officially adopted as the seventh foundational principle of Rehabilitation Psychology. Rather than define advocacy narrowly as efforts within individual patient or family contexts, we argue that advocacy should be a broad construct of work done alongside the disability community and follow the lead of those with lived experience to avoid unintended consequences of well-intentioned advocacy efforts. We share models of advocacy in the field of psychology, including those most pertinent to rehabilitation psychology. Current disability advocacy priorities are highlighted at the individual, institutional, and discipline levels including interfacing with policymakers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Critical Thinking: A Model of Intelligence for Solving Real-World Problems.

Most theories of intelligence do not directly address the question of whether people with high intelligence can successfully solve real world problems. A high IQ is correlated with many important outcomes (e.g., academic prominence, reduced crime), but it does not protect against cognitive biases, partisan thinking, reactance, or confirmation bias, among others. There are several newer theories that directly address the question about solving real-world problems. Prominent among them is Sternberg's adaptive intelligence with "adaptation to the environment" as the central premise, a construct that does not exist on standardized IQ tests. Similarly, some scholars argue that standardized tests of intelligence are not measures of rational thought-the sort of skill/ability that would be needed to address complex real-world problems. Other investigators advocate for critical thinking as a model of intelligence specifically designed for addressing real-world problems. Yes, intelligence (i.e., critical thinking) can be enhanced and used for solving a real-world problem such as COVID-19, which we use as an example of contemporary problems that need a new approach.

No body is expendable: Medical rationing and disability justice during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The health threat posed by the novel coronavirus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic has particular implications for people with disabilities, including vulnerability to exposure and complications, and concerns about the role of ableism in access to treatment and medical rationing decisions. Shortages of necessary medical equipment to treat COVID-19 have prompted triage guidelines outlining the ways in which lifesaving equipment, such as mechanical ventilators and intensive care unit beds, may need to be rationed among affected individuals. In this article, we explore the realities of medical rationing, and various approaches to triage and prioritization. We discuss the psychology of ableism, perceptions about quality of life, social determinants of health, and how attitudes toward disability can affect rationing decisions and access to care. In addition to the grassroots advocacy and activism undertaken by the disability community, psychology is rich in its contributions to the role of attitudes, prejudice, and discriminatory behavior on the social fabric of society. We call on psychologists to advocate for social justice in pandemic preparedness, promote disability justice in health care settings, call for transparency and accountability in rationing approaches, and support policy changes for macro- and microallocation strategies to proactively reduce the need for rationing. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Beatrice A. Wright (1917-2018).

Presents an obituary for Beatrice A. Wright, who passed away on July 31, 2018. Wright was a pivotal figure whose research and advocacy changed the way psychologists and laypeople understand the experience of disability. A founder and leader of rehabilitation psychology, she demonstrated that physical, social, and psychological environments pose greater challenges for people with disabilities than the disabilities themselves. Wright championed the importance of human dignity for all persons regardless of the nature of their disabilities, arguing they should be partners with professionals when planning rehabilitation regimens. Both versions of her classic book, Physical Disability-A Psychological Approach (1960) and the revised and expanded Physical Disability-A Psychosocial Approach (1983), appear on American Psychological Association's list of the 100 most influential psychology books of the 20th century. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The foundational principles as psychological lodestars: Theoretical inspiration and empirical direction in rehabilitation psychology.

Historically, the Foundational Principles articulated by Wright (1983) and others guided theory development, research and scholarship, and practice in rehabilitation psychology. In recent decades, these principles have become more implicit and less explicit or expressive in the writings and work of rehabilitation professionals. We believe that the Foundational Principles are essential lodestars for working with people with disabilities that can guide inquiry, practice, and service. To introduce this special issues, this commentary identifies and defines key Foundational Principles, including, for example, Lewin's (1935) person-environment relation, adjustment to disability, the malleability of self-perceptions of bodily states, and the importance of promoting dignity for people with disabilities. We then consider the role the Foundational Principles play in the articles appearing in this special issue. We close by considering some new principles and their potential utility in rehabilitation settings. Readers in rehabilitation psychology and aligned areas (e.g., social-personality psychology, health psychology, rehabilitation therapist, psychiatry, and nursing) are encouraged to consider how the Foundational Principles underlie and can shape their research and practice.

Person-first and identity-first language: Developing psychologists' cultural competence using disability language.

The American Psychological Association (APA) advocates the use of person-first language (e.g., people with disabilities) to refer to individuals with disabilities in daily discourse and to reduce bias in psychological writing. Disability culture advocates and disability studies scholars have challenged the rationale for and implications of exclusive person-first language use, promoting use of identity-first language (e.g., disabled people). We argue that psychologists should adopt identity-first language alongside person-first constructions to address the concerns of disability groups while promoting human dignity and maintaining scientific and professional rigor. We review the evolution of disability language and then discuss the major models used to characterize disability and people with disabilities. The rationale for person-first language and the emergence of identity-first language, respectively, are linked to particular models. We then discuss some language challenges posed by identity-first language and the current intent of person-first language, suggesting that psychologists make judicious use of the former when it is possible to do so. We conclude by offering five observations of ways that use of both person-first and identity-first language could enhance psychologists' cultural competence regarding disability issues in personal and scientific communications.

Disability identity: exploring narrative accounts of disability.

OBJECTIVE: To review a type of narrative identity, disability identity, which is a potentially important topic concerning the social psychology of disability. Disability identity entails a positive sense of self, feelings of connection to, or solidarity with, the disability community. A coherent disability identity is believed to help individuals adapt to disability, including navigating related social stresses and daily hassles. Attention to disability narratives will enable rehabilitation psychologists to develop detailed theories and plan empirical investigations aimed at exploring the psychosocial applications of disability identity. METHOD: We examined six narratives (e.g., articles, chapters, books, blogs) written by people with disabilities in order to identify excerpts illustrating disability identity. RESULTS: Using themes drawn from disability-identity research (i.e., communal attachment, affirmation of disability, self-worth, pride, discrimination, personal meaning), we categorized excerpts from the narratives. CONCLUSION: By highlighting positive aspects of disability identity, the study of disability narratives can inform persons with and without disabilities about how individuals live with disabilities. We discuss reasons rehabilitation researchers and practitioners should consider disability identity and narratives in their respective efforts.

Revisiting the mine/thine problem: a sensitizing exercise for clinic, classroom, and attributional research.

OBJECTIVE: Two studies revisit a sensitivity exercise designed to heighten awareness of the social psychology of disability. The "mine/thine problem" (Wright, 1975) is an imagination exercise where one's own (self-defined) disability is paired with a different disability. Participants imagine whether they would prefer to retain their disability or to exchange it for the other. METHOD: Study 1 (N = 52) was a conceptual replication, while Study 2 (N = 50) paired participants' own disabilities with one independently rated as more or less severe. Study 2 participants also completed the Scale of Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons (SADP; Antonak & Livneh, 1988) 3 times: 1 week before participation, immediately after, and 2 weeks later. RESULTS: Replicating Wright (1975), participants retained their own disabilities (78% in Study 1, 90% in Study 2); varying the paired disabilities' severity had no effect on preference in Study 2, where, compared with pretest scores, participants expressed more favorable attitudes on the 2 posttest assessments of the SADP. CONCLUSIONS: The exercise sensitizes participants to insider (people with disabilities) and outsider (nondisabled) perspectives, leading to more favorable attitudes toward disability. Rehabilitation psychologists will benefit by revisiting and using this perspective-broadening exercise in clinic, classroom, and research settings.

Situations matter: teaching the Lewinian link between social psychology and rehabilitation psychology.

A little-recognized fact is that social psychology and rehabilitation psychology share a common theoretical ancestry in the situation perspective of Kurt Lewin. Theory and research in both fields assumes that situational influences often override the impact of personal factors, including dispositions. Situational analyses led to the development of a variety of cognitive explanations capturing people's phenomenal accounts for the causes of behavior and concomitant interpretation of social problems. Teachers can explore reasons why, despite the fields' having a shared theoretical perspective and topics of common interest (e.g., attitudes, prejudice, discrimination), little scholarly intradisciplinary contact currently occurs between them.

The Place and Promise of Theory in Rehabilitation Psychology.

OBJECTIVE: Although rehabilitation psychology is more focused on empirical evidence and clinical application than theory development, we argue for the primacy of theory, and explain why theories are needed in and useful for rehabilitation psychology. Impediments to theory development are discussed, including the difficulties of applying psychological theories in multidisciplinary enterprises, and the difficulties in developing a theory-driven research program. We offer suggestions by reviewing research settings, knowledge gained through controlled studies, grantsmanship, and then identify topical areas where new theories are needed. We remind researcher-practitioners that rehabilitation psychology benefits from a judicious mix of scientific rigor and real-world vigor. CONCLUSIONS: We close by advocating for theory-driven research programs that embrace a methodological pluralism, which will in turn advance new theory, produce meaningful research programs that inform practice, and realize the goals of this special issue of Rehabilitation Psychology-advances in research and methodology.

Quality benchmarks in undergraduate psychology programs.

Performance benchmarks are proposed to assist undergraduate psychology programs in defining their missions and goals as well as documenting their effectiveness. Experienced academic program reviewers compared their experiences to formulate a developmental framework of attributes of undergraduate programs focusing on activity in 8 domains: curriculum, assessment issues, student learning outcomes, program resources, student development, faculty characteristics, program climate, and administrative support. A continuum of performance was conceptualized for each attribute in each of the domains to characterize underdeveloped, developing, effective, and distinguished achievement for undergraduate programs. The authors hope to inspire a national conversation about program benchmarks in psychology in order to improve program quality, encourage more effective program reviews, and help optimally functioning programs compete more successfully for resources on the basis of their distinguished achievements.

Revisiting a Constructive Classic: Wright's Physical Disability: A Psychosocial Approach.

Beatrice A. Wright's (1960) classic book, Physical Disability: A Psychological Approach is a landmark publication in rehabilitation psychology. The authors believe that Division 22's forthcoming 50th anniversary, the results of a recent survey on essential readings in rehabilitation psychology, and a public critique concerning the relevance of individuating language in psychology are compelling reasons for revisiting the influence of Physical Disability. After discussing these catalysts, the authors review the book's history, scholarly impact, and link to positive disciplinary directions. The authors conclude by encouraging rehabilitation psychologists and other members of the discipline to (re)acquaint themselves with this important book and the timeless concepts it espouses.