THE MANY VARIETIES OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
What are the practical or applied fields in which you will find psychologists? There are too many to mention here, but the International Association for Applied Psychology has the following divisions, and this will give you a very good idea of broad fields of work in which psychologists are active (http://www.iaapsy.org).
Division
Organisational Psychology
Psychological Assessment and Evaluation
Psychology and National Development
Environmental Psychology
Educational, Instructional and School Psychology
Clinical and Community Psychology
Applied Gerontology
Health Psychology
Economic Psychology
Psychology and Law
Political Psychology
Sport Psychology
Traffic and Transportation Psychology
Applied Cognitive Psychology
Counselling Psychology
Our department here at UCT is one of the few in South Africa that offers professional training in neuropsychology. At present there are two broad fields in which neuropsychologists may work. Firstly, those interesting in pursuing a career in neuropsychological research work exclusively at academic institutions. University posts most commonly entail teaching and administrative responsibilities, in addition to research. Some pure research posts do exist, both at universities and at research organisations. Secondly, those interested in pursuing a career in clinical practice work either in the state or private sectors. Because neuropsychology is a new practice category in South Africa, the state is currently in the process of setting up posts. In the private sector, neuropsychologists work in private practice. Clinical practice entails a range of work, from diagnostics to case management. Practitioners may focus on particular areas of specialist knowledge, for example, pediatrics, epilepsy, or dementias, to name a few.
A field in which psychologically-trained people are making an increasing impact, is programme evaluation and monitoring. Because training at all levels of psychology usually include quite a lot of attention on research methodology, psychology graduates move into this field quite easily. Many social, health, and community programmes and interventions furthermore are based on psychological theories and research. In fact, departments of psychology nowadays often run postgraduate courses in programme evaluation. Here at UCT the Department of Psychology offers a module in the Master’s (Research) course in programme evaluation methods. In the Section for Organisational Psychology, in the UCT Commerce Faculty, there is in fact a Master’s programme in Monitoring and Programme Evaluation (http://www.commerce.uct.ac.za/Managementstudies/orgpsy/masters-in-programme-evaluation/).
Donaldson and Christie (2006) identified a broad range of settings where psychologists doing programme evaluation work: non-profit organisations, educational settings, health-care settings, government settings, and corporate settings. The situation in South Africa is not very different – advertisements for programme evaluation specialists appear on a weekly basis. One indicator of the importance given in South Africa to programme evaluation is that there is a Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation in the State President’s office. You can see more information of its work here: http://www.thepresidency-dpme.gov.za/.
The Human Capital Initiative of the American Psychological Society predicted that six areas of concern would be where applied psychologists could make substantial contributions. One can look at these broad fields as predictors of where opportunities for growth and employment are going to be in the future.
Area of concern
Productivity in the workplace
Schooling and literacy
Aging
Drug and alcohol abuse
Health
Violence
It is not hard to see how all six these areas are also at play in our country. Take health for example. Given South Africa’s HIV/AIDS crisis, this is a field where many psychologists find work locally, as counsellors, researchers, programme managers, and such. You will find them in settings like the Health Systems Trust, the Human Sciences Research Council, various government departments, at universities (for example the Institute for Social Science Research at the University of Cape Town), and non-governmental organisations (for example, the Western Cape AIDS Training, Information and Counselling Centre - ATICC).
Sport psychology also relates to health and wellness, as well as to elite athletes taking part in high performance sport. Many people who are thinking about a career in psychology are attracted to this element of the discipline. Take a look at this website, http://www.performingmind.co.za/, of a local psychologist who is involved at the Sports Science Institute of South Africa in Newlands (http://www.ssisa.com/pages/specialised-health-services/psychology).
Drug and alcohol abuse is in the news on an almost daily basis, and psychologists play a very active role in efforts to address it. The Medical Research Council has a specialised unit on Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Research, that is staffed almost completely by people with psychological training (http://www.mrc.ac.za/adarg/adarg.htm).
If you look at the areas of concern (and there are more of course), you can see how they can be regarded as psychology’s growth careers. In other words, areas in which people with psychological training are in demand, or will be growing in demand in future. Some time ago the American Psychological Association identified some of these – see how they tend to overlap what I have said above (http://www.apa.org/monitor/2008/04/careers.aspx).
Programme evaluation – The website of the UCT Section for Organisational Psychology I referred to above will give more information.
Working with older adults - The Albertina and Walter Sisulu Institute of Ageing in Africa (IAA) was established
at the University of Cape Town in April 2001. It incorporates the University’s division of Geriatric Medicine, the Neurosciences, Neuropsychology, Old Age Psychiatry, and a Gerontology Programme (http://www.instituteofageing.uct.ac.za/).
Government service – people trained in psychology enter government service in South Africa at all levels: from ministers in the national cabinet to researchers in parliament and project managers in national and provincial departments.
Applications in the workplace, where industrial-organisational (I/O) psychology has long been a popular and lucrative area, and it is an area of growing importance. Take a look at the Society for Industrial & Organisational Psychology of South Africa for more information (https://www.siopsa.org.za/).
Courtroom expertise. Forensic psychologists conduct psycho-legal evaluations and offer their opinions as expert witnesses in criminal, malpractice and other cases, says the APA website. The HPCSA states on their website that forensic psychologists conduct psychological assessments and provide expert evidence or opinions, amongst other things.
Practice niches. Psychologists in independent private practice, referred to in the opening section, are always on the lookout for special areas where expertise is required.
Multidisciplinary applications. There is a strong trend toward multidisciplinary research and applications in for example health services. In social science research projects in such areas as obesity, elder self-neglect, stroke neurorehabilitation and health disparities, multidisciplinary teams are often the preferred method of working. It has been said that psychology is a "hub" science, one that connects to virtually all of the social, behavioral, mathematical and biological sciences. This is an aspect you can take advantage of when looking at careers, in for example the Human Sciences Research Council and the Medical Research Council.