Commentary: A Call to Action to Secure the Future of Pediatric Psychology--Resonating to the Points of Rozensky and Janicke (2012)

Abstract

The field of pediatric psychology has adjusted and adapted to fit the changing environment of healthcare and needs of children and their families over its history (Aylward, Bender, Graves, & Roberts, 2009). Although initially considered to have an overly narrow focus, pediatric psychology became novel and innovative in the 1960s and 1970s and ultimately developed into a creatively vibrant and productive force in research and practice in healthcare psychology. Although the field has achieved great accomplishments, there is the potential of stagnating or even being left behind if practitioners and researchers continue to exclusively maintain the ‘‘status quo’’ without further innovation. Therefore, current and rising professionals will need to focus their incredible intelligence and energies to move out of what are now the established routines and ways of doing ‘‘things’’ to become once again novel and innovative, responding to changes in health care. Rozensky and Janicke (2012) have contributed a significant vision for the future of pediatric psychology in a changing healthcare system. The significant points in this article are truly a call to action, a strategic plan as it were, for the field of practice and research in pediatric psychology. Rozensky and Janicke highlight several ripe and exciting opportunities for the field of pediatric psychology in terms of growth and expansion in light of current changes in the healthcare environment and in various other related fields and disciplines. In this commentary, we briefly attend to several of the issues raised by these visionaries as important areas for growth in the future of pediatric psychology. We have highlighted only a few of the major recommendations made by Rozensky and Janicke in order to provide the detailed discussion that each point warrants, and this selection should not be interpreted as an exhaustive list of the valuable points made in their discussion.