Matching need, supply, and demand in psychology: How many to do what for whom?

Abstract

Matching need, supply, and demand for any skilled resource is complex, particularly in recent years when benchmarking has tended to focus more on what communities need rather than for what they are asking. The distinction between need and demand is particularly important for a discipline or profession like psychology where knowledge and expertise are both broad and deep. On November 8-9, 2013, the Canadian Psychological Association hosted a Summit on the Need, Demand, and Supply of Psychologists in Canada to address issues and opportunities related to need, supply, and demand for the discipline and profession of psychology in Canada. Over 75 participants attended to hear 16 different presenters speak on issues related to Canada's psychologist resource-both academic and practitioner. This commentary highlights some of the key learnings from presentations given at the Summit, and highlights gaps, opportunities and next steps to address this very important issue.Keywords: psychology, practitioners, academics, supply, demand, access to services, workforceResumeFaire correspondre le besoin, l'offre et la demande de toute ressource specialisee est complexe, particulierement depuis quelques annees, ou les etudes comparatives ont ete surtout axees sur les besoins des communautes plutot que sur leurs demandes. La distinction entre besoin et demande est surtout importante pour une discipline ou une profession comme la psychologie, ou les connaissances et l'expertise sont a la fois vastes et profondes. Les 8 et 9 novembre 2013, la Societe canadienne de psychologie a tenu un sommet ayant pour theme le besoin, la demande et l'offre de psychologues au Canada afin de discuter des questions et des possibilites connexes pour la discipline et la profession au pays. Les plus de 75 participants ont pu entendre 16 conferenciers presentes des sujets relies aux ressources en psychologie au Canada, tant pour les universitaires que pour les praticiens. Le present commentaire met en relief certaines des principales conclusions des presentations au sommet, ainsi que les ecarts, les occasions et les prochaines etapes en vue de faire avancer ce dossier des plus importants.Mots-cles : psychologie, praticiens, universitaires, offre, demande, acces aux services, main-d'oeuvre.Matching need, supply, and demand for any skilled resource is complex, particularly in recent years when benchmarking has tended to focus more on what communities need rather than for what they are asking. The distinction between need and demand is particularly important for a discipline or profession like psychology where knowledge and expertise are both broad and deep. Communities may ask for what they perceive or under- stand to be available. What they need, if it is undersupplied or unavailable, may not be demanded. So do need, supply, and demand match in psychology? The answer to this question is both probably not and we don't really know. As the national association for the science, practice and education of psychol- ogy in Canada, the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) has concerned itself with the supply of and demand for psy- chologists for many years.In 2008, the CPA convened a Task Force1 to look at this issue. Key findings from the task force included: we are an aging profession, there is great need for our services, and there is a disconnect in funding and supply for applied and didactic training. Acting on the Task Force's recommendations, the CPA engaged the Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI), Statistics Canada, the Practice Directorate and the regulatory bodies of psychology in discussions regarding the need for common data sets about our psychological resource. We also developed new partnerships and built on existing ones such as those with Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), Canadian Departments of Psychology (CCDP) and the American Psychological Association (APA). As a further follow-up, we organized and hosted a Summit in Ottawa, ON, on November 8-9, 2013. …