PSYCHOLOGISTS ROLE IN INFLUENCING CONGRESS - THE PROCESS AND THE PLAYERS

A rudimentary conceptual model of the forces involved in establishing our nation's national health policy is offered to facilitate the reade r's understanding of the policy-making process. The authors use the mo del to make recommendations for how psychologists as external players can be maximally effective in interacting with Congress to influence p ublic policy. The APA Congressional Science Fellowship program is a cr itical link in organized psychology's increasingly active public-polic y/political presence.