WPA Logo

WPA Transcultural Section Action Plan 2014-2017

/in , /by

Obligations according to by-laws:

In accordance to the WPA by-laws all sections are required to carry out certain tasks: (see also WPA website: WPA Bylaws)

  1. Have at least 20 members.
  2. Have held an election for the Section Committee, including a Chair and a Secretary, in accord with its By-laws.
  3. Have presented at least one symposium at a WPA sponsored Scientific Meeting without counting Section Conferences during the immediately preceding three years; and/or have scientific educational material authorized to carry the WPA logo by the WPA Executive Committee.
  4. Have carried out activities described in its plan of work or presented valid reasons for not having done.

The TPS will fulfill these tasks also in this triennial period.

Membership of WPA Transcultural Section (TPS):
Members of the TPS are required to pay an annual fee for membership. The size of the fee is decided at the World Congress Business Meeting of the Section.
Membership of the Section has to be approved by the Board.

Plan of Action for the period 2014-17:

  1. Newsletter:
    The Section intends to continue editing the TPS Newsletter, the so-called World Healer, as part of the TPS. The Newsletter contains e.g. conference reports, book reviews, and announcements of upcoming events. The Newsletter has been sent by e-mail to the members of TPS, and is later published on the website. This procedure is going to continue. Simon Dein who was the editor of the TPS Newsletter during the last triennium is willing to continue.
  2. Publications:
    The journal Transcultural psychiatry, a peer reviewed scientific journal with an impact factor of and with Laurence Kirmayer as the editor-in-chief, is the official scientific journal of the TPS currently with an impact factor around 1.5. This implies that the TPS may publish one special issue a year as part of the journal.
    In 2015, an issue will be published containing research from young researchers (defined as not having published more than very few papers before), with a particular focus on contributions from Low and Middle Income Countries. This issue is in preparation and TPS members are asked to review the submitted papers.
    The Board members of the TPS are suggesting topics for subsequent issues of Transcultural Psychiatry.
    The members of TPS are all publishing on the transcultural aspects of psychiatry and will be asked to provide a list of their publications to be published on the website to create awareness of the diversity of the activities of the TPS members.
  3. Conferences and congresses:
    Following a long tradition the WPA-TPS is planning to sponsor and cosponsor conferences in the world during the next 3 years:

The TPS intends to present symposia at the upcoming WPA International Congresses as well as the next World Congress in Berlin 2017.
The TPS also intends to organise stand-alone transcultural conferences, both as events where the TPS is the organiser, as well as conferences in collaboration with other organisations.
The TPS is organising a conference in Gdynia, Poland April 24-26, 2015 together with the German Federation of Transcultural Organisations (DTPPP). The topic of the conference will be: First International Conference of Transcultural Psychiatry in Central European Countries and will have a focus on contributions from the region with the intention to increase regional awareness and interest in transcultural issues.
The TPS will also take part in the WPA International Congress in Bucharest to take place June 24-27, 2015. The topic of the conference will be: Primary Care Mental Health.
The TPS is involved in increasing the transcultural focus in the WPA International Congress to take place in Istanbul July 6-10, 2016 with the intention to let cultural aspects of psychiatry be a main topic there. The topic of the conference will be: Integrating Clinical, Community and Public Health in Psychiatry. TPS may organise a stand-alone cultural symposium in connection with the congress.
The TPS will be actively involved in the upcoming World Conference on Cultural Psychiatry, organised by the World Association of Cultural psychiatry, to take place in Puerto Vallerto, Mexico, October 29 – November 2, 2015. The conference will have Sergio Villasenor Bayardo as congress president and the topic will be Global Challenges and Cultural Psychiatry.
The TPS is planning in collaboration with the transcultural section of the DGPPN as well as the EPA Cultural Section chaired by Meryam Schouler-Ocak to organise a symposium on Refugees and asylum seekers in Europe at the next DGPPN congress in November 2015 and also in 2016.
The TPS is planning to co-sponsor transcultural symposium at the EPA Congress in Madrid in 2016.
The TPS may cosponsor in 2016 the DTGPP (German-Turkish Association for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosocial Health) planned congress from 21st – 24th September 2016 in Hamburg.
TPS decided in the last triennium to sponsor annual conferences in Tanzania, organised by a Dutch organisation in collaboration with the Tanzanian Society for Mental health. These conferences take place every year in November and the co-sponsorship is planned to continue.
The TPS will cosponsor a meeting on Cultural Psychiatry in July 16-19, 2015 in China.
The TPS has contact with the Athena Network that on October 17,2015,is organizing a conference in London on the mental health of immigrants in collaboration with the SOAS University of London.

  1. Website:
    Our current website has been renewed in order to make it accessible for all devices, like mobile phones and tablets. The website is made in Word Press, a tool which can easily be changed by persons who are not familiar with building websites. The website attracts many visitors – in 2014 with a mean of 1500 unique visitors per month. The intention is to keep the current version for the next triennial period and follow how successful it is.
    TPS will give its website higher priorities than the social media in the next triennial period and increase the new information uploaded.
  2. Social Media:
    The TPS established accounts on Facebook and on Twitter during the last triennium.
    The likes on Facebook come from people around the world, mostly young colleagues. The intention is to use Facebook as a tool to promote the TPS and its activities.
    Similarly on Twitter the intention is to increase the use of the Twitter account and use it to announce new events in a short message: all Twitter messages are put on our website, too.
  3. WPA oriented activities:
    In the Presidential Action Plan for 2014-17 there is a focus on migrant, refugees and asylum seekers. The TPS is co-chairing the Task Force on this topic.
    The chair of the TPS is also a consultant to the WPA Planning Committee for the next triennium.
  4. Link to other transcultural sections and societies:
    In this triennium TPS shall intensify such collaboration. A number of activities are already planned and others are in the pipeline. Among such societies/sections are: SSPC, WACP, EPA Cultural Section, DGPPN Cultural Section, DTGPP. The collaboration could include co-sponsoring of events; linking to section activities; organizing symposia.
    TPS has close contact with the World Association of Cultural Psychiatry as the President of the WACP, Sergio Villaseñor Bayardo, is a board member of TPS.
    The TPS also will have contact with the Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture.
    The TPS has close contact with the Cultural Section of the European Association of Psychiatry (EPA), as the President Meryam Schouler-Ocak is a Board member of TPS.
    The TPS has also contacts with national organisations, like DTPPP in Germany, in the person of Solmaz Golsabahi-Broclavski
    The TPS is supporting the establishment of a Cultural Section of the Chinese Psychiatric Association.
  5. Committee on Research and Education:
    The TPS is planning to establish a Committee on Research and Education in this triennial period. Thomas Stompe and Kneginja Richter have both expressed an interest to be part of this committee. .
  6. Awards:
    TPS started in the last Triennium with a new award, the Young Researcher Award, to stimulate young researchers to write manuscripts about transcultural psychiatry and the first award was given in 2013 together with a runner-up award. The award winners were given the opportunity to publish their manuscript in Transcultural Psychiatry. The intention is repeat this successful endeavour and again announce an award in this triennium.

On behalf of the WPA Transcultural Section

Marianne Kastrup