Non-Member Survey Results

 - from January 2014 Newsletter
By David Donlon

What are the obstacles that keep people from applying for AAP membership?   To help us shed some light on that question, the Outreach Committee designed and conducted a survey of people who had attended AAP events in the last 6 years and had not yet joined the Academy.  The survey produced a huge amount of information and we thought you might find some of the highlights interesting.

We asked, via e-mail, 338 people to complete our Survey Monkey questionnaire.    These were all people who attended an I&C, Southern Region conference, or a Salon.  Twenty percent responded, and almost all completed all 20 questions.  There is no way to know how representative our respondents were of the entire population of people who have been exposed to the Academy and not joined.   We might presume, for instance, that people for whom AAP remains salient were overrepresented.  With that caveat in mind, here are some of the numbers:

Although most learned about AAP from a person -colleague 53%, supervisor 28%, friend 22%, therapist 19% (more than one response was allowed) ,  10 people discovered us from the brochure and 4 from the website.

About 60% are in private practice, 40% are not – this is significant because dues and conferences generally cannot be business expenses for people who are not, well, in business.

Median income was $50,000 - $60,000.  One third made less than $40,000

Thinking of their first AAP event:
25 % did not know anyone else in attendance

80 % felt welcome

• ¬ Those who did not feel welcome were scattered among attendees of different meetings
• ¬ 30 % of the people who felt welcome at their first event still plan to join in the future, but only one  person who did not feel welcome plans to join in the future

More than half the respondents added comments in this section and as the numbers above indicate most described the experience with words such as warm, friendly, cordial, vibrant, connected, and inviting.   Others spoke of being startled by the intensity and somewhat intimidated, but appreciative of it all the same.  People noted, among other things, the members’ investment in pushing each other toward growth.   The few negative comments in this section focused on disliking the intensity, the focus on therapists’ emotional reactions, and feeling excluded from in-groups.

Obstacles to joining

In citing obstacles to joining, cost was the most frequent, although still only cited by a minority of the respondents.  (People could choose multiple options)

37% selected “dues are too expensive” as an obstacle

23 % selected “national meetings are too expensive”  (interesting - in that national meetings are, of course, much more expensive than the dues)

10% selected not feeling welcome

In comments, several  people cited feeling the intensity and open conflict was not for them.  Similarly a couple of people were looking for something more informational and less personal.   A small number of others,  more experienced people,  were stopped by the idea of the application process and collecting documents and letters.  Others cited changes of direction in either career or geography that steered them away from AAP.

The younger and less experienced attendees were much more likely to cite expense as a barrier, as were retired people.  Only one of the 14 respondents in their sixties cited expense as an obstacle. See the following table:

   

 Expense  As an Obstacle Related to Age and Experience

 
People who listed as obstacles to joining that either dues or national meetings were too expensive:

AGE                                                                                  EXPERIENCE

20’s	67%	6 of 9		<  1	75%	3 of 4
30’s	53%	8 of 15		1-3	33%	2 of 6
40’s	27%	3 of 11		3-5	77%	7of 9
50’s	53%	7 of 13		5-10	44%	4 of 9
60’s	7%	1 of 14		10-20	45 %	5 of 11
70’s	67%	4 of 6		20+	21%	4 of 19

  We asked people to rank the following 9 factors in order of importance to them in considering joining a professional organization.  Incredibly, all but one person took the time to do this!

Note:  A low number = a more important factor.   

There was a strong correlation between continued interest in joining AAP in the future and age.  90% of our respondents under 40 said they remained interested, compared with only 40% of those over 50.

Those are just some highlights.  We are happy to send you the full report and may even be able to go back to the survey to make other correlations if you have a specific curiosity.  Write David at dkdjmt@mindspring.com

Submitted by David Donlon and the Outreach Committee, Maureen Martin, chair, Curt Arey,  Suzanne Timms.