New2Neuropsychology (N2N): An organization to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in neuropsychology.

Abstract

Objective: To introduce New2Neuropsychology (N2N), an organization that seeks to increase recruitment of historically underrepresented minoritized (URM) students, and to examine preliminary data on N2N's impact and effectiveness in increasing knowledge about neuropsychology for URM students.

Method: This paper reviews relevant literature on factors informing the development of N2N. We also present descriptive data on N2N's impact to date, and results of pre- and post- surveys for presentations about neuropsychology delivered to 90 college students (mean age = 24.23, 64.4% juniors or seniors) between November 2021 - March 2023.

Results: N2N has reached >500 students in events across 27 schools and, with the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology, disseminated $84,000 in scholarships to URM students. N2N presentation attendees reported increased understanding of neuropsychology and the training pathway (ps < .001, Cohen's ds = 0.94 - 1.73) and increased confidence in their ability to become neuropsychologists (p < .001, d = 0.41). There were no overall pre-post differences for interest in pursuing a career in neuropsychology (p > .05); however, a subset of students who reported low interest at baseline (n = 57) reported a statistically significant increase in their interest post-presentation (p < .01, d = 0.36).

Conclusions: To date, N2N has progressed toward its goal, showing preliminary success increasing knowledge about neuropsychology for URM students. With continued development and support, N2N seeks to transform the pathway to neuropsychology for URM students, expanding accessibility of N2N resources across diverse groups and connecting URM students to neuropsychology research and clinical experiences.