Academic-community collaboration in teen pregnancy prevention: New roles for professional psychologists.

Abstract

This article illustrates a collaborative arrangement between a nonprofit community-based teen pregnancy prevention program and a university-based practitioner-oriented doctoral program in clinical psychology. Emphasis is on academic-community connection which is a scholarly engagement with real-world problems and a view of psychology as a force for social change through collaboration between programs of psychology and community agencies. A teenage pregnancy prevention program and a model of academic-community collaboration with implications for curriculum design and training of doctoral level psychology students in community consultation collaboration and issues of social justice are described. Collaborative relationship between a university doctoral program in clinical psychology and a nonprofit community agency has its own special tasks and considerations. These include a special agreement that acknowledges respect for each others expertise and potential contribution to common goals and a sequence of dialogue and negotiations that spans the following overlapping phases: joining agreement education consultation and information and evaluation. Included are implications for curriculum design and training of doctoral level psychology students in community consultation collaboration and issues of social justice. Changes in psychology-training programs curriculum design and content that reflect community needs and provide insights and skills necessary for academic-community collaboration will shape social consciousness and attitudes in both faculty and students.