Uniting liberatory and participatory approaches in public psychology with refugees.

Abstract

Increasing inequities both within and between nations call psychologists to consider whom they intend their research and practice to serve. The purpose of this article is to propose a public psychology rooted in the values of liberation psychology and utilizing participatory research methods to enact change. To exemplify this framework, we present the work of a community research partnership between academics and individuals with lived experience as refugees. All aspects of our research process, including the development of research questions and design, data collection and analysis, and dissemination and action planning, have been conducted via community-academic collaboration. Our focus has been to gain understanding of the strengths and concerns of Cincinnati's diverse refugee communities to inform actions promoting civic engagement. Refugee coresearchers successfully administered a collectively developed survey to 291 refugees in seven languages and facilitated follow-up focus groups with 35 people. Additionally, refugee coresearchers have identified three action plans based on the research findings to promote civic engagement; thus, translating research into meaningful action. This article details phases of our research process and interprets findings in the context of liberation psychology to illustrate the benefits of public psychology for academia, social policy, and community practice. We also discuss how our research illustrates the ways public psychology has the potential to not only promote greater equity but also to improve science. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).