Community Psychology Research Articles

What Is Ethical Enfranchisement?

Epistemic injustice occurs when people are harmed as knowers, especially when we lack the conceptual and interpretive resources to recognize people as knowers of their own experience. This essay addresses the ways in which concerns about epistemic injustice create a positive obligation to include diverse knowers of ethics within the academy and models a community-based alternative. This is ethical enfranchisement, by which we mean expanding the range of people included within ways of knowing ethical concepts, reflecting on the way people’s experiences are represented in ethical discourse, and allowing priority ethical conversations to be identified by community research. The goal of teaching ethics through enfranchisement is the creation of social infrastructure and exchange between community and classroom. We describe our Re-envisioning Ethics Access and Community Humanities (REACH) Initiative at Salisbury University as an example; a community-based research partnership between public philosophy and community psychology in descriptive ethics. We also explore the obligation held by ethics professionals and academics to enfranchise community members in their conceptualization of ethical concepts, priorities, and knowledge.

Investigation Report on the Status Quo of the Construction of Community Psychological Service System in Chongqing—Taking the Pilot Urban Area of Chongqing Psychological Service System Construction as an Example

Investigation Report on the Status Quo of the Construction of Community Psychological Service System in Chongqing—Taking the Pilot Urban Area of Chongqing Psychological Service System Construction as an Example

Behind the scenes – Rigour of a Master’s clinical and counselling psychology degree selection process

This article reports on the rigour of a selection process for master’s degree programmes in clinical and counselling psychology at an undisclosed university in South Africa over a six-year period (n=81). This was achieved by completing correlation and regression analyses between the six selection activities, the six course modules, and the course average in the student’s M1 year. Results showed significant positive regressions between the metaphors activity, child psychopathology, and theory of psychological interventions modules, between the research task and neuropsychology, between the psychopharmacology and psychopathology modules, and between the problem-solving activity and the course average. The case study activity negatively predicted the ethics and practical work and applied and community psychology modules. The conclusion was that the selection process can be considered valid, as the skills assessed for most of the selection activities positively correlated and predicted the skills required to succeed both academically in the M1 year and as a practising psychologist. However, the case study activity required further investigation, as the skills that are purportedly assessed should correlate and positively predict the ethics and practical work module, which was not the case. Future studies should also investigate the usefulness of interviews during this process.

ETHICAL PRINCIPLES OF CONDUCTING THE PSYCHO-CORRECTIONAL PROCESS AS AN EXAMPLE OF THE ANALYSIS OF THE ETHICAL CODES OF UKRAINE AND CANADA

In Ukraine, the practice of providing psychological and coaching services in social networks has become widespread and these services occurred and continue to occur with violations of the rules of ethics of psychological counseling. In fact, in the current conditions when many different counseling services are available, the line between professional psychological help and “personal growth schools” is blurring. Those schools do not so much help as harm a person, without solving his/her problem at a deep level. Therefore, the goal of our research is to actualize the need to modernize the practice of applying ethical norms by Ukrainian psychologists and improve it by borrowing international experience from the world psychological community and comparing ethical approaches in Canada and Ukraine. The research presents the author’s practical experience of working with clients (taking into account all confidentiality rules). During the research, a mini-survey was conducted on social networks, which shows a certain trend that the ethical principles of psychologists’ work aren’t a high priority for their clients. It becomes obvious, that such low demand from society for ethical norms creates a corresponding supply of services that neglect generally accepted rules of professional activity. By analyzing some aspects of the Canadian and Ukrainian Ethical Codes, the author considers it necessary to draw attention to the need for quick and decisive actions to change the general paradigm in the services of Ukrainian psychologists with an emphasis on strengthening the ethical component and increasing the responsibility for violations of rules recognized by state institutions and public associations.

DAMPAK TEKNOLOGI TERHADAP PSIKOLOGI MUSLIM KONTEMPORER TENTANG PENGGUNAAN MEDIA SOSIAL [THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON CONTEMPORARY MUSLIM PSYCHOLOGY REGARDING THE USE OFSOCIAL MEDIA

Technological developments, especially social media, have provided wider access to information and communication for contemporary Muslim individuals. However, the influence of this technology also carries risks and negative impacts on Muslim psychology, including the spread of false information, social comparisons, conflicts, and addiction disorders. The study discusses the impact of technology on the psychology of individuals and Muslim communities. This article uses the literature review method to gather data from a variety of literary sources that are relevant to the research topic. Data is systematically analyzed to identify patterns, findings, and latest developments related to the impact of technology, especially social media, on the psychology of Muslim individuals. The use of social media has enriched the knowledge of Muslim individuals about religion and enabled inter-Muslim interactions around the world. However, risks such as the spread of false information, social comparisons, and addiction disorders also affect their psychology. Education, critical skills development, psychological support, wise time management, and inter-Muslim dialogue can help overcome the negative impact. The influence of technology on contemporary Muslim psychology involves complex aspects. Education and awareness of the risks associated with social media are essential to addressing its negative impact. In addition, good time management, effective communication, and attention to religious practices and Islamic values must also be taken into account.

Kind minds: using the ‘compassionate kitbag’ in a compassion focused therapy group for adults with intellectual disabilities

PurposeThis paper aims to describe and evaluate the impact of a compassion-focused therapy (CFT) group for adults with intellectual disabilities (ID).Design/methodology/approachPeople with ID are commonly subjected to stigmatising experiences that can contribute to feelings of shame. CFT targets shame and self-criticism by helping people to cultivate self-compassion. There is evidence to suggest that CFT can be meaningfully adapted for people with ID. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected using a mixed-methods design, aiming to gain a rich evaluation of the CFT group. Eight adults with ID were referred by their local community psychology team. An 11-week group protocol was based on materials from previous research. The protocol included the development of a “compassion box”, aiming to make CFT concepts more concrete and tangible. Questionnaires measuring psychological distress, self-compassion and negative social comparisons were completed pre- and post-group. Feedback from participants and carers were collated and facilitators’ observations were recorded.FindingsQuestionnaire findings were mixed, and some participants found the measures difficult to understand. Participants’ qualitative feedback and facilitators’ observations suggested that the group created feelings of safety and connectedness whilst facilitating engagement and action with shame and self-criticism. Several participants highlighted the usefulness of the ‘”compassion box”, although some barriers were noted.Originality/valueThis paper provides a rich description of how group CFT can be adapted to meet the needs of adults with ID and is the first study of its kind, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to evaluate the incorporation of the “compassion box”.

Feminist Community Psychology and the Advancement of Women in South Africa

In this presentation, I offer a brief personal reflection of my entry and introduction to psychology. I start from positionsing myself to highlight how we do not come into institutions of higher learning and our disciplines as empty vessels but with histories that shape how we view the world. Drawing from social justice scholars and my earlier work, I point to how psychology needs to shift from locating ‘problems’ within individuals but instead acknowledge the structural imbalances that contribute to individual and collective dis-eases facing society. I go on to call for a decolonial feminist psychology that acknowledges the multiple oppressions faced by people in many formely colonised nations such as South Africa, with a particular focus on women. I further show how visual methodologies such as embroideries offer the potential for epistemic justice and decolonial possibilities by centering community members as co-constrctors of knowledge. I conclude by highlighting how hope carries the potential for psychological healing.

“I Feel Like a Sex Ed Wizard Now”

The discourse around sex education is ambivalent and normatively loaded, stretching roughly between conservatism, liberalism, and neo-emancipation. In Germany, teachers receive no specific training and have little access to education, besides short and optional training from third-party providers. As a result, they feel left alone, overburdened, and politically at risk while simultaneously reporting a personal desire to make a positive change. Teach Love is a psychological knowledge transfer project applying critical community psychology to teachers’ continuing education on sex education. The participants receive emotion-, value-based, and pluralistic digital training based on empirically assessed needs and in collaboration with scientists (psychology, pedagogy, sociology) and practitioners (therapists, teachers, midwives) focusing on comprehensive competence. In this contribution, I present the empirically assessed teacher's needs on sex education and the resultant didactic. Second, I present the empirical post-measure evaluations to discuss the potential of applied critical community psychology in teachers' professionalisation. This contribution serves in three ways. Firstly, the paper presents a practically tested approach to how to deal constructively with polarizing topics in pedagogy. Secondly, the results show how to support teachers by applying critical community psychology in the teacher's professional development. Finally, insights into digital education formats, their applicability, effectiveness, and acceptability are gained.

The History of the Development of Imago Therapy in Russia

The article describes the history of the Imago Relationship Therapy establishment in Russia. Imago therapy as an approach for psychotherapeutic work with couples was developed in the 1980s in the United States by spouses Harville Hendricks and Helen LaKelli Hunt. The author of the article first encountered this psychotherapeutic method in 2005 at a conference on conflict resolution, where she met with Rebecca Sears (Imago therapist since 1994, and Faculty member in Imago International Training Institute since 2003) and decided to become her student. Author tells about the first trainings, presentations and master classes in the Imago approach which were held in Russia, as well as about the first books published in Russian. Author explains the roles that were played in the development of Imago in Russia by Rebecca Sears, the Institute of Psychotherapy and Counseling “Harmony”, “The Psychological Newspaper”, Russian psychological communities, “The Peaks of Transactional Analysis” project as well as the author of this article. This article outlines the road that the “Imago-Russia” project has traveled starting from the first trainings to the emergence of certified therapists, workshops presenters for couples, supervisors and teachers of the Imago approach.

Psychological Screening, Standards and Spinal Cord Injury: Introducing Change in NHS England Commissioned Services.

Psychologist resourcing across the United Kingdom (UK) spinal cord injury centres (SCICs) varies considerably, which has detrimentally impacted standardising service provision for people with spinal cord injuries/disorders (PwSCI/D) compared with other nations. This paper presents the outcome of a project involving the Spinal Cord Injury Psychology Advisory Group (SCIPAG) and NHS England Clinical Reference Group/SCI transformation groups to agree upon screening and standards and shares data from the National Spinal Injuries Centre (NSIC) and the Yorkshire and Midlands Regional SCICs. Inpatients completed the GAD-7, the PHQ-9, and the short form of the Appraisals of DisAbility: Primary and Secondary Scale (ADAPSSsf), assessing adjustment. A total of 646 participants were included, with 43% scoring above the clinical threshold on at least one of the measures on admission. A subset of 272 participants also completed discharge measures and 42% remained above the threshold on discharge, demonstrating sustained psychological need. This paper provides support for services to move to a screen-and-assessment model supplemented by referral options for those with changing needs or who present with difficulties outside the remit of screening. The findings also support the efficacy of universal screening across the system and consideration of screening and standards for psychological care by the wider psychology community.

Paper mills: a novel form of publishing malpractice affecting psychology

We first describe the phenomenon of the academic paper mill, a kind of large-scale fraud in which authors pay to have work published in reputable journals. We give examples of some known paper mills and discuss ‘red flags’ that characterise their outputs. Most of the early examples were in biomedical and computational sciences and so paper mills are less familiar to many psychologists. In the next section, we describe a broker company/paper mill, Tanu.pro, discovered by the first author, which was identified by the use of fake email addresses. This paper mill placed six outputs in the Journal of Community Psychology, a reputable journal from a mainstream publisher. We look in detail at these papers and describe the features that confirm that malpractice was involved in publication. In five cases there was circumstantial evidence of tampering with the peer review process coupled with lack of editorial oversight. These papers have now been retracted. In a final section, we discuss the need for editors of psychology journals to be aware of potential targeting by paper mills and recommend editorial procedures to counteract these.

The Relationship between Public Mental Health Policy and the Practice of Community Psychology through Family Support Groups

This article will examine the relationship between public mental health policy and the practice of community psychology through the lens of family support groups (FSGs). Government policy promotes community psychology, but the implementation thereof is lacking and gives way to approaches that deny the involvement of communities and families as equal owners in the psychotherapeutic process. However, the psychiatric system expects families to act as the ‘primary carers’ or ‘case managers.’ Family involvement is cited as invaluable to the overall success of recovery and, therefore, represents an opportunity for self-critique within the psychiatric system in its orientation towards partnering with families. In this context, FSGs were initiated within the adult male and adolescent inpatient units in the Western Cape at Lentegeur Hospital (LGH). This article promotes FSGs as central to psychotherapeutic interventions and offers an empirical grounding for an inclusive approach to family support. This practice of inclusivity is underpinned by a community psychology ethos and is based on the analysis of 24 FSG sessions involving 446 family members between July 2013 and November 2015.

A Community Social Work Paradigm: Thoughts and Reflections.

Community social work (CSW) is often regarded as a practice with a variety of intervention models. The objectives of the present article are to examine CSW's philosophical and theoretical roots and to bridge the gap in the literature regarding the theoretical and philosophical origins of CSW and to conceptualize these theoretical bases as a paradigm with ontological, epistemological, axiological, and methodological aspects. The ontology of the proposed CSW paradigm relies on ecological theory, critical theory, and community psychology. The paradigm's epistemology relies on the basic assumption that community members are autonomous subjective human beings with important and valid knowledge who make decisions concerning their lives. Axiologically, the most prominent value of the paradigm is participation, from which other central values derive. The paradigm's methodology derives from its three abovementioned components. The conceptualization of a CSW paradigm provides a theoretical foundation for community interventions and refining the goals of these interventions. The paradigm can be used as a pedagogical and identity-building tool with students and social workers who focus on CSW.

Promoting Economic Empowerment Through Effective Implementation and Linking Social Capital in Urban Agriculture Programs

Promoting Economic Empowerment Through Effective Implementation and Linking Social Capital in Urban Agriculture Programs

The representation of «woman» in english proverbs

Proverbs were first employed verbally without any supporting evidence in recorded literature, according to their origins. They have their origins in a country’s oral traditions. Folk literature known as proverbs condenses the nation’s knowledge into a few sentences. Proverbs, like other forms of folk literature like jokes and riddles, do not just appear out of thin air or are the creations of mythological beings; rather, they are always the products of human invention, whether done knowingly or unknowingly. The national mentality and national symbols of spiritual culture, etc., which have a direct relationship to socio cultural characters, are among the macro-components of the content structure of proverbs and sayings. These also include the social psychology of the language community’s members, the myriad contradictions and aspects of life, relationships between individuals and the community, and national mentality.

Learning in the context of partnership

For a number of years, community-based service learning (CBSL) has been a key element of the Community Psychology module in the Master’s programme for training psychologists at Rhodes University. In 2022, CBSL was consolidated to become central to the whole programme, with a focus on providing services in a partnership with the Assumption Development Centre (ADC). After introducing a model showing how students gradually move from sensitisation to social justice issues at undergraduate levels towards conscientisation as postgraduates, this paper will reflect on the interface between the professional training programmes and the community-based partnership with the ADC. Following a brief background about the partnership’s development, we describe the structure of the CBSL and its integration into the curricula. We provide evidence of its impact on both the firstyear master’s students, and the second year Counselling Psychology Interns. These data draw from the trainee psychologists’ reflections, as reported in the Rhodes Psychology Clinic 2022 Annual Report; and the Intern Psychologists’ reflections, integrated into the 2022 ADC Counselling Hub Annual Report. A thematic analysis of the reflections illustrates the commonalities in the accounts of learning, as well as the deepened insights and shifts evident in the accounts. The reported reflective learning is then considered both practically and theoretically, with recommendations for further development.

Statement on the effects of law enforcement in school settings.

School-based law enforcement (SBLE) have become increasingly common in U.S.schools over recent decades despite the controversy surrounding their presence and lack of consensus around their associated benefits and harms. Drawing on the history and evidence base regarding SBLE, we advocate for an end to SBLE programs. Grounding our argument in principles of Community Psychology and positive youth development, we outline how the presence and actions of SBLE negatively affect individual students as well as school systems, with particularly harmful outcomes for students with minoritized and marginalized identities. Research on SBLE and school crime does not provide consistent evidence of positive impacts, and many studies find null effects for the relationship between SBLE and school crime or increases in crime and violence in schools. Though funding for SBLE is often prompted by high-profile acts of gun violence in schools, evidence suggests that SBLE neither prevents these incidents, nor lessens the severity when they do occur. Thus, we advocate for removing law enforcement from school settings and redirecting resources into inclusive, evidence-informed responses that are generally safer and more effective than SBLE. We close by outlining the policy landscape governing SBLE programs and ways communities can lobby for change.

Civic engagement training at a school for youth with a history of dropping out.

Community psychologists have made significant contributions to the study of civic engagement, yet scarce studies have examined the impact of civic engagement training among youth with a history of dropping out. We describe an effort to promote civic education and action through a curriculum implemented at an alternative school that focuses on (a) developing awareness of the importance of engaging in social/political issues; (b) increasing civic participation; and (c) acquiring political advocacy and organizing experience. This evaluation of the civic engagement training summarizes the issues students reported in a public presentation as having had an impact in their lives; their historical, political, and social understanding of the issues; the ways in which they used a variety of social media to communicate information to different audiences; and their engagement in civic actions to impact their selected issues. Overall, students became more aware of their role as citizens and voters and wanted to share their experiences with their peers, friends, and families. The implications of promoting civic engagement among youth with a history of dropping out of school are discussed, as well as the challenges of the training implementation.

Then and now: A 50-year retrospective thematic analysis of Society for Community Research and Action presidential addresses.

The Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA) is the primary professional home for community psychologists in the United Statesand increasingly around the world. Since the formation of the American Psychological Association Division 27: Community Psychology in 1966, now SCRA, 54 people have served in the Presidential role. Presidential leaders' annual addresses both reflect the current state of the field and have the ability to shape the future of both SCRA as an organization and community psychology as a discipline given their positions as leaders. This commentary explores the trajectory of SCRA as an organization via 33 available presidential addresses, 28 of which were published in the American Journal of Community Psychology (AJCP). Using thematic analysis and drawing on both dialectical and life cycle organizational processes, three periods of SCRA and community psychology more broadly were identified: defining community psychology, applying community psychology, and re-imagining community psychology. Themes speak to tensions between the ideals of the society and the work of the society. We conclude by offering a series of questions for consideration as SCRA positions itself for the future.

Being fractal: Embodying antiracism values in course-based participatory action research.

In the winter and spring of 2021, I-a White, female, graduate student-taught a six-month course surrounding the theme: Disrupting Systemic Racism at our University Through Action Research. I was challenged to lead a meaningful course in a two-dimensional virtual space, amidst rising death tolls of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rhythmic beat of calls for racial justice pulsing through our Zoom class periods. This experience opened my eyes as an educator, budding community psychologist, and an antiracist White accomplice. In this critical autoethnographic case study, I recount my experience adapting the community organizing principle of fractalsinto a pedagogical framework that guided my instructional practices in a community psychology course. In doing so, I echo the call for community psychologists to connect our work more tightly to Black, Indigenous, and people of Color social justice organizers and movements to fortify the field's relevance in the struggle for racial justice.