Community Psychology Practice Research Articles

A Reclassification of al-Ījī’s Akhlāq al-ʿAḍudiyya into a Model of Traditional Islamic Virtues (TIV)

While psychologists have only recently become extensively interested in character development and virtue acquisition, such an interest has existed for centuries among Muslim scholars. Islamic scholars have created many typologies and classifications of the virtues building upon the tradition they inherited from the ancient Greeks. Among the most notable works in this genre is the treatise most famously known as al-akhlāq al-ʿaḍudiyyah, written by the 14th century scholar ʿAḍud al-Dīn al-Ījī (d. 756 AH/1355 CE), which provided a comprehensive yet concise manual of the Islamic virtues that synthesized the previous work of Islamic philosophers situated within Islamic scripture. This paper provides a revised classification of the Islamic virtues by adjusting al-Ījī’s classification of virtues in his al-akhlāq al-ʿaḍudiyyah. This revised classification of virtues, referred to as Traditional Islamic Virtues (TIV), adopts the four cardinal virtues of wisdom, temperance, valor, and justice, with the addition of spirituality as an independent chief virtue with accompanying sub-virtues. TIV provides an aggregation of many of the sub-virtues enlisted by al-Ījī due to the degree of overlap between them. TIV also makes minor linguistic revisions and adds a few new sub-virtues. The definitions of each of the TIV sub-virtues are constructed by drawing upon numerous sources in the Islamic tradition while still relying mostly on al-Ījī’s classification. The process of aggregation and revision has produced five cardinal TIV virtues with 31 sub-virtues. This paper further demonstrates that a review and integration of the Islamic tradition into mainstream psychological discourses can greatly enrich the holistic practice of clinical and community psychology.

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.

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

Edison J. Trickett (1941-2022).

This article memorializes Edison J. Trickett (1941-2022), a leading theorist in community psychology. After joining the psychology faculty at Yale (1969-1977) and the Yale Psychoeducational Clinic, Ed became a faculty member at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he taught until 2000 and directed doctoral training in clinical/community psychology (1980-1985). He next went to the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago (2000-2015). Never one to fully retire, he continued teaching at the University of Miami (2015-2019). Ed devoted his career to the appreciation and understanding of context, social ecology, and human diversity in community psychology's theory, methods, and practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Introduction to the special issue on critical realism.

This special issue explores how philosophy of science matters for both research and social action in community psychology. It explores the complex issue of what might be appropriate philosophical bases for community psychology theory, research, and practice. In particular, it focuses on critical realism, a relatively new approach to the philosophy of science. In this introductory article, we start by discussing the importance of philosophy of science for community psychologists. We then situate our subject by exploring the history of paradigms in community psychology. We next offer a brief description of critical realism by describing its assumptions on ontology (nature of the world), epistemology (theory of knowledge), axiology (theory of values), and methodology (theory of action).

Internalization of the model minority myth and sociodemographic factors shaping Asians/Asian Americans' experiences of discrimination during COVID-19.

Despite appearing positive, the model minority myth (MMM), or the perception that Asian Americans are "problem-free" minorities, maintains unfair racial hierarchies and discredits the pervasiveness of systemic racism faced by Asian Americans and other Black, Indigenous, and people of Color. This study investigated the role of internalized MMM in Asian/Asian Americans' (A/AA) experiences during the syndemic of COVID-19 and our society's racial reckoning. Using a mixed methods approach, we analyzed A/AA college students' open-ended responses to a query about their experiences as A/AA during COVID-19, which resulted in qualitative themes of Personal and Vicarious Discrimination, Vigilance, Safety due to Ethnicity, Safety due to Environment, and No Difference during COVID-19. We then conducted a series of logistic and linear regression models to examine how internalized MMM and sociodemographic factors (i.e., ethnic group, gender, andgenerational status) were associated with qualitative themes and quantitative measures of COVID-related discrimination. Overall, findings demonstrated that greater internalized MMM, as well as identifying as South Asian, male, and an international/first-generation immigrant student, were linked to fewer qualitative and quantitative reports of vicarious discrimination. We conclude with implications for research and practice in community psychology that further examine the racialized experiences among A/AA college students and ultimately seek to challenge the MMM and racial hierarchies perpetuating systems of oppression.

Examining awareness of privilege among midwestern college students: An analysis of race/ethnicity, gender, and religion.

Dominant group members often are not aware of the privileges they benefit from due to their dominant group membership. Yet individuals are members of multiple groups and may simultaneously occupy multiple categories of dominance and marginality, raising the question of how different group memberships work in concert to facilitate or inhibit awareness of multiple forms of privilege. Examining awareness of privilege is important as awareness may be linked to action to dismantle systems of privilege that maintain oppression and inequality. Grounded in intersectional scholarship, in this study we examined how occupying intersecting categories of race/ethnicity, gender, and religion corresponded to an awareness of White, male, and Christian privilege. In a sample of 2321 Midwestern college students, we demonstrated that students from marginalized groups broadly reported greater awareness of all forms of privilege than students from dominant groups, and the difference between marginalized and dominant groups was most pronounced when the specific group category (e.g., gender) aligned with the type of privilege (e.g., male privilege). We also tested interactions among race/ethnicity, gender, and religion, only finding an interaction between race/ethnicity and religion for awareness of White and male privilege. These findings helped to clarify that multiple group memberships tended to contribute to awareness as multiple main effects rather than as multiplicative. Finally, we examined mean differences among the eight intersected groups to explore similarities and differences among groups in awareness of all types of privilege. Taken together, these findings quantitatively demonstrate the ways in which group memberships work together to contribute to awareness of multiple forms of privilege. We discuss study limitations and implications for community psychology research and practice.

Cultural heritage through the lens of community psychology and narrative therapy: a community project on Chinese and Vietnamese diaspora in London

ABSTRACT This reflexive article documents a project which explored the oral history of Chinese and Vietnamese communities in London through the methodology of object-based storytelling. The project was titled the Soul Relics Migration Project. Stories of migration were collected from community members, with a particular focus on aspects of wellbeing shaped or impacted by their experiences. These stories were then curated and exhibited in local community spaces. Through the medium of object-based storytelling, the project sought to highlight culturally-specific beliefs about distress and wellbeing, facilitate the re-authoring of personal and collective migration narratives, and document testimonies in a tangible form that supports community building. Methodologically, I argue that the method of narrative therapy coupled with community psychology practices could be a useful way to facilitate the creation of collective memory and heritage, as well as spur collective action and resistance in marginalised communities.

When should we intervene in adolescent depression and with whom?

When should we intervene in adolescent depression and with whom?

A South African perspective on community psychology practice competencies.

The appropriateness of the paradigm underlying competency frameworks and their specific application in the list of definitions developed by a Task Group of Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA) for US community psychologists need further consideration. This paper considers the technicist and behavioural roots of some of these concepts, illustrating tensions when applying them to community psychology. It then proposes a competency perspective from the global South. Drawing from focus group discussions with, and written reflections from, postgraduate Master's students in training as clinical and counselling psychologists, this paper builds inductively from the recorded data. Following a template analysis of the material, four integrating themes were evident. The distinctive nature of community psychology is highlighted through the themes: relational foundations, activity evolution, self-management and the awareness and influences of processes. Proposals for an alternative framework ("RASP") are based on its emergence from the applications of learning to practice, emphasising community-based principles. The importance of reflection as the basis for the learning is highlighted. The imperatives to foreground social justice and to enable reflexive thinking on action are discussed, along with concepts based on Humanist and Social Constructivist paradigms, to lead to more interactive and inclusive processes in work on competencies.

There is a Road, No Simple Highway: Musings on Rural Community Practice.

The article was delivered as an invited address to the 2019 SCRA Biennial. The author, the 2019 recipient of the Award for Distinguished Contributions to Practice in Community Psychology, discusses the application of community psychology practice competencies to rural mental health practice and reviews the challenges faced by rural and remote residents, and the rural idyllic myth. The author shares musings and observations of key lessons learned from mentors and practice across over three decades.

Schools as Vehicles to Assess Experiences, Improve Outcomes, and Effect Social Change.

Schools are important settings that can be utilized to yield a positive impact on youth and the many issues our society faces. In this Presidential Address, I identify key issues and directions for the field, advocating that we need to expand our ecological focus, improve school climate, and collaborate with schools to effect change. To illustrate these key themes, findings from four projects with k-12 youth and educators in the United States are described, and these projects have the following foci: protective factors for youth exposed to violence, teacher-directed violence aspart of an APA Task Force, school climate and neighborhood factors in relation to academic outcomes, and school transitions for students with disabilities. Challenges and future directions to build upon community psychology theory, research, practice, and policy are discussed.

The Stories We Tell: Introduction to the Special Issue on Ethical Challenges in Community Psychology Research and Practice.

This Special Issue examines ethical challenges in community psychology research and practice. The literature on ethics in community psychology has remained largely abstract and aspirational, with few concrete examples and case studies, so the goal of this Special Issue was to expand our written discourse about ethical dilemmas in our field. In these articles, researchers and practitioners share stories of specific ethical challenges they faced and how they sought to resolve them. These first-person narratives examine how ethical challenges come about, how community psychology values inform ethical decision making, and how lessons learned from these experiences can inform an ethical framework for community psychology.

Intersections of Competencies for Practice and Research in Community Psychology

Intersections of Competencies for Practice and Research in Community Psychology

Learning Community Psychology Practice Competencies: Student Pathways through the Applied Community Psychology Specialization

Learning Community Psychology Practice Competencies: Student Pathways through the Applied Community Psychology Specialization

The Application of the Community Psychology Practice Competencies for Community Consulting Practice in the U.S.

The Application of the Community Psychology Practice Competencies for Community Consulting Practice in the U.S.

Integrating the 18 Community Psychology Practice Competencies into Doctoral Education

Integrating the 18 Community Psychology Practice Competencies into Doctoral Education

Interdependent Diversities: Reflections on the Community‐Diversity Dialectic

This commentary reflects on the Community-Diversity Dialectic, summarizing its development and reviewing its impact on community psychology research and practice. Two contemporary examples are presented to illustrate both the possibilities of and challenges to bridging the gap between sense of community and diversity: the rise of the so-called "alt-right" on the one hand, and the popularity of Pokémon Go on the other. The article concludes with a brief discussion of Kurt Lewin's contributions to group dynamics theory, recommending that an emphasis on our interdependent fates and goals is paramount to reconciling the tensions between sense of community and diversity that persist in an increasingly complex multicultural world.

Practicing ethnography in migration-related detention centers: A reflexive account

ABSTRACTFeminist scholars, as well as community psychologists, have advocated the role of reflexive engagement in the research process in order to challenge power relations. Moreover, the liberating potential of storytelling, especially when working with issues of diversity and marginalization, has been stressed. The purpose of this article is to reflect on an ethnographic work underway in the Identification and Expulsion Center-CIE of Ponte Galeria, Rome. How the researcher’s identities, values, and experiences, alongside power and privilege, have influenced her positioning in the research setting and the relationships formed with the different setting members is the subject of discussion. In sharing the story of this work, the final intent is to contribute to the joint effort to foster a reflexive community psychology practice incorporating feminist goals and a dialogue about ethnography in community psychology.

Community Psychology Practice Competencies: Some perspectives from the UK

Within global north spaces, the outcomes-based approach to programme delivery in higher education and the focus on accountability in professional training has increasingly led to calls for competency frameworks to be developed. However, the paradigm underpinning competencies as applied in higher education needs further examination. This paper aims to consider the technicist roots of the concept and the translation of derivatives of behavioral economics to critical community psychology. We distinguish competences from competency, noting the potential risks of a fragmentary approach and the mismatch between individually-based assessments and the participatory and egalitarian principles espoused by community psychology. Drawing from discussions and workshops with postgraduate students and community psychologists in the UK during early 2015, the contributions and distinctive nature of community psychology training in comparison with other disciplines will be highlighted. Proposals for alternative frameworks will be explored, emphasising the need for these to incorporate flexibility and diversity, and to be more holistic (rather than atomistic, as lists of competencies often are); with emphases on community-based rather than individualised principles and values. Consideration will also be given to capabilities that relate both to functions and to freedoms, and to more process-oriented qualities to enable ongoing development. The imperatives to foreground social justice and to enable reflexive thinking and action will be emphasised, leading to interactive and inclusive processes.