Community Psychology Practice Research Articles

The role of subjectivity category in understanding the comunity context and the transforming intervention

The following article has as an objective to reflect on the importance of the category subjectivity, in the theoretical and methodological point of view, for Community Psychology. The intervention in Community Psychology cannot miss the subjective dimension of reality while it is part of the psychological field. In this sense, Social-Historical Psychology, the materialistic historical dialectic method and the subjectivity theory offer important contributions for the analysis of reality and transforming community intervention. The category subjectivity presents an alternative to the idealistic and dualistic visions of subjectivity. Its main features are presented in the article. In conclusion, this project tries to demonstrate how the method and the category subjectivity can offer a theoretical frame to the practice in Community Psychology through the consideration of practical experiences with community groups.

“Lo ético es transversal y cotidiano”: dimensiones éticas en la formación y práctica en psicología comunitaria

Community psychology has suffered huge transformations associated to a historical and contextual process in our country, involving a series of ethical issues which have not been dealt with both in training and deontological discipline. The aim of this research was to inquire the perception of students and professionals with respect to ethics in practice and training in community psychology. Our participants were Chilean experts, students in practice and students of two Master programs in community psychology with three data sources: Delphi panel (8 experts), in-depth interviews (7 master students), and focal groups (20 students in community practice). By applying the principles of the theory empirically based, data analysis showed the identifications of four topics: ethical notion, types of ethical situations, ethical training and deontology. Among the results, the simultaneous character of ethical dimensions transversal and habitual as well as vague was highlighted in the discourse of our participants. Considering concrete situations, these identified general ethical principles, which was verbalized as Respect for the Other and Autonomy.

Querer No Basta: Deberes Éticos en la Práctica, Formación e Investigación en Psicología Comunitaria

The article presents a summary of the results of the research project FONDECYT No 1080528, which explores the ethical dimension in practice, training, and research in community psychology (CP) in Chile. An intentional opinatic sample of primary (93 participants—users, students, and psychologists—) and secondary information sources (194 documents—programs, courses, theses and codes—) was used. The use of various data collection techniques and qualitative analysis strategies led to the identification of two relevant results: the principle of respect for the other and community participation in identifying and addressing ethical issues. Divergences in the concept of CP and ethical duties in this field were also found. Finally, ethical guidelines for practice, training, and research in CP are suggested.

Feminist community psychology: the dynamic co‐creation of identities in multilayered contexts

AbstractIn this special issue, we view the development of feminist community psychology (FCP) as an ongoing project that must be co‐created. This is reflected in articles that focus on authors' unique social locations inside and outside organizations in which they work, critical reflections on their multilayered identities, feminist methodological and pedagogical concerns, and the power of mentoring and social support. Authors discuss ways that critical reflexivity, feminist identities, and pedagogies can influence and be influenced by the practice of community psychology (CP). The intersectionality of identities is highlighted based on marginalized statuses from race/ethnicity, class, and sexuality to motherhood and “otherhood.” Authors also describe FCP practices including efforts to critique structural power asymmetries, reduce hierarchical professional relationships, and incorporate innovative interventions. We argue that these practices have libratory potential capable of creating social change consistent with the values and goals of FCP in particular and CP generally. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Perceptions of Skills Needed to Engage in Collaborative Community Problem Solving: Implications for Community Psychology Practice and Training

By Dr David Julian & Ms Tammy Collins (Ohio State University) Peer Reviewed This paper provides a brief review of the results of a survey of Family and Children First Council Coordinators in Ohio. Sixty-eight (68) local Coordinators responded to a survey regarding their perceptions of skills needed to facilitate collaborative community problem solving. The authors argue that Council Coordinators fill a critical role in the collaborative community problem solving process. They refer to this role as “community support.” Analysis of survey data provided an opportunity to consider the skills Council Coordinators felt were important to their community support roles. In addition, the community support role and its importance are described. The authors also suggest that community psychology practitioners are ideal candidates for assuming such roles. Finally, implications for training community psychology practitioners are addressed.

Community psychology in South Africa: origins, developments, and manifestations

AbstractThis article represents a South African contribution to the growing international body of knowledge on histories of community psychology. We trace the early antecedents of social‐community psychology interventions and describe the social forces and academic influences that provided the impetus for the emergence and development of community psychology in South Africa. We then draw on various sources, including undocumented small histories of organized groups and individuals, to present on account of the emergence, development, and focus of community psychology in South Africa. We also very briefly describe community‐focused work in other selected African countries. In the penultimate section, we take a critical look at the notions of “community” embedded in community psychology practice in South Africa, and then by way of conclusion we describe the trajectory of community psychology and speculate about its future in the country. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

(Re-)positioning educational psychology in high-risk school communities

This article asks questions about the discourse in community psychology, specifically as it manifests in educational psychology research, in South Africa. With the articles in this special issue of Education as Change in mind, we examine the role of the ecology metaphor in this field and trace aspects of its articulation in a section of literature. We argue for a shared discursive practice of community psychology in a school context, with a language of description for the field that steers clear of cliches and rhetoric, and that uses the ecology metaphor aptly. We further make a case for educational psychologists – especially those working in the national and provincial departments of education – to be trained to do some of the large-scale preventative and interventionist research work. While endorsing what James Kelly refers to as the ‘constraints of pathology discourse’, we argue for a frame of reference that realistically elicits the strengths of a community and the agency of its members. We conclude b...

How Mapula fell through the cracks in her community school: A failing environment in a ‘high-impact social setting’

As with other schools, there are many casualties on the road of the community school psychology movement in South Africa. This article presents the case of one young girl, Mapula, who may have been spared if school community psychology practice had been established in the inner city where she tried to get an education. The case study tells the story of her school's attempts to meet her educational needs and of her struggle. Mapula's condition deteriorated, parallel with the school's efforts to try and assist her. It urgently required the help of a support team and caring educational psychologists, social workers and public health professionals. None of these were forthcoming in this ‘private’ school ‘for the poor’. We argue for radical community psychology support in schools situated in settings such as these, where social impact is high. It also questions the ability of organisations running such schools, to cope with the full responsibility.

Scenario planning, a tool for community psychology work with politicians: a case analysis

The term scenario is used to talk about a projected outline of political events and future developments. The objective of building scenarios is to deal with critical events, uncertain conditions, and create useful pro-actions. This paper attempts to outline the utility of scenario planning as a method for developing alternative visions of the future in community contexts. It describes its theoretical basis, uses, and steps. A case example is used to illustrate the application of the framework and its possible practical benefits in community psychology practice. To test this methodology with politicians, they have been asked to examine the resources and problems present in the areas administered by them and invited to imagine possible future scenarios and projects which might improve the quality of life of residents.

Rewarding Community Psychology Practice in State Government

Finding employment as a community psychologist outside of academia or “in practice,” has remained an elusive goal for many community psychology graduates. This is not, however due to a lack of opportunities. Many employers would welcome the skills of a community psychologist, but both applicant and recruiter may not realize this initially. One of the most promising employment venues is state government service. Unfortunately, state jobs are often viewed in a pejorative fashion because of their stereotypic link to mundane, paper-pushing civil service positions. The following article counters this misperception by describing how I was able to find a number of rewarding state government positions that allowed me to utilize virtually all of my community psychology training (e.g., advocacy, organizational assessment, collaboration/consultation, communication, research, resource development, service delivery, planning, and management). Although I was never specifically hired with the job title “community psychologist,” all of my employers came to appreciate the benefits of my community psychology training. In chronological order, I present my employment history, a description of the position, and how my community psychology training was utilized in the position. It is my hope that this article will provide potential employment ideas and options for recent community psychology graduates and those looking for a career change.

Introduction to community psychology in Canada: Past, present, and future.

The introduction to the special section on community psychology in Canada provides background information about the field in Canada and provides summaries of the four articles and the commentary that comprise the issue. The articles address (a) theory, research, and practice in community psychology; (b) training in community psychology; (c) community psychology practice; and (d) a vision for the future of community psychology in Canada. These articles highlight the many contributions of Canadian community psychologists to a field that is growing throughout the world to address pressing social problems. Keywords: community psychology, community training, community research, community practice, vision Community psychology (CP) has a lengthy history in Canada. Pols (2000) traced the roots of community psychology to the Psychology Department at the University of Toronto, beginning in the mid 1920s. Moreover, the term community psychology was first used in 1951 by University of Toronto psychology professor William Line (Babarik, 1979). In spite of this history, community psychology remains a marginalized specialty in Canadian psychology with a relatively small network of researchers and practitioners. In this context, the special section in the current issue of Canadian Psychology was developed to inform Canadian psychologists about the many and varied contributions of this subdiscipline of psychology, as well as the current status of community psychology in Canada. The special section is a project developed by participants at the 2008 Quebec-Ontario Community Psychology Conference. The conference, held biennially since 2002, involves participation of faculty and students from Universite Laval, University of Ottawa, Universite de Quebec a Montreal, and Wilfrid Laurier University. All of these universities offer training in community psychology. While some articles on community psychology have been previously published in Canadian Psychology (Davidson, 1981; WalshBowers, 1 998), much of the literature on community psychology in Canada has been published elsewhere, including a previous special issue on community psychology (Tefft, 1 982) and a recent historical and substantive review (Nelson, Lavoie, & Mitchell, 2007). In developing the project, participants in the 2008 biennial conference believed that it was important that the work be presented in Canadian Psychology, the flagship journal of Canadian psychology. There are indications that community psychology as a subdiscipline of psychology is growing outside of Canada. The Society of Community Research and Action, which represents Division 27 of the American Psychological Association, has approximately 900 members. In addition, there has been increasing internationalization of community psychology globally with self-identified community psychologists in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Central America, South America, and Japan (Reich, Riemer, Prilleltensky, & Montero, 2007; Vazquez Rivera, Figueroa Rodriguez, Pacheco Bou, & Perez-Jimenez, 2009). International community psychology conferences have been held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1996; in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1998; and in Puebla, Mexico, in 2010. In Canada, there is a small committed group of community psychologists, as is reflected in attendees at the Quebec-Ontario conference and the membership of Section 3, the community psychology section of the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA), which was started in 1982. In light of the many contemporary complex social issues facing Canadian society - such as underdeveloped early childhood education and prevention, mental health problems in the population, economic and social marginalization of First Nations people, and integration challenges faced by new immigrants - the contributions that community psychology can make to social programs and policies to address these issues on behalf of Canadian psychology are as important today as they were when the subdiscipline first developed in Canada. …

Researchers, Practitioners, and Funders: Using the Framework to Get Us on the Same Page

The worlds of prevention research and practice are largely disconnected. The growing body of scientific knowledge regarding effects of prevention programs is not often disseminated and translated in a manner that leads to wide scale changes in practice. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in collaboration with a team of academic researchers, has developed the Interactive Systems Framework for Dissemination and Implementation to help us understand the roles and interactions of those associated with developing knowledge, those associated with using the knowledge in practice settings, and those acting in the roles of bridge, support, and broker between the research and practice communities. This special issue on the Framework presents a variety of theoretical, practical and empirical issues related to this framework and its subsystems. This compilation of articles discuss the capacity of the Framework's subsystems, provide examples of the generally under-developed prevention support system, describe the additional challenges involved in disseminating a change in culture, discuss the delicate balance and interaction of fidelity and adaptation, present a meta-analysis of the relationships between program implementation and program outcomes, and include examples of how the Framework has been used to guide action. The present commentary on this special issue provides a critical examination of the contributions, implications, and challenges raised by each of these articles. It also includes a discussion of how the Framework relates to the basic values and practice of community psychology and concludes with some suggested future directions and challenges for the continued development and use of the Framework.

Putting the ‘heart’ back into community psychology: some South African examples

In this paper we explore the impact of emotional dynamics in the field of community psychology and the value of psychodynamic concepts in making sense of this. Emotional processes have often not been very well acknowledged or conceptualized in writing in the area of community psychology practice. This neglect is understandable given the individualizing, pathologizing and medicalizing assumptions underlying many psychological theories of emotion. Psychodynamic ideas may, however, make a useful contribution to understanding central concerns in community psychology in so far as they are able to shed light on emotional processes in groups, the political determinants of emotional response and the emotional dynamics of power, which are all central to the thinking of community psychologists. Using examples drawn from a long-term programme of consultation to community-based services in South Africa, we explore the potential of psychoanalytic understandings of emotional processes in illuminating some of the complexities and challenges faced in developing effective community partnerships and working towards the empowerment of communities.

Power in community psychology research and practice

AbstractWhile power underpins so much of community psychology, it is not usually the focus of research or practice. Even empowerment approaches lack clear definition of the power against which they are operating. This article introduces a model developed at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, to understand various power dimensions and levels at which it can have impacts. Such a multifaceted model has facilitated the series of articles that follow – re‐analysing the authors' work with power as the core element in the analyses, and understanding the different levels of analysis, sources of power, and ways in which power imbalances can be redressed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Community‐driven learning activities, creating futures: 30,000 people can't be wrong—Can they?

A major vehicle for the practice of community psychology is through the organization of community-based activities. My colleagues and I have developed many programs for community learning centers, in-school and after school programs, and community technology centers. In the last 10 years, 30,000 people (mostly children) have participated in activities designed for enjoyment and learning, with a view to adding protective factors and reducing negative factors in at-risk communities. Development of these programs for literacy, education, life and work skills, has increasingly followed a community responsive model. Within each program, we created explicit images of future success. That is, people could see themselves being successful where they normally fail: self modeling with feedforward. Data reports show that individuals generalized and maintained their new skills and attitudes, but the sustainability of programs has been variable. Analysis of the variations indicates the importance of program level feedforward that brings the future into the present. The discussion includes consideration of how individual-level and community-level practices can inform each other.

Challenging expectations for every child through innovation, regeneration and reinvention

This article is set against a backdrop of the British government’s children’s strategy initiatives, where the educational psychology service (EPS) in Barking and Dagenham is reviewing its role and function so as to respond effectively. Additionally, the EPS is drawing upon perspectives offered by theory and practice in community psychology and critical psychology. The link between the development of sustainable communities and positive outcomes for children is acknowledged. In Barking and Dagenham, an area of relatively high socio-economic disadvantage, if genuine progress is to be made to meeting the five outcomes for children set byEvery child matters, there is a particular need to find innovative ways to mobilise community resources. The EPS is benefiting from a partnership between Barking and Dagenham’s Department of Education and Libraries and the University of East London, which includes work related to the regeneration of the Thames Gateway. The article sets out the way in which the EPS is considering an extension of its role, first in contributing to the development of sustainable communities, based on positive psychology and a preventive approach and second, providing a community psychology service, linked to the development of good quality targeted and specialist activity and universal services for children and families.

Developing a community psychology orientation in an educational psychology service

In this article we outline the development of a community educational psychology orientation in the educational psychology service in Hampshire. In light of recent initiatives and legislation by central government in Britain and what appears to be a lack of clarity about the role and functions of professional educational psychologists, we set out an argument about why the need to reconstruct educational psychology practice has never been greater. Further, we argue that to reconstruct professional practice as community educational psychology provides us with the possibility of a shared vision, unity of purpose, and political focus. We briefly review what we believe has contributed to a lack of clarity about what educational psychologists do, and the part that community psychology theory and practice has played in our thinking in Hampshire. We describe the context in which we work, and we provide examples of some of the activities that we are doing that are consistent with the values and principles of community psychology and that also contribute to the outcomes for children set out inEvery child matters: Change for children.

Community Psychology in Africa: Views From Across the Continent

This article presents the findings of a descriptive survey conducted for the purposes of exploring whether and how community psychology has developed in the African region. In particular, the focus was on identifying whether and how community psychology has developed in the country concerned; what the key characteristics of this approach in that context are; what meta-theoretical frameworks and theoretical approaches are adopted to inform the practice of community psychology, including exploring whether and how indigenous knowledges inform the theoretical and practical developments of community psychology in that context; identifying the key challenges facing community psychology; and exploring the future possibilities of the development of this approach in the country concerned. Using the Journal of Psychology network as a basis for inviting participation in this study, 77 participants from 14 countries responded to the emailed questionnaire. A qualitative ‘cross-country’ content analysis was performed to draw out common patterns and trends in the region, and a selected ‘in-country’ analysis, including six countries was conducted. The findings reveal many common threads with regards to the key characteristics of this approach in the African context, and highlight similar challenges. All respondents indicated that this approach was very relevant to the African context and needed to be pursued at all levels.

Challenging the Frontiers of Community Psychology: A South African Experience

The development of community psychology is of vital importance in South Africa because of the historical context, questions about the relevance of mainstream western psychology and the current social change in the country in the post-apartheid era. Accordingly successful community psychology practices for a South Africa in transition need greater dissemination for access and utilization in the communities. This article draws on the community work conducted at the Itsoseng Clinic to show how and why community psychology could be made more relevant to the new South Africa. The Itsoseng Clinic is a psychology clinic that is situated in the township of Mamelodi. The clinic provides several services including counselling, psychometric assessment, psycho educational workshops, and HIV/AIDS pre and post-test counselling. The clients and community that the clinic serves are of low socio-economic status and struggle with a lack of material and personnel resources. The individuals working within the Itsoseng Clinic represent a diversity that is in itself a valuable resource for supporting the core activities of the clinic. This article explores various themes that were identified within the research study such as, making community, entering the ecology of life, closing the divide and bridging the boundaries.

Using Methods That Matter: The Impact of Reflection, Dialogue, and Voice

In recent years, the field of community psychology has given considerable attention to how research and evaluation methods should be designed to support our goals of empowerment and social justice. Yet, as a field, we have given much less attention to whether the use of our methods actually achieves or supports our empowerment agenda. With the primary purpose of beginning to establish the norm of reporting on the impacts of our methods, this paper reports on the findings from interviews of 16 youth and adults who had participated in one participatory evaluation method (Photovoice). Two specific questions were examined: (1) What is the impact of participating in a Photovoice effort; and (2) How does the method of Photovoice foster these impacts? Overall, participants noted that they were significantly affected by their experiences as photographers and through their dialogue with neighbors during Photovoice group sessions. Impacts ranged from an increased sense of control over their own lives to the emergence of the kinds of awareness, relationships, and efficacy supportive of participants becoming community change agents. According to participants, Photovoice fostered these changes by (a) empowering them as experts on their lives and community, (b) fostering deep reflection, and (c) creating a context safe for exploring diverse perspectives. The implications of these findings for the science and practice of community psychology are discussed.