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Abstract
Community psychology is concerned with the relationship between individuals and their social and community environments. Community psychologists contribute to the public welfare through collaborative interventions that prevent psychological and social problems, promote personal and community wellbeing, and empower disadvantaged citizens and groups.
Outline
- Introduction
- Guiding Values
- Ecological Multilevel Framework
- Community Research Methods
- Community Research Areas
- Prevention and Promotion
1. Introduction
The field of community psychology developed during the mid-1960s as a reaction against the limitations of traditional intrapsychological approaches to research and social problems. In contrast, the developers of the field emphasized the importance of social contexts and social environments in understanding behavior and social problems, envisioned a strengths-based approach rather than a deficits-based approach to research and action, and emphasized the importance of the prevention of problems rather than the treatment of problems after the fact. Community psychology shares with sociology an emphasis on the influence of structural features of the environment on human behavior, but the former differs from the latter research discipline in its greater emphasis on action and individual experience. Community psychology shares with social work a focus on helping individuals in a community context, but the former differs from the latter applied field of practice in its greater emphasis on empirical research, systems-level change, and prevention.
Community psychologists are involved in research and action focused on the entire spectrum of contemporary issues facing citizens and communities. These include educational reform, homelessness, domestic violence, intergroup conflict, substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, poverty, child abuse, youth violence, racial and sexual discrimination, coping with life stress, community capacity building, and enhancing psychological sense of community. Applied research on these issues draws on a wide range of research methods, including needs assessment, qualitative interviews, quantitative field research, focus groups, evaluation research, and action research. Similarly, the range of intervention approaches through which community psychologists address social problems is broad and includes program development, consultation, community coalition building, social action, community development, and social policy advocacy.
Distinctive aspects of community psychology include its guiding values, its ecological multilevel framework, and its focus on prevention, promotion of well-being, group empowerment, and community change. Each of these is described in this research paper.
2. Guiding Values
Community psychologists emphasize the distinctive nature of the values that guide their work. The following seven guiding values can be discerned.
2.1. Individual Wellness: The Physical, Psychological, Social, and Spiritual Health of Citizens
Unlike clinical psychologists, community psychologists do not focus on the etiology and remediation of mental illness; rather, they focus on understanding the factors that contribute to well-being and healthy development and on the associated development of programs that prevent the development of physical and psychological problems.
2.2. Sense of Community: Citizens’ Sense of Belonging to a Larger Group
Community psychologists view the decline of community cohesion as a major contributor to individual and social problems and the enhancement of a sense of community as a key contributor to individual wellness and community vitality.
2.3. Social Justice and Empowerment: The Equitable Distribution of Economic, Political, and Psychological Resources in Society
Community psychologists are concerned with addressing the pressing social issues of the day and in particular with empowering marginalized groups through enhancing their access to economic, political, and psychological resources.+
2.4. Citizen Participation: The Active Involvement of Citizens in All Aspects of Community Life
Community psychologists are wary of expert-driven, top down solutions for the problems that communities face, viewing such approaches as too often ineffective and as contributors to citizen alienation and dependence. In contrast, community psychologists view citizen involvement as the antidote necessary to bring about community revitalization and solutions to pressing social problems.
2.5. Collaboration and Community Strengths: Working Together with Citizens and Groups in the Community and Building on Their Strengths
As proponents of a strengths-based perspective, community psychologists view citizens and community groups as the sources of solutions to community problems. Working together as partners allows the respective strengths of both community members and community psychologists to contribute to community betterment.
2.6. Respect for Human Diversity: Genuine Appreciation of Human Differences Such as Differences in Ethnicity, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Religion, Age, Physical Disability, and Social Class
Community psychologists are critical of social paradigms that view those who are ‘‘different’’ from the mainstream as the cause of the problems they face in society. In direct contrast, community psychologists affirm diversity as a public good and an invaluable resource.
2.7. Empirical Grounding: The Research Basis for Efforts to Make a Positive Difference in Communities and the Larger Society
Community psychologists view systematic evidence as the key to understanding individual and social problems and view such understanding as central to effective program development, community action, and social policy.
Taken as a whole, these seven values reflect the field’s joint commitment to research and action, its focus both on bettering the lives of individuals and on bringing about broader social change, and its emphasis on working with, for, and in the community. Individual community psychologists, however, vary greatly on the relative importance placed on each of the guiding values, with resultant differences in preferred approaches to community work. For example, academic researchers emphasize the importance of research and publication, whereas applied community practitioners emphasize the value of action and hands-on community involvement. Community psychologists oriented to individual wellness emphasize the development of local programs to prevent problems and assist those in need, whereas those oriented to social justice and empowerment often articulate the need for higher level social change efforts to transform social norms and to redistribute social and economic resources. Strongly quantitative community psychology researchers emphasize traditional research values of rigorous design and measurement validity, whereas those more oriented to social justice issues emphasize discovery-oriented qualitative, participatory, and action research methods.
3. Ecological Multilevel Framework
The guiding conceptual framework of community psychology is social ecology, which emphasizes that an understanding of human behavior must always encompass the social environment in which it is embedded. Within the social environment, multiple levels of analysis can be distinguished, including the individual, the microsystem (e.g., family, classroom, social network), the organization, the community, and the macrosystem (e.g., cultural norms; the larger society). Research at the individual level of analysis might focus, for example, on the relationship between psychological well-being and level of perceived social support in a sample of inner-city youth. At the microsystem level of analysis, a researcher might study the relationship between the social climate of self-help groups and group effectiveness. Evaluating the impact of a comprehensive, community-wide teenage pregnancy prevention program on incidence rates of teenage pregnancy in communities that either received or did not receive the intervention is an example of research at the community level of analysis. Additional examples of research topics at various levels of analysis are depicted in Table I.
Central to the ecological paradigm is the principle of ecological interrelatedness. Lower levels of analysis are embedded within higher levels and are directly influenced by, and can also influence, these higher levels. Thus, the role of the environment in causing individual and social problems is emphasized. Indeed, community psychology arose in part as a reaction against views that ‘‘blamed the victims,’’ such as lower income populations and ethnic minorities, for problems that community psychologists view as stemming from larger community and societal forces.
Indeed, given the complex social problems with which the field is concerned, community psychologists believe that multiple levels of analysis should ideally be encompassed in community research and action. Take, for example, the case of youth violence in urban areas. A community psychology approach to addressing that problem, based on the ecological perspective, would naturally call for interventions at multiple levels. These might include interpersonal problem-solving and conflict resolution skills training at the individual level, family support programs at the microsystem level, whole school reform of urban schools at the organizational level, a campaign to alter cultural norms about violence and masculinity at the community level, and a strengths based antipoverty initiative at the federal level. Although a given research or intervention project of any individual community psychologist will not realistically be able to encompass all ecological levels in any social problem area, the field as a whole aspires to conduct research and interventions that encompass the entire spectrum of ecological levels.
TABLE I Ecological Levels of Analysis in Community Research Level Sample research topics
4. Community Research Methods
Community psychology researchers employ a wide range of research methods to examine community phenomena of interest. These encompass both qualitative and quantitative methods as well as research designs ranging from experimental program evaluation to action research.
Qualitative methods are especially useful for generating in-depth descriptions of a phenomenon, an understanding of context, new insights, and opportunities for the ‘‘voice’’ of marginalized populations to be heard. Methods include qualitative interviewing, participant observation, and focus groups. Interviews can be coded systematically using sophisticated qualitative software programs. Participant observation allows indepth examination of a particular group or community setting, with a focus on uncovering the worldview and meaning system of members. Focus groups facilitate the generation of common themes that emerge as a result of discussion in the group context.
Quantitative methods are used for varied purposes in community psychology, including hypothesis testing, needs assessment, and program evaluation. Hypothesis testing research may focus on community samples of individuals, on samples of groups or organizations, or (increasingly in multilevel research) on individuals, families, and groups nested in a sample of organizations, neighborhoods, or communities. Needs assessment provides systematic descriptive information concerning the nature and level of local needs in a setting or community and serves as a basis for collaborative planning of interventions. Program evaluation examines the extent to which interventions are achieving their intended outcomes and the factors contributing to observed outcomes, using experimental or quasi-experimental research designs.
Increasingly, community researchers combine qualitative and quantitative methods within a single study. This approach allows for building on the strengths of each research method. Furthermore, to address community phenomena, there is increasing focus on interdisciplinary research that incorporates research methods from other fields. Examples include community ethnography (anthropology), geographic information systems (geography), community case study (community sociology), and epidemiology (public health).
Consistent with the community psychology values of citizen participation and collaboration as well as building on community strengths, partnerships are often developed between community researchers and populations under study. Investigators engage those being studied as active collaborators in defining the research question, helping to develop appropriate research instruments, designing and implementing research procedures, and interpreting and disseminating research findings. In some cases, helping local groups or organizations to develop their own research capacities may be one of the intended outcomes of the research process, as is the case in empowerment evaluation.
Community psychology espouses adventuresome research methods appropriate to the research question at hand, even if these methods are not conventional in nature. In many research contexts, the researcher is viewed not as an objective, fully detached observer but rather as an individual whose values influence the scientific enterprise in important ways. Furthermore, consistent with this perspective, the researcher’s relationship with those studied is seen as part of the larger social ecology of the phenomenon under investigation.
5. Community Research Areas
Community psychologists examine a wide range of topics in community-based research. Four illustrative research areas are briefly described in what follows.
5.1. Social Problems
One broad area of community research centers on pressing social problems such as discrimination, poverty, education of minority students, substance use, HIV/ AIDS, and homelessness. Much of this research focuses on marginalized groups in society such as ethnic minorities and lower income populations. Community psychologists examine factors that contribute to the specific social problem under focus. Individual, family, and environmental variables are encompassed in this research. For example, in the urban education area, community psychology researchers have examined the roles of family support, teacher expectations, the transition to middle school, the social climate and culture of schools, and neighborhood poverty. The results of research in each social problem area provide a basis for intervention approaches to address the particular social problem.
5.2. Stress and Mental Health
A second long-standing focus of community psychology research examines the interrelationships among stress, coping, social support, and psychological well-being. Life stressors examined run the gamut from acute stressors (e.g., death of a parent) to ongoing stressors (e.g., poverty). Research in this area has revealed various personal and environmental factors that help individuals to cope with stress, including spirituality, interpersonal problem-solving skills, and social support from friends, family, and mentors. This body of research has suggested important foci for psychological and environmental interventions that aim to prevent negative outcomes of stress and enhance resilience in the face of adversity.
5.3. Community and Quality of Life
A third area of research examines the role of community settings in contributing to the quality of individual and community life. This research encompasses settings such as voluntary associations, block associations, faith-based organizations, and self-help groups. These settings provide a meaningful niche in which citizens find meaning, support, and opportunities to contribute to the well-being of others and the larger community. Research on community settings indicates that certain organizational characteristics, such as cohesion, support systems, opportunity role structure, and leadership, have been found to be related to member well-being and psychological empowerment.
5.4. Sense of Community
A fourth illustrative area of community psychology research centers on psychological sense of community. This refers to the sense of belonging or connectedness to a larger group. Sense of community is important both in relational communities defined by shared goals and activities (e.g., church, professional association) and in geographical communities (e.g., neighborhood, city, nation). Researchers have delineated four underlying dimensions to sense of community: membership, influence, integration and fulfillment of needs, and shared emotional connection. The individual and environmental correlates of sense of community, subgroup differences, and changes over time represent important topics of research in this area.
The importance of context and the importance of diversity are cross-cutting themes in many areas of community psychology research. Depending on the dangerousness of neighborhood context, for example, parenting style or psychological sense of community has been found to be more or less adaptive. Ethnic groups differ in terms of life contexts and challenges, culturally embedded values and meaning systems, and access to resources and services. Findings related to distinctiveness of context and diversity provide a critical foundation for the development of context sensitive and culturally competent interventions.
In addition to theory generation and hypothesis testing research, many community psychologists conduct evaluation research. This research sometimes focuses on interventions developed by the investigator but more frequently examines various community-based programs developed by others. Evaluation research examines program outcomes, the quality of implementation of programs, and the theory-based processes through which program efforts occur.
Importantly, research in community psychology often builds on theory and findings from other subfields of psychology. Developmental psychology provides critical underpinnings for community psychology research on children’s coping, support, and well-being. Social psychological theory contributes to community psychology work in the areas of discrimination, oppression, and empowerment. Health psychology models help to guide community psychology work in the areas of health promotion and disease prevention. Cultural psychology provides important theoretical models and perspectives for community psychology work on ethnic identity, coping, and ethnic minority populations.
In comparable fashion, disciplines outside of psychology influence community psychology theory and research. Public health has a major influence in the area of prevention and health promotion. Anthropology’s focus on cultural norms, practices, and worldviews has broadened community psychology models to encompass the culture of settings and cultural narratives of community members. More generally, across the gamut of social problem domains, there are major theoretical paradigms and accumulated research findings from other fields of direct relevance (e.g., sociology of education, community sociology, urban affairs, criminology, economics, law, social history).
Conversely, many community psychology models and perspectives have influenced other subareas of psychology and allied researchers in other disciplines. For example, prevention has become an important domain of investigation in other applied areas of psychology, including developmental psychology, applied social psychology, health psychology, and clinical psychology. Similarly, the importance of community-based research, ecological context, the strengths-based paradigm, qualitative research, and varied community psychology findings in specific social problem areas has influenced investigators in multiple areas of psychology as well as those in allied social science disciplines.
6. Prevention And Promotion
In contrast to helping individuals after serious problems have developed, community psychologists seek to prevent the initial occurrence of problems. Primary preventive interventions aim to reduce the number of new cases (i.e., incidence) of a wide range of physical illnesses and psychological problems, including HIV/ AIDS, substance abuse, and depression. Universal preventive interventions seek to do so while focusing broadly on a general population (e.g., all students in a school or school system). Selective preventive interventions focus strategically on the subset of individuals at above average risk for developing a disorder or problem due to either environmental factors (e.g., alcoholic parent, concentrated poverty) or personal factors (e.g., school difficulty). Indicated prevention programs focus specifically on individuals at high risk for developing a disorder or problem, usually those showing early symptoms of the disorder or problem.
Prevention programs have been developed for every stage of the life span. However, most prevention programs focus on infants, children, and youth, based on the principle that early intervention is the most likely means to prevent later programs. For example, Nurse Home Visitor programs provide low-income, single new mothers with support, child-rearing information and skills, and linkages to community-based resources as a means to prevent child abuse and poor child outcomes. Head Start and related preschool problems help low-income preschoolers to learn basic school-related social and cognitive skills commonly present in their middle-class counterparts, thereby preparing those served to make a positive transition to formal schooling.
Prevention programs in public schools provide at-risk children with important coping skills and social support. Programs for middle and high school youth often focus on prevention of specific social problems such as substance abuse, school dropout, and teenage pregnancy, for example, by providing refusal skills to counteract negative peer pressure, information that underscores the implications of poor choices, and meaningful positive activities (e.g., community service) in which to engage.
Prevention specialists increasingly emphasize the importance of comprehensive, community-wide, and multilevel interventions. In the case of a program to prevent school dropout among urban youth, for example, a comprehensive preventive intervention might address multiple risk factors related to dropout, such as students’ academic skills and knowledge, coping skills, engagement in creative or prosocial activities, and adult social support, rather than only one of these (and other) contributing factors. A multilevel approach in the academic performance domain, for example, might include an individual tutoring component, enhancement of the cultural competence of teachers, and school-wide changes to provide a more supportive and caring school climate rather than an intervention at only one of these levels. Finally, a community-wide intervention could mobilize students, teachers, parents, nonprofit organizations, businesses, and the media. Given the difficulty of making a difference in pressing social problems, comprehensive, multilevel, and community-wide programs are more likely to provide the intensity and multiplicity of impact necessary to counter the multiple factors contributing to problem development.
Promotion of wellness interventions seeks to enhance psychosocial competencies and development, as well as the overall quality of individual and community life, rather than aim specifically (as preventive interventions do) at reducing rates of a specific disorder or problem. Intervention programs that contribute to normative child development, enhance children’s resilience to adverse circumstances, and/or strengthen parenting skills are examples of promotion interventions at the individual level of analysis. Efforts to enhance psychological sense of community, intergroup relationships, and/or neighborhood revitalization are examples of promotion interventions at the microsystem or community level.
Outcome research has demonstrated the effectiveness of a range of prevention and promotion programs. However, these programs often are developed by university-based investigators under the ideal conditions of large amounts of grant funding and a singular focus on program success. A major challenge in the prevention area has been to effectively sustain programs after grant funding ends and to effectively disseminate programs to new sites and communities lacking the resources and special conditions that were present for initial program development. Given these challenges, the study of factors leading to effective program implementation, dissemination, and adoption is receiving additional focus. Some of the key variables found to be important include strong agreement on program goals among the various stakeholders, linkage of the program goals to the basic mission of the setting, clear and strong program leadership, and adequate implementation of core program components and principles.
7. Social Action And Community Change
An additional important domain of community psychology interventions relates to social justice and empowerment. Social action and community change aim to enhance levels of economic, social, and psychological resources for individuals and groups lacking power in society. A range of methods are employed.
Grassroots organizing efforts bring together citizens and community groups in low-income neighborhoods to pressure elected officials to allocate additional funding for basic individual and community needs. Organizing efforts may involve recruiting individual citizens or working with extant community groups, such as inner-city churches, that have preexisting access to large numbers of citizens. Community psychologists involved in grassroots organizing efforts bring to bear their group skills and empowerment perspective along with linkages to resources and research bases that can be used by those leading the organizing efforts.
Community coalition development brings together groups from multiple sectors of the community to devise plans for addressing a specific community need. Groups represented often include local government, business, human service agencies, citizen associations, and faith-based organizations. Community psychologists can serve as coalition conveners, resource experts in specific substantive areas, technical support providers, and/or evaluators.
Action research addresses local community problems through collaboration with community groups centered on local community needs. Projects may be initiated by community psychologists interested in a particular community problem or by community groups that approach community psychologists for help in addressing a need specific to their groups or the community. Consistent with an empowerment perspective, the research and action pursued have direct utility for self-defined local community needs.
Finally, community psychologists have become increasingly involved in social policy advocacy. Some community psychologists bring policy-relevant research to the attention of policymakers through congressional hearings, dissemination of reports, and/or congressional briefings. Others work full-time in the policy sector as congressional aides or policy analysts in the executive branch of government. Finally, a small number of community psychologists have become policymakers in elected positions, including local school board members and city council members.
In their social action and community change work, community psychologists necessarily work with a wide range of citizens, community groups, organizational staff and directors, and elected officials. The values of the field, including the focus on empowerment, collaboration, and community strengths, serve as important guides in this arena.
References:
- Dalton, J. H., Elias, M. J., & Wandersman, A. (2001). Community psychology: Linking individuals and communities. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth / Thompson.
- Levine, M., & Perkins, D. V. (1997). Principles of community psychology: Perspectives and applications (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
- Rappaport, J., & Seidman, E. (Eds.). (2000). Handbook of community psychology. New York: Plenum.
- Revenson, T. A., D’Augelli, A. R., Hughes, D., Livert, D., French, S. E., Seidman, E., Shinn, M., & Yoshikawa, H. (Eds.). (2001). A quarter-century of community psychology: New York: Plenum.
- Rudkin, J. K. (2003). Community psychology: Guiding principles and orienting concepts. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
- Sarason, S. B. (1974). The psychological sense of community: Prospects for a community psychology. San Francisco: Jossey–Bass.
- Shinn, M., & Toohey, S. M. (2003). Community contexts of human welfare. Annual Review of Psychology, 54, 427–459.
- Weissberg, R. P., & Kumpfer, K. L. (2003). Prevention that works for children and youth [special issue]. American Psychologist, 58(6/7), 425–490.
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