JEAN ANN LINNEY, Department of Psychology, Barnwell College, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208. VIRGINIA SMITH-MAJOR, Department of Psychology, University of Maryland at College Park, College Park, Maryland 20742.
Contents
- CONCEPTS, FRAMEWORKS, STORES, AND MAPS 1 Prevention in Mental Health and Social Intervention: Conceptual
- PEOPLE IN CONTEXT: EMPIRICALLY GROUNDED CONSTRUCTS 161
- SOCIAL SYSTEMS 439
- DESIGN, ASSESSMENT, AND ANALYTIC METHODS 643 Assessing Ecological Constructs and Community Context
- CROSS-CUTTING PERSPECTIVES AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES 737
- CONTEMPORARY INTERSECTIONS WITH COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY 931
DESIGN, EVALUATION, AND ANALYTICAL METHODS 643 Assessing Ecological Constructs and Community Context Assessing Ecological Constructs and Community Context.
CONCEPTS, FRAMEWORKS, STORIES, AND MAPS
Indeed, it can be argued that the attempt to understand people's transactions in their social context (as opposed to people as diagnoses or "problems") underlies much of the field. It connects the individual, interpersonal, and community levels of analysis by addressing some of the classic concerns of social psychology—stereotypes and intergroup relations—in the context of community psychology's concerns with justice and social change.
How the dynamic theoretical concepts of the ecological perspective can be integrated with the more traditional static research methods that dominate the field (see also the chapters in Part V dealing with assessment, design and measurement issues, as well as Sarason's chapter in Part VI). These are the kinds of questions that come to mind when one turns to the field of community psychology with the maps, stories, frameworks, and concepts presented in this part of the handbook.
Prevention in Mental Health and Social Intervention
Its goals are to reduce the associated disruption to both the target individual and himself. Rather, it is the concomitant changes in the child's life circumstances that are actually responsible for the effects that have been observed (FeIner, Farber, & Primavera.
Empowerment Theory
These conceptual definitions also suggest that participation with others to achieve goals, efforts to access resources, and some critical understanding of the sociopolitical environment are fundamental components of the construct. These sections include a discussion of the parameters of empowerment, a brief review of relevant research, and suggestions for future research at each level of analysis. Psychological empowerment (PE) includes beliefs about one's competence, efforts to exercise control, and an understanding of the socio-political environment.
The motivational domain of perceived control refers to the idea that controlling the environment satisfies an intrinsic need to influence the environment (De Charms, 1968; White, 1959). All three components would be expected to a large degree in the most empowered individuals, but a certain amount of any of them would indicate some degree of PE. Zimmerman and Zahniser (1991) describe the development of the Sociopolitical Control Scale and suggest that it measures two aspects of the intrapersonal component of physical education that may be particularly important for members of voluntary organizations or individuals involved in community organizing.
She found that the unresolved conflict between ideology and the decision-making process often led to the destruction of the organization.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Efforts to understand organizational and community empowerment are clearly necessary to help theory move beyond the individual biases of psychology. The theory may also inadvertently suggest that views of control, participation and community privilege traditionally masculine and Western norms. This too may be an incorrect assumption, because the specific definition or meaning of the concepts in empowerment theory depends on the population one is working with, and the context in which the work is done.
At the organizational level of analysis, these factors refer to settings that enable individuals to exercise control and organizational effectiveness in service delivery and the political process. Research on empowerment will contribute to our understanding of individual adjustment, organizational development, and community life. Empowerment is an individual-level construct when dealing with intrapersonal and behavioral variables, an organizational-level construct when dealing with resource mobilization and collaborative opportunities, and a community-level construct when dealing with socio-political structure and social change. .
Perceptions of community life distinguishing participants and non-participants in a neighborhood self-help organization.
Individualism, Collectivism, and Community Psychology
COLLIN VAN UCHELEN
INDIVIDUALISM, COLLECTIVISM, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH
It is an independent view of the person (Markus & Kitayama, 1991), which emphasizes individuation and autonomy. This example highlights some of the individualistic assumptions contained in psychological concepts of power and control. In collectivist environments, identity is generally experienced in terms of the interdependent view of the self.
Field supervision refers to the concept of supervision based on an interdependent view of the person. The concept of synergistic community challenges individualistic assumptions by using an interdependent concept of self. This inclusive view of the person invokes the power of the collective in the context of shared activity, resources and identity.
This conceptualization draws attention to various aspects of the individual's experiences in the context of collective social fields.
Community Psychology and Routes to Psychological Wellness
EMORY L. COWEN
Implicit in the concept of pathways to psychological well-being is the belief that well-being should be a matter of primary concern at all times, not just when it fails. It speaks to phenomena of great interest both in themselves and in the broader topic of pathways to psychological well-being. Central to the position being developed in this chapter is the belief that there are many different potential routes to psychological well-being.
Within the elasticized framework, the concept of primary prevention, like the concepts of competence, empowerment and increased resilience, is subordinate to (an example of) the overarching concept of pathways to psychological well-being. However, all such work is bound by its future relevance to the phenomena of interest, i.e. pathways to psychological well-being. There are many potential pathways to psychological well-being and many different ways in which it can be blocked.
Systematic improvement of psychological well-being differs in concept, method and complexity from today's dominant notion of primary prevention in mental health.
Toward an Integration of Behaviorism and
ANNE BOGAT AND LEONARD A. JASON
One of the main determinants in the formation of community psychology was a fundamental dissatisfaction with the asocial nature of psychology. Community psychologists must look for these paradoxes and highlight aspects of the social problem that are being ignored. In the second phase of the study, requirements were maintained and outcome controls were added.
For example, many of the early behavioral community psychology demonstration projects established interventions that were simply not cost-effective. A full consideration of the problem of power and its abuse in psychology or in behaviorism is beyond the scope of this chapter. The prominence of multiple baseline techniques in behavioral research reflects behaviorists' interest in the process of the intervention—the constant transaction between the individual and the environment.
In the second author's study of peer tutoring, children's competencies in various academic subjects are described daily.
Cognition in Social Context
PATRICK O'NEILL
The core of the problem of negative ethnic stereotypes can be captured in the following short example. At the individual level, one concentrates on characteristics of the person and ignores the transaction between the deprived and the powerful. Social cognition also alerts us to the potential importance of the way participants see themselves and the world.
A major improvement in the conditions of the relatively powerless actually reduced the likelihood of escalating demands. Latane & Wolf (1981) pointed out the inadequacy of considering only one side of the equation in social change. Our model of the relationship between these beliefs and social action is shown in Table 1.
None of the activist groups (in Nova Scotia, Vancouver or Montreal) had achieved significant success when members filled out our scales.
Understanding and Changing Social Systems
EILEEN ALTMAN, AND STEPHEN P. STELZNER
Structures within a social system indicate "what" constitutes the characteristic elements of the system. Ultimately, those who serve as personal resources contribute to the quality of life of participants in a social system (Allen, Stelzner, & Wielkiewicz, 1998). Within these social environments, participants in a social system learn how the structures and processes of the system are interconnected.
Processes are indices of how the values and social norms of the social system are expressed. The existence of personal and social system resources will depend in large part on the extent to which the participants in the system develop a norm of reciprocity. Useful knowledge for creating personal and social system resources emerges from the process of networking.
The social system is understood as contributing to the relative health of the participants and their relationships with each other and the system.
PEOPLE IN CONTEXT
According to them, information on both well-being and distress is needed to evaluate and design better interventions in the community, a combination often overlooked in traditional research on identified mental illness. Their emphasis on subjective well-being and well-being (see also Cowen in Part I) emphasizes the community psychologist's concern for proactive as well as reparative functions. The literature on stress research is reviewed according to three identifiable themes, each of which has implications for intervention programs: stress as a study of transactional processes, measurement of parameters of life experiences that are stressful, and the search for sources of protection and resilience.
Social support can be understood as a real resource that improves the material, psychological and emotional well-being of individuals; and also perhaps as a connecting pin set of processes that connect individuals (for better or worse) with collectivities such as family, friends, organizations and communities. He also makes it clear that conflicting support and negative consequences are part of the picture. For example, following Barrera's analysis of the negative effects of support, one might ask whether there are important differences between institutionalized forms of support that convey negative messages of stigmatized status (subsidies based on economic need as defined by "poverty" or . "disability"), as opposed to those associated with more universal, mutually defined entitlements (such as Medicare or Social Security for those who have worked, or GI-Bill-type educational rights for those who have served their country) .
It can also serve as a starting point for many of the issues of collaboration that are of more general interest to community psychologists.
Psychological Dysfunction and Well-Being
It is estimated that one third of the homeless suffer from some serious mental disorder (Levine & Rog, 1990). The primary objective of the ECA program was to obtain prevalence rates for specific mental. The practical utility of determining the degree of mental disorder is in the assessment of service needs in the community.
On average, 6–7% of the sample reported a visit to a health care provider during the 6 months prior to the DIS interview. A central question is how community characteristics interact with those who live there to influence mental health outcomes. Of the two, the Andrews and Withey (1976) measure has been the subject of the most psychometric work.
The applicability of the Shevsky typology for planning field studies of the urban sub-region.
Stress
