Aided self help housing trinidad

Reflection With Video And Book

The Harlem Children’s Zone is an example of a Community Intervention Program, which specifically uses a block association model.

Watch the video below and reflect upon what components of Community Intervention Programming were incorporated (said another way, what made this program successful).

reflecting on how this program may effect children’s stress, coping, social support and resilience. More specifically, address the following points

Describe the Harlem Children’s Initiative
Describe which Community Intervention Components (from Ch. 5) were incorporated into the Harlem Children’s Initiative, and thus made it successful
Explain how these program components would affect community members’ (i.e., children’s) stress, coping, social support and resilience (from Ch. 3)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di0-xN6xc_w

Fifth Edition

COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY

John Moritsugu Pacific Lutheran University

Elizabeth Vera Loyola University Chicago

Frank Y. Wong Emory University

Karen Grover Duffy State University of New York, Geneseo

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First published 2014, 2010, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Published 2016 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY, 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Copyright © 2014, 2010, 2003 Taylor & Francis. All rights reserved

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Credits and acknowledgments borrowed from other sources and reproduced, with permission, in this textbook appear on appropriate page within text.

ISBN: 9780205255627 (pbk)

Cover Designer: Karen Noferi

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Duffy, Karen Grover. Community psychology.—Fifth edition / John Moritsugu, Pacific Lutheran University, Elizabeth Vera, Loyola

University Chicago, Frank Y. Wong, Emory University, Karen Grover Duffy, State University of New York, Geneseo. pages cm

Revision of: Community psychology / John Moritsugu, Frank Y. Wong, Karen Grover Duffy.—4th ed.—Boston : Allyn & Bacon, ©2010. ISBN-13: 978-0-205-25562-7 ISBN-10: 0-205-25562-0

1. Community psychology. I. Moritsugu, John. II. Vera, Elizabeth, 1967– III. Wong, Frank Y., 1958– IV. Title. RA790.55.D84 2013

362.2—dc23

2013008404

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Part I

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

CONTENTS Introductory Concepts

INTRODUCTION: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Historical Background

Social Movements

Swampscott

What Is Community Psychology?

Fundamental Principles

A Respect for Diversity

The Importance of Context and Environment

Empowerment

The Ecological Perspective/Multiple Levels of Intervention

▶ CASE IN POINT 1.1 Clinical Psychology, Community Psychology: What’s the Difference?

Other Central Concepts

Prevention Rather than Therapy

▶ CASE IN POINT 1.2 Does Primary Prevention Work?

Social Justice

Emphasis on Strengths and Competencies

Social Change and Action Research

Interdisciplinary Perspectives

▶ CASE IN POINT 1.3 Social Psychology, Community Psychology, and Homelessness

▶ CASE IN POINT 1.4 The Importance of Place

A Psychological Sense of Community

Training in Community Psychology

Plan of the Text

Summary

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH METHODS

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Chapter 3

The Essence of Scientific Research

Why Do Scientific Research?

What Is Scientific Research?

The Fidelity of Scientific Research

▶ CASE IN POINT 2.1 A Theory of Substance Abuse and HIV/STDs that Incorporates the Principles of Community Psychology

Traditional Scientific Research Methods

Population and Sampling

Correlational Research ■ BOX 2.1 Research across Time

Experimental Research

Quasi-experimental Research

Alternative Research Methods Used in Community Psychology

Ethnography

▶ CASE IN POINT 2.2 Case Study of a Consumer-Run Agency

Geographic Information Systems

Epidemiology

Needs Assessment and Program Evaluation

▶ CASE IN POINT 2.3 Needs Assessment of a Hmong Community

Participatory Action Research

Cautions and Considerations Regarding Community Research

The Politics of Science and the Science of Politics

Ethics: Cultural Relativism or Universal Human Rights?

The Continuum of Research: The Value of Multiple Measures

▶ CASE IN POINT 2.4 HIV Intervention Testing and the Use of Placebos

The Importance of Cultural Sensitivity

Community Researchers as Consultants

Summary

STRESS AND RESILIENCE

The Stress Model and the Definition of Community Psychology

Stress

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Part II

Chapter 4

Stressor Events

Stress as a Process

Stress Reaction

▶ CASE IN POINT 3.1 Contemporary Racism

Coping

Social Support

▶ CASE IN POINT 3.2 Mexican American College Student Acculturation Stress, Social Support, and Coping

Resilience

At-Risk to Resilient

The Kauai Longitudinal Studies

A Useful Model

The Fourth Wave

Summary

Social Change and Intervention

THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL CHANGE

Reasons for Social Change

Diverse Populations

Social Justice: A Moral Imperative for Social Change

The Perception of Declining or Scarce Resources

▶ CASE IN POINT 4.1 Funding Dilemmas for Nonprofit Organizations

Accountability

Knowledge-Based and Technological Change

Community Conflict

Dissatisfaction with Traditional Services

Desire for Diversity of Solutions

▶ CASE IN POINT 4.2 Community Conflict: Adversity Turns to Opportunity

Types of Social Change

Spontaneous or Unplanned Social Change

Planned Social Change

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Chapter 5

▶ CASE IN POINT 4.3 Working with an Indigenous People Experiencing Change

Issues Related to Planned Change

Difficulties Bringing About Change

Summary

COMMUNITY INTERVENTION STRATEGIES

Creating Planned Change

Citizen Participation

▶ CASE IN POINT 5.1 The Community Development Society

Community Participation and Prevention

Who Participates?

Advantages and Disadvantages of Citizen Participation

Networking/Collaboration

▶ CASE IN POINT 5.2 Online Networks for Ethnic Minority Issues

Issues Related to Networks

Advantages and Disadvantages of Networks

Consultation

Issues Related to Consultants

Advantages and Disadvantages of Consultants

Community Education and Information Dissemination

Information Dissemination

Community Education

Issues Related to Information Dissemination

Issues Related to Community Education

▶ CASE IN POINT 5.3 The Choices Program

Public Policy

▶ CASE IN POINT 5.4 Rape Crisis Centers: A National Examination

Issues Related to the Use of Public Policy

Advantages and Disadvantages of Public Policy Changes

A Skill Set for Practice

Summary

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Part III

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Community Psychology Applied to Various Settings

THE MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEM

Epidemiological Estimates of Mental Illness

Models of Mental Health and Mental Disorder

The Medical Model

The Psychoanalytic Model

The Behavioral Model: The Social-Learning Approach

The Humanistic Model

▶ CASE IN POINT 6.1 Mental Health Care Professionals

The Evolution of the Mental Health System

Brief History of Mental Health Care

▶ CASE IN POINT 6.2 Rosenhan’s Classic Study of Hospital Patients’ Stigmatization

Deinstitutionalization

The Social Context to Deinstitutionalization

Early Alternatives to Institutionalization

Measuring “Success” of Deinstitutionalized Persons

Beyond Deinstitutionalization

“Model” Programs for Individuals with Mental Disorders

Intensive Case Management

Wraparound

▶ CASE IN POINT 6.3 Wraparound Milwaukee

Early Childhood Experiences and Prevention

The Battle Continues: Where Do We Go from Here?

Summary

SOCIAL AND HUMAN SERVICES IN THE COMMUNITY

Historical Notes about Social Welfare in Western Society

▶ CASE IN POINT 7.1 Poverty in America

▶ CASE IN POINT 7.2 The Grameen Bank

Specific Social Issues and Social Services

Child Maltreatment

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Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Intimate Partner Violence

Teen Pregnancy

The Elderly

Homelessness

▶ CASE IN POINT 7.3 How Do Cultures Differ on the Issue of Homelessness?

Summary

SCHOOLS, CHILDREN, AND THE COMMUNITY

The Early Childhood Environment

Child Care

Enrichment Education and Early Intervention

Self-Care Children

The Public Schools

Desegregation, Ethnicity, and Prejudice in the Schools

The Schools and Adolescents

▶ CASE IN POINT 8.1 Dual-Language Immersion Programs

▶ CASE IN POINT 8.2 Children of Divorce

Summary

LAW, CRIME, AND THE COMMUNITY

The Traditional Justice System

Introduction

Crime and Criminals

▶ CASE IN POINT 9.1 Neighborhood Youth Services

Jails and Prisons

Victims and Fear of Being Victimized

Enforcement Agencies

Addressing Justice System Issues

Primary Prevention

▶ CASE IN POINT 9.2 Working with At-Risk Youth

Secondary Prevention

▶ CASE IN POINT 9.3 Huikahi: The Restorative Circle

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Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Summary

THE HEALTHCARE SYSTEM

The American Healthcare System

National Health Indicators

Observations on the System

Community Psychology and the Healthcare System

Prevention over Remediation

Shifting Focus from Individuals to Groups, Neighborhoods, and Systems

Building Systems

Increasing Accessibility

▶ CASE IN POINT 10.1 Teen Pregnancy Prevention

Social Support and Health

Summary

COMMUNITY HEALTH AND PREVENTIVE MEDICINE

Tobacco

Extent of the Problem

Antitobacco Efforts

Community-Based Approaches

Alcohol

Extent of the Problem

Alcohol Safety Laws

A Community Psychology Approach

Illicit Drugs

Extent of the Problem

Possible Solutions and Challenges

▶ CASE IN POINT 11.1 Prescription Drug Misuse: Risk Factors for Problem Users

Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Extent of the Problem

Possible Solutions and Challenges

HIV and AIDS

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Chapter 12

Overview

Extent of the Problem

Complexities and Controversies

Possible Solutions: Community-Based Approaches

▶ CASE IN POINT 11.2 Evaluation and Implementation of STD/HIV Community Intervention Program in Lima, Peru

▶ CASE IN POINT 11.3 The Bilingual Peer Advocate (BPA) Program

Obesity

Scope of the Problem

Community Prevention Efforts

Summary

COMMUNITY/ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

What Do Organizational and Community Psychology Share?

Organizational Psychology, Organizational Behavior

Ecology and Systems Orientation

Distinctions

Everyday Organizational Issues

Stress

Stress Reduction

Burnout

Organizational Culture

Organizational Citizenship Behaviors

Work and Self-Concept

Dealing with a Diverse Workforce

Other Ecological Conditions

▶ CASE IN POINT 12.1 Consulting on Diversity

Traditional Techniques for Managing People

Compensation Packages

Rules and Regulations

Overview of Organizational Change

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Part IV

Chapter 13

Reasons for Change

Issues Related to Organizational Change

Changing Organizational Elements

Leadership

Reorganization

Quality of Work Life Programs

Team Building

▶ CASE IN POINT 12.2 Managing Change

Summary

Where to from Here?

THE FUTURE OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY

The Establishment of Institutional Markers

Growing Beyond National Boundaries

A Useful Paradigm

Commentaries

Answering the Present and Future Needs of Society

Appreciation of Differences and the Search for Compassion

Sustainability and Environmental Concerns

Disparities in Opportunity for Health, Education, and Economic Success

Aging and End of Life

Summary

Final Reflections

Bibliography

Name Index

Subject Index

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PREFACE

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NEW TO THIS EDITION Heightened readability: Many chapters have been re-written with the student reader in mind. Updated literature reviews: You will find references to new terminology, innovative ways of studying the community, new studies of the community as well as new areas of study. Consideration of healthcare disparities: What are these discrepancies in our care? What is being done to understand and to address them? New materials on obesity prevention: Is obesity on the rise? What are community-based solutions to preventing obesity in children? Added section on interpersonal violence: Theories that attempt to explain violence in intimate relationships are presented along with community interventions, aimed to prevent this problem. Addition of healthy aging considerations: What helps adults enter later stages of life in healthy ways? In what ways are the elderly vulnerable to abuse and exploitation? New considerations of bilingual education and the community: In what ways are schools attempting to integrate immigrants into the community? Methods that view immigrant communities as assets are discussed.

Community psychology grows from an optimism regarding human nature and a search for truth and meaning in the world. It believes in our basic need for each other and our biologically grounded ability to feel compassion and to desire to help. As community psychologists, we are motivated to improve the conditions for the whole, ameliorating the negative and promoting the positive (Cowen, 2000; Shinn & Toohey, 2003).

There is an appreciation for our individual differences and the diversity of our backgrounds, and at the same time for the commonalities that bind us together. We are able to indulge our curiosity about the world and its complexities.

Driven by questions about ourselves, and the collective entities in which we find ourselves, we derive an understanding that is both complex and nuanced. Simple answers may be easiest, but at the basis to the nature of things, we sense complexity, interactions, and a richness of factors that influence the natural social ecologies we study and in which we work. We believe the answers are to be found both in the empirical data that describe our human and social conditions and in the expression of our values and our spirit (Kelly, 2006).

The direction of our answers is toward the transactional nature of our world. We influence each other for better or worse. And so community theory is driven not just by the individual and his or her personality, but also by the influences of context (Trickett, 2009). It is a humble position to take with regard to our world and our influence in that world.

We have tried to succinctly capture the basic principles, themes, and practices in community psychology. The rest is exposition on the various systems in which these

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principles, themes and practices can be applied. In the interdisciplinary spirit of community psychology (Rappaport, 1977), the programs and research in these content areas are gathered from a variety of sources within community psychology, outside community psychology but within the discipline (counseling, clinical, educational and school psychology), and finally outside of psychology itself. Among the works cited, you, the reader, might find social work, public health, education, public policy, criminology/police sciences, sociology, and urban planning. This is reflective of where community psychologists are at work.

The text is divided into four parts. The first provides the historical, theoretical, and research framework for the field. Called to action, we are guided by principles of empowerment, ecology, appreciation of diversity, stress, and resilience. The second section looks at social change and how community psychologists might help in that change. The third section examines the variety of systems in which community psychology principles could be applied. The fourth and final section explores community psychology at present and into the future. What has been accomplished and what are potential areas to grow in? And what bits of wisdom might those who have worked in the field provide?

At the beginning of each chapter are quotes from others who pose a challenge or reflection, which may play out a theme within that chapter. Also at the beginning is an opening story or stories, providing an example of what is going on in the chapter. Each chapter is outlined so that students can expect what they are about to read and formulate questions related to the topics listed. Within the chapters are Case in Point examples of how the theory and research are being applied in the community.

Key concepts have been highlighted by boldface in all chapters. And finally, each chapter concludes with a summary. Students are advised to read this summary after they first peruse the outline and chapter so as to direct their attention to important issues in each chapter and to better organize their studying.

We hope that you find both information and a way of thinking about your psychological world emerging from this text. Community psychology is a body of knowledge, a theoretical framework, and a practice of psychology that relates to building a better world. Topics include fellowship and caring, compassion, support, coping, and succeeding against the odds.

Community psychology is also a way of conceptualizing the world and ourselves in it. You will see how thinking contextually, transactionally, systemically, and ecologically might shift your construction of problems and solutions.

Our thanks to Kristin Landon, who helped on the final editing, and all at Allyn & Bacon who facilitated in the completion of this project. Thanks also to the Pearson reviewers Edison Trickett, Peter Wollheim, and Rebecca Francis.

JM & EV

As one of the coauthors on this text, I thank the original authors, Karen Duffy and Frank Wong, for their original invitation to join them in this work. I also welcome Elizabeth Vera, the newest coauthor. She brings a wealth of expertise in prevention, social justice, and

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counseling, as well as work with diverse populations. Besides her research and practice acumen, she is a clear and effective writer. I could not have done the book without her.

I continue to thank my wife and fellow psychologist, Jane Harmon Jacobs, whose positive attitude and support helped in the good times and the hard times, and my son, Michael Moritsugu, who provided informed and very real help in the completion of the text.

We are the product of our own intellectual and emotional communities. Among my early advisors and teachers were Ralph Barocas and Emory Cowen from my graduate school days at the University of Rochester. I thank them for their support and challenges during my time in the snow country of upstate New York and throughout my career.

Among the many colleagues I found in graduate school, three in particular have remained helpful in continuing to engage me in discussions about the field of community psychology. I thank Leonard Jason, David Glenwick, and Robert Felner for their fellowship and connection over the years. Their rich and enlightening research and writing in the field speak for themselves.

JM

I thank my family and colleagues for their support in my professional endeavors, which laid the groundwork for my contributions to the text. I am also indebted to the communities with whom I have collaborated over the years in efforts to promote the positive and ameliorate the negative.

EV

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■

■

■

■

Introduction: Historical Background HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Social Movements Swampscott

WHAT IS COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY?

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES A Respect for Diversity The Importance of Context and Environment Empowerment The Ecological Perspective/Multiple Levels of Intervention

CASE IN POINT 1.1 Clinical Psychology, Community Psychology: What’s the Difference?

OTHER CENTRAL CONCEPTS Prevention Rather Than Therapy

CASE IN POINT 1.2 Does Primary Prevention Work? Social Justice Emphasis on Strengths and Competencies Social Change and Action Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives

CASE IN POINT 1.3 Social Psychology, Community Psychology, and Homelessness CASE IN POINT 1.4 The Importance of Place

A Psychological Sense of Community Training in Community Psychology

PLAN OF THE TEXT

SUMMARY

Until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream. —Martin Luther King, quoting Amos 5:24

Be the change that you wish to see in the world. —M. Gandhi

My dog Zeke is a big, friendly Lab–golden retriever–Malamute mix. Weighing in at a little over 100 pounds, he can be intimidating when you first see him. Those who come to know him find a puppy-like enthusiasm and an eagerness to please those he knows.

One day, Zeke got out of the backyard. He scared off the mail delivery person and

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roamed the streets around our home for an afternoon. On returning home and checking our phone messages, we found that we had received a call from one of our neighbors. They had found Zeke about a block away and got him back to their house. There he stayed until we came to retrieve him. We thanked the neighbor, who had seen Zeke walking with us every day for years. The neighbor, my wife, and I had stopped and talked many times. During those talks, Zeke had loved receiving some extra attention. Little did we know all this would lead to Zeke’s rescue on the day he left home.

As an example of community psychology, we wanted to start with something to which we all could relate. Community psychology is about everyday events that happen in all of our lives. It is about the relationships we have with those around us, and how those relationships can help in times of trouble and can enhance our lives in so many other ways. It is also about understanding that our lives include what is around us, both literally and figuratively.

But community psychology is more than a way to comprehend this world. Community psychology is also about action to change it in positive ways. The next story addresses this action component.

We start with two young women named Rebecca and Trisha, both freshmen at a large university. The two women went to the same high school, made similar grades in their classes, and stayed out of trouble. On entering college, Rebecca attended a pre–freshman semester educational program on alcohol and drug abuse, which introduced her to a small group of students who were also entering school. They met an upperclassman mentor, who helped them with the mysteries of a new school and continued to meet with them over the semester to answer any other questions. Trisha did not receive an invitation and so did not go to this program. Because it was a large school, the two did not have many opportunities to meet during the academic year. At the end of their first year, Rebecca and Trisha ran into each other and compared stories about their classes and their life. As it turns out, Rebecca had a good time and for the most part stayed out of trouble and made good grades. Trisha, on the other hand, had problems with her drinking buddies and found that classes were unexpectedly demanding. Her grades were lower than Rebecca’s even though she had taken a similar set of freshman classes. Was the pre-freshman program that Rebecca took helpful? What did it suggest for future work on drug and alcohol use on campuses? A community psychologist would argue that the difference in experiences was not about the ‘character’ of the two women, but about how well they were prepared for the demands of freshman life and what supports they had during their year. And what were those preparations and supports that seemed to bring better navigation of the first year in college?

By the end of this chapter, you will be aware of many of the principles by which the two stories might be better understood. By the end of the text, you will be familiar with the concepts and the research related to these and other community psychology topics and how they may be applied to a variety of systems within the community. These topics range from neighborliness to the concerns and crises that we face in each of our life transitions. The skills, knowledge, and support that we are provided by our social networks and the systems and contexts in which these all happen are important to our navigating our life. A

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community psychology provides direction in how to build a better sense of community, how to contend with stresses in our life, and how to partner with those in search of a better community. The interventions are usually alternatives to the traditional, individual-person, problem-focused methods that are typically thought of when people talk about psychology. And the target of these interventions may be at the systems or policy level as well as at the personal. But first let us start with what Kelly (2006) would term an ‘ecological’ understanding of our topic—that is, one that takes into account both the history and the multiple interacting events that help to determine the direction of a community.

We first look at the historical developments leading up to the conception of community psychology. We then see a definition of community psychology, the fundamental principles identified with the field, and other central concepts. We learn of a variety of programs in community psychology. And finally, a cognitive map for the rest of the text is provided. But first, back to the past.

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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Shakespeare wrote, ‘What is past is prologue.’ Why gain a historical perspective? Because the past provides the beginning to the present and defines meanings in the present. Think of when someone says ‘Hi’ to you. If there is a history of friendship, you react to this act of friendship positively. If you have no history of friendship, then you wonder what this gesture means and might react with more suspicion. In a similar way, knowing something of people’s developmental and familial backgrounds tells us something about what they are like and what moves them in the present. The history of social and mental health movements provides insight into the state of psychology. These details provide us with information on the spirit of the times (zeitgeist) and the spirit of the place (ortgeist) that brought forth a community psychology ‘perspective’ (Rappaport, 1977) and ‘orientation’ (Heller & Monahan, 1977).

These historical considerations have been a part of community psychology definitions ever since such definitions began to be offered (Cowen, 1973; Heller & Monahan, 1977; Rappaport, 1977). They also can be found in the most recent text descriptions (Kloos et al., 2011; Nelson & Prilleltensky, 2010). A community psychology that values the importance of understanding ‘context’ would appreciate the need for historical background in all things (Trickett, 2009). This understanding will help explain why things are the way they are, and what forces are at work to keep them that way or to change them. We also gain clues on how change has occurred and how change can be facilitated.

So what is the story? We will divide it into a story of mental health treatment in the United States and a story of the social movements leading up to the founding of the U.S. community psychology field.

In colonial times, the United States was not without social problems. However, given the close-knit, agrarian communities that existed in those times, needy individuals were usually cared for without special places to house them (Rappaport, 1977). As cities grew and became industrialized, people who were mentally ill, indigent, and otherwise powerless were more and more likely to be institutionalized. These early institutions were often dank, crowded places where treatment ranged from restraint to cruel punishment.

In the 1700s France, Philip Pinel initiated reforms in mental institutions, removing the restraints placed on asylum inmates. Reforms in America have been attributed to Dorothea Dix in the late 1800s. Her career in nursing and education eventually led her to accept an invitation to teach women in jails. She noted that the conditions were abysmal and many of the women were, in fact, mentally ill. Despite her efforts at reform, mental institutions, especially public ones, continued in a warehouse mentality with respect to their charges. These institutions grew as the lower class, the powerless, and less privileged members of society were conveniently swept into them (Rappaport, 1977). Waves of early immigrants entering the United States were often mistakenly diagnosed as mentally incompetent and placed in the overpopulated mental ‘hospitals.’

In the late 1800s, Sigmund Freud developed an interest in mental illness and its

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treatment. You may already be familiar with the method of therapy he devised, called psychoanalysis. Freud’s basic premise was that emotional disturbance was due to intrapsychic forces within the individual caused by past experiences. These disturbances could be treated by individual therapy and by attention to the unconscious. Freud gave us a legacy of intervention aimed at the individual (rather than the societal) level. Likewise, he conferred on the profession the strong tendency to divest individuals of the power to heal themselves; the physician, or expert, knew more about psychic healing than did the patient. Freud also oriented professional healers to examine an individual’s past rather than current circumstances as the cause of disturbance, and to view anxiety and underlying disturbance as endemic to everyday life. Freud certainly concentrated on an individual’s weaknesses rather than strengths. This perspective dominated American psychiatry well into the 20th century. Variations of this approach persist to the present day.

In 1946, Congress passed the National Mental Health Act. This gave the U.S. Public Health Service broad authority to combat mental illness and promote mental health. Psychology had proved useful in dealing with mental illness in World War II. After the war, recognition of the potential contributions of a clinical psychology gave impetus to further support for its development. In 1949, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) was established. This organization made available significant federal funding for research and training in mental health issues (Pickren, 2005; Schneider, 2005).

At the time, clinical psychologists were battling with psychiatrists to expand their domain from testing, which had been their primary thrust, to psychotherapy (Walsh, 1987). Today, clinical psychology is the field within psychology that deals with the diagnosis, measurement, and treatment of mental illness. It differs from psychiatry in that psychiatrists have a medical degree. Clinical psychologists hold doctorates in psychology. These are either a PhD, which is considered a research degree, or a PsyD, which is a ‘practitioner–scholar’ degree focused on assessment and psychological interventions. (Today, the practicing ‘psychologist,’ who does therapy, includes a range of specialties. For example, counseling psychologists, who also hold PhD or PsyD degrees, have traditionally focused on issues of personal adjustment related to normal life development. They too are found among the professional practitioners of psychology.) The struggle between the fields of psychiatry and psychology continues today, as some psychologists seek the right to prescribe medications and obtain practice privileges at the hospitals that do not already recognize them (Sammons, Gorny, Zinner, & Allen, 2000). New models of ‘integrated care’ have been growing, where physicians and psychologists work together at the same ‘primary care’ site (McGrath & Sammons, 2011).

Another aspect of the history of mental health is related to the aftermath of the two world wars. Formerly healthy veterans returned home as psychiatric casualties (Clipp & Elder, 1996; Rappaport, 1977; Strother, 1987). The experience of war itself had changed the soldiers and brought on a mental illness.

In 1945, the Veterans Administration sought assistance from the American Psychological Association (APA) to expand training in clinical psychology. These efforts culminated in a 1949 conference in Boulder, Colorado. Attendees at this conference

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approved a model for the training of clinical psychologists (Donn, Routh, & Lunt, 2000; Shakow, 2002). The model emphasized education in science and the practice of testing and therapy, a ‘scientist–practitioner’ model.

The 1950s brought significant change to the treatment of mental illness. One of the most influential developments was the discovery of pharmacologic agents that could be used to treat psychosis and other forms of mental illness. Various antipsychotics, tranquilizers, antidepressants, and other medications were able to change a patient’s display of symptoms. Many of the more active symptoms were suppressed, and the patient became more tractable and docile. The use of these medications proliferated despite major side effects. It was suggested that with appropriate medication, patients would not require the very expensive institutional care they had been receiving, and they could move on to learning how to cope with and adjust to their home communities, to which they might return. Assuming adequate resources, the decision to release patients back into their communities seemed more humane. There was also a financial argument for deinstitutionalization, because the costs of hospitalization were high. There was potential for savings in the care and management of psychiatric patients. The focus for dealing with the mentally ill shifted from the hospital to the community. Unfortunately, what was forgotten was the need for adequate resources to achieve this transition.

In 1952, Hans Eysenck, Sr., a renowned British scientist, published a study critical of psychotherapy (Eysenck, 1952, 1961). Reviewing the literature on psychotherapy, Eysenck found that receiving no treatment worked as well as receiving treatment. The mere passage of time was as effective in helping people deal with their problems. Other mental health professionals leveled criticisms at psychological practices, such as psychological testing (Meehl, 1954, 1960) and the whole concept of mental illness (Elvin, 2000; Szasz, 1961). (A further review of these issues and controversies can be found.) If intervention was not useful, as Eysenck claimed, what would happen to mentally ill individuals? Would they be left to suffer because the helping professions could give them little hope? This was the dilemma facing psychology.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Erich Lindemann’s efforts in social psychiatry had brought about a focus on the value of crisis intervention. His work with survivors of the Cocoanut Grove fire in Boston demonstrated the importance of providing psychological and social support to people coping with life tragedies. With adequate help provided in a timely manner, most individuals could learn to deal with their crises. At the same time, the expression of grief was seen as a natural reaction and not pathological. This emphasis on early intervention and social support proved important to people’s ability to adapt.

Parallel to these developments, Kurt Lewin and the National Training Laboratories were studying group processes, leadership skills for facilitating change, and other ways in which social psychology could be applied to everyday life (www.ntl.org/inner.asp? id=178&category=2). There was a growing understanding of the social environment and social interactions and how they contributed to group and individual abilities to deal with problems and come to healthy solutions.

As a result, the 1960s brought a move to deinstitutionalize the mentally ill, releasing

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them back into their communities. Many questioned the effectiveness of traditional psychotherapy. Studies found that early intervention in crises was helpful. And psychology grew increasingly aware of the importance of social environments. Parallel to these developments, social movements were developing in the larger community.

Social Movements

At about the same time as Freud’s death (1930s), President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed his New Deal. Heeding the lessons of the Great Depression of the 1920s and 1930s, he experimented with a wide variety of government regulatory reforms, infrastructure improvements, and employment programs. These efforts eventually included the development of the Social Security system, unemployment and disability benefits, and a variety of government-sponsored work relief programs, including ones linked to the building of highways, dams, and other aspects of the nation’s economic infrastructure. One great example of this was the Tennessee Valley Authority, which provided a system of electricity generation, industry development, and flood control to parts of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Virginia, Georgia, and North Carolina. This approach greatly strengthened the concept of government as an active participant in fostering and maintaining individuals’ economic opportunities and well-being (Hiltzik, 2011). Although the role of government in fostering well-being is debated to this day, newer conceptions of the role of government still include an active concern for equal opportunity, strategic thinking, and the need for cooperation and trust (Liu & Hanauer, 2011).

There were other social trends as well. Although women had earlier worked in many capacities, the need for labor during World War II allowed them to move into less traditional work settings. ‘Rosie the Riveter’ was the iconic woman of the time, working in a skilled blue-collar position, doing dangerous, heavy work that had previously been reserved for men in industrial America. After the war, it was difficult to argue that women could not work outside the home, because they had contributed so much to American war production. This was approximately 20 years after women had gained voting rights at the national level, with the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution (passing Congress in 1919 and taking until 1920 for the required number of states to ratify it). Throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, women—once disenfranchised as a group and with limited legal privileges—continued to seek their full rights as members of their communities.

In another area of social change, the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954 handed down their decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. This decision overturned an earlier ruling that racial groups could be segregated into ‘separate but equal’ facilities. In reality, the segregated facilities were not equivalent. School systems that had placed Blacks into schools away from Whites were found to be in violation of the U.S. Constitution. This change in the law was a part of a larger movement by Blacks to seek justice and their civil rights. Notably, psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Phipps Clark provided psychological research demonstrating the negative outcomes of segregated schools (Clark, 1989; Clark &

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Clark, 1947; Keppel, 2002). This was the first time that psychological research was used in a Supreme Court decision (Benjamin & Crouse, 2002). The Brown v. Board of Education decision required sweeping changes nationally and encouraged civil rights activists.

Among these activists were a tired and defiant Rosa Parks refusing to give up her bus seat to a White passenger as the existing rules of racial privilege required; nine Black students seeking entry into a school in Little Rock, Arkansas; other Blacks seeking the right to eat at a segregated lunch counter; and students and religious leaders around the South risking physical abuse and death to register Blacks to vote. The civil rights movement of the 1950s carried over to the 1960s. People of color, women, and other underprivileged members of society continued to seek justice. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 helped to enforce the 15th Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing citizens the right to vote (www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc&100&page=transcript).

In the 1960s, the ‘baby boomers’ also came of age. Born in the mid-1940s and into the 1960s, these children of the World War II veterans entered the adult voting population in the United States in large numbers, shifting the opinions and politics of that time. Presaging these changing attitudes, in 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected president of the United States (www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/johnfkennedy). Considered by some too young and too inexperienced to be president, Kennedy embodied the optimism and empowerment of an America that had won a world war and had opened educational and occupational opportunities to the generation of World War II veterans and their families (Brokaw, 1998). His first inaugural address challenged the nation to service, saying, ‘Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.’ During his tenure, the Peace Corps was created, sending Americans overseas to help developing nations to modernize. Psychologists were also encouraged to ‘do something to participate in society’ (Walsh, 1987, p. 524). These social trends, along with the increasing moral outrage over the Vietnam War, fueled excitement over citizen involvement in social reform and generated an understanding of the interdependence of social movements (Kelly, 1990).

One of President Kennedy’s sisters had special needs. This may have fueled his personal interest in mental health issues. Elected with the promise of social change, he endorsed public policies based on reasoning that social conditions, in particular poverty, were responsible for negative psychological states (Heller, Price, Reinharz, Riger, & Wandersman, 1984). Findings of those times supported the notion that psychotherapy was reserved for a privileged few, and institutionalization was the treatment of choice for those outside the upper class (Hollingshead & Redlich, 1958). In answer to these findings, Kennedy proposed mental health services for communities and secured the passage of the Community Mental Health Centers Act of 1963. The centers were to provide outpatient, emergency, and educational services, recognizing the need for immediate, local interventions in the form of prevention, crisis services, and community support.

Kennedy was assassinated at the end of 1963, but the funding of community mental health continued into the next administration. In his 1964 State of the Union address, President Lyndon B. Johnson prescribed a program to move the country toward a ‘Great Society’ with a plan for a ‘War on Poverty.’

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President Johnson wanted to find ways to empower people who were less fortunate and to help them become productive citizens. Programs such as Head Start (addressed in Chapter 8) and other federally funded early childhood enhancement programs for the disadvantaged were a part of these efforts. Although much has changed in our delivery of social and human services since the 1960s, many of the prototypes for today’s programs were developed during this time.

Multiple forces in mental health and in the social movements of the time converged in the mid-1960s. Dissatisfaction with the effectiveness of traditional individual psychotherapy (Eysenck, 1952), the limitation on the number of people who could be treated (Hollingshead & Redlich, 1958), and the growing number of mentally ill individuals returning into the communities combined to raise serious questions regarding the status quo in mental health. In turn, a recognition of diversity within our population, the appreciation of the strengths within our communities, and a willingness to seek systemic solutions to problems directed psychologists to focus on new possibilities in interventions. Thus we have the basis for what happened at the Swampscott Conference.

Swampscott

In May 1965, a conference in Swampscott, Massachusetts (on the outskirts of Boston), was convened to examine how psychology might best plan for the delivery of psychological services to American communities. Under the leadership of Don Klein, this training conference was organized and supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH; Kelly, 2005). Conference participants, including clinical psychologists concerned with the inadequacies of traditional psychotherapy and oriented to social and political change, agreed to move beyond therapy to prevention and the inclusion of an ecological perspective in their work (Bennett et al., 1966). The birth of community psychology in the United States is attributed to these attendees and their work (Heller et al., 1984; Hersch, 1969; Rappaport, 1977). Appreciating the influence of social settings on the individual, the framers of the conference proceedings proposed a ‘revolution’ in the theories of and the interventions for a community’s mental health (Bennett et al., 1966).

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1.

2.

3.

WHAT IS COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY? Community psychology focuses on the social settings, systems, and institutions that influence groups and organizations and the individuals within them. The goal of community psychology is to optimize the well-being of communities and individuals with innovative and alternate interventions designed in collaboration with affected community members and with other related disciplines inside and outside of psychology. Klein (1987) recalled the adoption of the term community psychology for the 1963 Swamp-scott grant proposal to NIMH. Klein credited William Rhodes, a consultant in child mental health, for writing of a ‘community psychology.’ Just as there were communities that placed people at risk of pathology, community psychology was interested in how communities and the systems within them helped to bring health to community members.

Iscoe (1987) later tried to capture the dual nature of community psychology by drawing a distinction between a ‘community psychology’ and a ‘community psychologist.’ He stated that the field of community psychology studied communities and the factors that made them healthy or at risk. In turn, a community psychologist used these factors to intervene for the betterment of the community and the individuals within it. In the 1980s, the then Division of Community Psychology (Division 27 of the APA): was renamed the Society for Community Research and Action so as to better emphasize the dual nature of the field.

The earliest textbook (Rappaport, 1977) defined community psychology as

an attempt to find other alternatives for dealing with deviance from societal-based norms … [avoiding] labeling differences as necessarily negative or as requiring social control … [and attempting] to support every person’s right to be different without risk of suffering material and psychological sanctions … The defining aspects of this [community] perspective are: cultural relativity, diversity, and ecology, [or rather] the fit between person and environment … [The] concerns [of a community psychology reside in] human resource development, politics, and science … to the advantage of the larger community and its many sub-communities. (pp. 1, 2, 4–5; boldface ours)

Table 1.1 Four Broad Principles Guiding Community Research and Action

Community research and action requires explicit attention to and respect for diversity among peoples and settings.

Human competencies and problems are best understood by viewing people within their social, cultural, economic, geographic, and historical contexts.

Community research and action is an active collaboration among researchers, practitioners, and community members that uses multiple methodologies. Such research and action must be undertaken to serve those community members

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4.

directly concerned, and should be guided by their needs and preferences, as well as by their active participation.

Change strategies are needed at multiple levels to foster settings that promote competence and well-being.

Source: From www.scra27.org/about.html.

This emphasis on an alternative to an old, culture-blind, individual-focused perspective was restated more recently in Kloos and colleagues (2011), who provide two ways in which community psychology is distinctive. It ‘offers a different way of thinking about human behavior … [with a] focus on the community contexts of behavior; and it [expands] the topics for psychological study and intervention’ (p. 3).

Both Kofkin Rudkin (2003) and Kagan, Burton, Ducket, Lawthom, and Siddiquee (2011) have noted that continual reconsiderations of the definition of community psychology accommodate a flexible and dynamic conceptualization of a field that is sensitive to the continual input of science and theory as well as considerations of the details of time and place.

Community psychology is born out of dissatisfaction with the limitations of the traditional psychotherapy approaches. The ‘radical’ theory- and research-based position it took was that individuals were best understood within the contexts in which they were embedded, that these contexts demanded an appreciation of the cultural and ethnic diversity of backgrounds, and that the individual and the context provided both opportunities and problems for health and well-being. Studying communities would yield a better understanding of this position and would provide new approaches to programming toward the health of those communities and the individuals within them.

At the beginning of the 21st century, the Society for Community Research and Action (Division 27 of the APA) surveyed its membership. From those results, a divisional task force compiled four basic principles for community psychology (see Table 1.1). These principles may be summarized as a respect for diversity, a recognition of the power of context, an appreciation of a community’s right to empowerment, and an understanding of the complexity of ecologically relevant interventions. The following exploration of these four fundamental principles provides us with a good example of community psychology in application.

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FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES ‘Principles’ are (1) the theoretical assumptions on which a concept (i.e., community psychology) is built, or (2) the values that influence and motivate action in the field. The framers of these principles hoped to portray what were commonly agreed-on fundamentals of a community psychology, but they also noted that these were aspirations.

TABLE 1.2 The ADDRESSING Framework for Diversity

A ge,

D evelopmental and acquired D isabilities,

R eligion,

E thnicity,

S ocioeconomic status,

S exual orientation,

I ndigenous heritage,

N ational origin,

G ender. Source: Adapted from material in Hays, P. A. (2008). Addressing cultural complexities in practice: Assessment, diagnosis, and therapy (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

A Respect for Diversity

At one time, psychology was in search of universal principles that would transcend culture or ethnicity. However, the group sampled to establish these universals tended to be White, middle-class college students. The irony in this did not escape psychologists in the 1960s or today (Gutherie, 2003; Pedersen, 2008; Rappaport, 1977; Trimble, 2001). Recognizing and respecting differences in people and their cultural and ancestral heritage is important to a community psychology. Trickett, Watts, and Birman (1994) and Hays (2008) have noted that diversity extends beyond culture, ethnicity, and race and includes considerations of gender, disability, sexual orientation, and those who have been marginalized and oppressed. Hays (2008) included 10 categories in her system for noting diversity (Table 1.2), the ADDRESSING system. Okazaki and Saw (2011) would add to this list an 11th category, that of Immigrant Status.

Rappaport (1977) called for the acceptance of ‘the value of diversity and the right of people to choose their own goals and life styles’ (p. 3). If diversity is respected, how might that affect our thinking? Certainly, different would not mean inferior (lower) or deficient (lacking). Early models of abnormality that assumed such positions would have to be discarded, and new models that appreciated the contribution of social and cultural factors

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would have to be incorporated into our conceptions of health and pathology (Sue, Sue, Sue, & Sue, 2013). The assumptions of merit and achievement would also need to be reconsidered, along with resource distribution and the criteria for allocations. From a belief in the diversity of people also comes a recognition of the distinctive styles of living, worldviews, and social arrangements that are not part of the perceived mainstream or established traditional society but that more accurately characterize our society’s diversity. Moreover, a recognition of these distinctions keeps diverse populations from being compared with perceived mainstream cultural standards and then being labeled as ‘deficient’ or ‘deviant’ (Snowden, 1987). Such a recognition of diversity increases our ability to design interventions that are culturally appropriate and thus more effective (e.g., Dumas, Rollock, Prinz, Hops, & Blechman, 1999; Marin, 1993).

Sue (1977), early in the community mental health movement, pointed out the differential treatment and outcomes for ethnic minority group clients in the system. He called for provision of responsive services to these populations. These demands for more cultural competency in treatments, emphasizing the importance of understanding relationships and context in our interventions, have continued over several decades (Sue, 2003). Sue believes these variables of cultural capacity to be just as important, if not more important, than specific treatment techniques. Padilla, Ruiz, and Alvarez (1975) also called attention to the barriers of geography, class, language, and culture that led to a lack of Spanish-speaking and -surnamed populations in mental health systems. The recommendations of barrio-(neighborhood) and family-focused services have been models for what community-based services should be. In particular, the emphasis continues to be on respect for cultural context in devising treatments. When interventions fail, it is not necessarily the fault of the client or patient. The system and its assumptions can also be at fault and must be examined. Bernal and Sáez-Santiago (2006) described a framework (Table 1.3) for deriving what Pederson (1997) called a ‘culturally centered’ community intervention. The APA has adopted Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice and Organizational Change for Psychologists (APA, 2003) in recognition of the importance of diversity in psychology.

TABLE 1.3 Framework for Culturally Centered Interventions

Language (Native language skills)

A carrier of culture and meaning

Personal relationships Especially as might be influenced by similarities or differences in ethnicity and race

Metaphors The ways in which meaning and concepts are conveyed

Cultural knowledge Traditions, customs, and values

Theoretical model for intervention

The psychological bases for action

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Intervention goals Need for agreement as to what is to be accomplished

Intervention methods Culturally sensitive and respectful of the community

Consideration of context The historic, social, political, and economic setting are seen as important to the person, the setting, and the intervention

Source: Adapted from material in Bernal, G., & Sáez-Santiago, E. (2006). Culturally centered psychosocial interventions. Journal of Community Psychology, 34, 121–132.

In terms of research, the recognition of diversity within populations has slowly but steadily been rising. In early issues of community psychology journals, about 11% of the articles addressed ethnic minority populations (Loo, Fong, & Iwamasa, 1988). Martin, Lounsbury, and Davidson (2004) found this rate to more than double in the time period from 1993 to 1998, with approximately 25% of the articles in the American Journal of Community Psychology addressing diversity issues.

The study of ethnic minority groups is really the practice of good science (Sue & Sue, 2003). Given our understanding of population (the people in whom we are interested) and sample (a subset of those people), accurate sampling requires recognition of who is the population. The cultural variations in ethnic groups make them different ‘populations’ for study. Considerations of culture and community are integral to one another (Kral et al., 2011; O’Donnell, 2006). O’Donnell proposed the term cultural–community psychology because all communities were best understood within their specific cultural contexts. Building on the work of Trickett (1996), who described the importance of both culture and context in understanding and working in diverse communities, O’Donnell commented that all community phenomena and interventions should be preceded by the phrase ‘it depends.’

Given the emphasis on diversity and the appreciation of cultural and ethnic factors, it is not surprising that 23% of the membership of the Society for Community Action and Research self-identifies as ethnic minority (Toro, 2005). In comparison, approximately 6% of the APA membership self-identifies as ethnic minority.

Notably, certain marginalized groups continue to be ignored or underserved — for example, homosexuals, individuals with disabilities, and women (Bond, Hill, Mulvey, & Terenzio, 2000). Bond and Harrell (2006) caution that there is little work on the subtleties, contradictions, and dilemmas that arise from working with the many diversities that exist within our communities. Along with the obvious issues of competing ethnic groups, there are the intersections of gender and ethnicity, the combinations of sexual orientation and class, or all of these considerations together creating practical challenges to the practice of community psychology. Although diversity has a history of recognition within the field, its implications are still being worked out and understood.

The appreciation of diversity has been important to community psychologists’ work in various groups and communities. However, research has found that community is created

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most easily within homogeneous populations. This tension between diversity and homogeneity is an area that community psychology must better address (Townley, Kloos, Green, & Franco, 2011).

Of note is Toro’s (2005) comment on how the field has become so diverse. This diversity extends to the many theories, approaches to problems, issues addressed, and populations served. Although some may call this a lack of focus, Toro believes it to be an indication of health and vitality as the field expands its boundaries and takes on new challenges.

You will see numerous studies on specific ethnic groups in this text. There are also growing numbers of studies focusing on other aspects of diversity. We will not reference one particular chapter that deals with this topic. That is because diversity is integral to any of the considerations within the field. This is very different from what was found in the 1960s. Community psychology was one of the areas in psychology that championed the need for inclusion of diversity in the mainstream of the discipline.

The Importance of Context and Environment

Our behaviors are governed by the expectations and demands of given situations. For example, students’ behavior in lecture classes is different from their behavior at a dance. Even the levels of our voices are governed by where we happen to be. At a ball game or sports event, we are louder. At a funeral, or in a church or temple, we are quieter. Raising our children, we may tell them to use their ‘inside’ voices, or allow them to use their ‘outside’ voices when the occasion permits it.

Kurt Lewin (1936) formulated that behavior is a function of the interaction between the person and the environment [B = f(P × E)]. A social–gestalt psychologist, Lewin intended to capture the importance of both the individual and his or her context. To consider the individual alone would provide an incomplete and weak description of the factors influencing behavior. It would be like a figure without a ground. Therefore, any study of behavior must include an understanding of the personal dispositions and of the situation in which the person finds him- or herself.

Roger Barker (1965), one of Lewin’s students, studied the power of ‘behavior settings’ in guiding the activities of a setting’s inhabitants. People in a given setting acted in prescribed ways. Violation of these environmentally signaled patterns was punished. As a result, these patterns persisted over time. Barker observed and analyzed the social and psychological nature of these settings. For example, in a dining room, we dined. We did not play football there, or so we were told. If we were to go up to a person and rub his shoulder instead of shaking his hand, we would get curious looks. If we were to get into an elevator and face inward instead of outward, people would become nervous. These behavior settings held a powerful influence on what we did.

One aspect of the setting that Barker studied was the number of people it took to maintain that setting. To run a grocery store requires a certain number of people—for example, the checkout clerk, the stocker, and the people to make and accept deliveries. We

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have all been at a checkout area when there were not enough checkout clerks. There is a demand on people to work harder, and everyone feels that there are not enough people to do what needs to be done. If there are more customers, there might be a call for more checkers to come to their stands. The number of people required is flexible, and the store has made provision to have more or less as the needs change.

Each setting has an optimal level of staffing. When there are too many staff members, it is likely that the setting will be more selective about who is allowed to perform the tasks. There will be competition to fill those positions. Barker (1965) called this a case of overmanning, or rather, too many people for the situation. Newcomers are less likely to be welcome, because they would add to the competitive pool. On the other hand, if there are not enough people to complete a task, there is more environmental demand to use every available individual and to recruit more. With a lot of work to be done and not enough personnel to do, there will be less competition for positions. As we might guess, new members will be welcome. This is a case of undermanning, or insufficient personnel to accomplish the required tasks. In this case, the social environment is more open and positively inclined to newcomers.

It might be noted that in economically difficult times, where there is competition for scarce jobs, the attitude toward newcomers and immigrants is usually negative. When there is a need for more workers, there is more willingness to take in new people. Often these positive or negative attitudes toward newcomers can be manipulated by perceptions of overmanning or undermanning. For example, attitudes toward new workers can be made more negative by instilling a belief that there are too many people, even though newcomers might be performing tasks that others would not do.

Barker’s and Lewin’s works have underscored the importance of environmental factors in behavioral tendencies. Regularities of behavior are not determined solely by personality and genetics. Behaviors are also the result of environmental signals and pressures on the individual. Different environments bring different behaviors. Change the environment, change the behavior.

Behavioral community psychology reinforces the importance of context from a learning theory perspective. Discriminative stimulus and setting control are contextual terms. In behavioral terminology, the ‘context’ can be construed as the discriminative stimuli within a setting that, as individuals or groups have learned, signal the display of certain behaviors leading to consequences that are desirable or undesirable. The expectation of reinforcement or punishment for the behaviors is the basis of the community learning. Certain behaviors are reinforced in a given setting, increasing the probability of those behaviors in those settings; if other behaviors are punished in that setting, the probability of those behaviors decreases (Figure 1.1). A ‘No Smoking’ sign usually suppresses smoking behavior. People drinking usually increases the likelihood of others drinking in that setting. When picking up dog waste on a walk through certain urban neighborhoods was reinforced, people picked up their dog waste in those neighborhoods (Jason & Zolik, 1980). This is a Skinnerian explanation of setting control (Skinner, 1974).

Beyond this strict behavioral interpretation of context, Mischel (1968) argued for the

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importance of setting as well as personality in determining behaviors. That is, certain behavioral tendencies might appear stronger in particular settings and weaker in others. For example, we might not see friendly behaviors in one setting (final exams), but in another setting, friendliness overflows (parties). Behavioral community programs have been a part of the community psychology tradition for many years, contributing to the understanding of context and the power of learning theory in devising interventions (Bogat & Jason, 1997, 2000; Fawcett, 1990; Glenwick & Jason, 1980). The emphasis on clear goals, the importance of settings, and the impact of consequences can be seen in community psychology today.

FIGURE 1.1 Setting Control and behavior

The conceptualization of context is more typically in terms of process and systems (Seidman & Tseng, 2011; Tseng & Seidman, 2007). Here, consideration is given to “resources,” “the organization of resources,” and “the social processes” within a given environment. Resources are defined as material, personal, or social “assets” that can be of help to an individual or group (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/resource). Examples of resources include personnel, expertise, supplies, and money. The organization of resources addresses who has the resources, how they are distributed, and how within the system they are accumulated and managed. Finally, the social processes are the interactions (back and forth) and the transactions (exchanges) between and among the members of a system. For example, in a particular organization we might consider the amount of money in the system (its resources), the rules governing how and when it is distributed (organization of resources), and the discussions around these issues (processes). Although psychologists typically focus on the processes within a system (who talks to whom, how people communicate with each other, the clarity of communications), the context can be changed just as dramatically by alternations in resources (more or less money) or the organization of resources (who has it, how it is decided who gets it).

As we have described, context can be as simple as the stimulus controls in a setting, or as complex as the consideration of means, rules, and participatory patterns of a given setting; context can also dictate behavior patterns and influence motivation for accepting new or rejecting old members. An example of using contextual frameworks for understanding events is our portrayal of the historical events within mental health and social movements leading up to the Swampscott Conference. The social, political, and historical events leading up to Swampscott helped to define the “spirit” of the times

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(zeitgeist) and of the place (ortgeist) that led the founders of community psychology to bring change (Kelly, 2006).

No matter what the theoretical framework, the importance of context or setting is an essential part of a community psychology (Trickett, 2009). A person does not act except in ways that are determined by his or her setting. In turn, those actions are best understood when viewed in the framework of context.

Empowerment

Empowerment is another basic concept of community psychology. It is a value, a process, and an outcome (Zimmerman, 2000). As a value, empowerment is seen to be good. It assumes that individuals and communities have strengths, competencies, and resources and are by nature nonpathological. As a process, empowerment is a way in which individuals and communities feel that they have some say in and control over the events in their lives, the structures that shape their lives, and the policies that regulate those structures. Community psychology emphasizes the value of the democratic process. As an outcome of democracy, people can feel empowered. In psychological terms, a feeling of efficacy is the belief that one has power over one’s destiny. It is the opposite of helplessness. It is what Bandura (2000, 2006) has called agency (being an actor within one’s world, and not merely a passive observer), self-efficacy (a belief that one can make a difference), and collective efficacy (a belief of a group or community that together they can bring about change). Beyond these cognitive components, empowerment includes action on one’s own behalf.

Empowerment is viewed as a process: the mechanism by which people, organizations, and communities gain mastery over their lives. (Rappaport, 1984, p. 3)

At the community level, of analysis, empowerment may refer to collective action to improve the quality of life in a community and to the connections among community organizations and agencies. (Zimmerman, 2000, p. 44)

Empowerment is a construct that links individual strength and competencies, natural helping systems, and proactive behaviors to social policy and social changes. Empowerment theory, research, and intervention link individual well-being with the larger social and political environment. (Perkins & Zimmerman, 1995, p. 569)

Perkins and associates (2007) note that empowering individuals through learning and participation opportunities eventually leads to higher level organizational and community transformations.

There are many ways to feel empowered within a work setting (Foster-Fishman, Salem, Chibnall, Legler, & Yapchai, 1998). Job autonomy (control over and influence on the details of the work setting), gaining job-relevant knowledge, feeling trusted and respected in the organization, freedom to be creative on the job, and participation in decision making were examples found through interviews and observations at a given work

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site. Studies of empowering organizations found that inspiring leadership, power role opportunities, a socially supportive environment, and group belief in the power of its members all contributed to feelings of empowerment in community organizations (Maton, 2008; Wilke & Speer, 2011).