Community Psychologists

1
Community Psychologists

• Who we are and What we do
• Chapter 2

2

• Like the definition of community psych the role
  of a community psychologist varies
• Community psychologists can operate from academia
  equally as well as in the community
• Most do not use the title community psychologist

3
Qualities of a Community Psychologist

• Competence
• Therapeutic skills
• Interacting with people in the community
• Research competence
• Methodology and statistics but also context
• Organizational and consultations skills
• For empowerment and program development
• Written and oral skills

4
Qualities

• Eco-Identity
• join with the community
• Appreciation of diversity
• Originally referred to as tolerance
• Social role and social position
• Usually confounded
• Coping effectively with varied resources
• Mobilize resources

5
Examples of mobilizing resources

• Coalitions
• Training informal or natural helpers
• Utilizing existing locations for other purposes
  (libraries, churches, rec centers)
• Example 21st Century School
• Ed Zigler (developer of Head Start)
• Schools serve as a hub for families

6
Qualities

• Risk-taking attitude
• scared money dont win
• Unbalancing the status quo is risky
• Temper zeal with patience
• Problem did not start overnight
• Problem will not end overnight
• Must be persistent for it to end at all
• Planned Obsolescence
• Teach a man to fish
• Tolerance for Ambiguity

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Doing Community Psychology

• Research in Community Psychology
• Logical positivism versus social constructivism
• Reliability and Validity
• internal versus ecological validity
• Sampling
• Robert Guthrie- Even the rats were white
• Heterogeneous groups
• Measures
• Scale content and usage may be biased

8
Advances in Community Psych Research

• Types of research
• Basic Traditional paradigm
• Applied Developed for social intervention
• Action Promotes Social Change
• Participatory Democratic use of knowledge
• Empowerment Community is in complete control

9
Characteristics of Community Psych Research

• Cycle of Research
• Plan
• Act
• Observe
• Reflect
• Data
• Quantitative Scores, Numbers, Ratings
• Qualitative Open-ended, Focus Groups

10
Examples of Community Relevant Research

• Program development and Evaluation
• Needs Assessments
• Process Evaluations
• Outcome Evaluations
• Cost-benefit Analysis
• Policy reform
• Kenneth Mamie Clark (Doll Study)
• Public Policy Office of APA

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Applied Community Psychology

• Consultation
• Client-centered Help an individual meet the
  needs of another individual
• Consultee-centered Help an individual how to
  meet the needs of a group
• Program-centered administrative Help an agency
  meet the needs of its consumers
• Consultee-centered administrative Help an agency
  meet the needs of its staff

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Community Consultation

• Stages
• Entry
• Diagnosis
• Implementation
• Disengagement
• Challenges
• Value conflict
• Time

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Creation of Alternative Settings

• Setting
• Instance where new relationships are formed to
  achieve a goal
• Alternative settings are usually formed out of
  dissatisfaction with prior settings
• Challenges of Alternative Settings
• Many do not survive past 1 year
• Balance establishing legitimacy with radical
  origins
• Structure versus anarchy

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Coalition Building

• Coalition
• Group of diverse settings with a common goal
• Efficient method of achieving community goals
• Process
• Meeting of key figures of diverse settings
• Provision of information about common plight
• Reinforcement of collaboration

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Challenges to Coalition Building

• Setting-centered
• Settings were passionate about their specific
  goals but not the common goal
• Competition
• Resources are scarce
• Outside Agitator Rabble Rouser