Psychology 348 Test Notes (Completed) PDF

NOTES BY DARYAN VDW Psychology 348 Notes: P0t One PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERVENTIONS- AN INTRO: HEALTH: WHO(1948) - is a complete state of well-being that includes physical, mental, and social well-being. Health is not merely the absence of inﬁrmity IMPLICATIONS: holistic view of health as a state of well-being goals with health and well-being include disease prevention and health promotion risk and protective factors inﬂuence the health of the individual, group, and community multiple risk and protective factors that promote and support OR threaten health and well-being multi-level risk factors for poor health outcomes ecological approach WELL-BEING: state of personal, relational, and collective well-being is not merely as matter of individual health and involves transactions between individuals, supportive relationships, and environments a positive state of aGairs bought by the balanced and simultaneous satisfaction of the objective and subjective needs of individuals, relationships, organizations, and communities (Prilleltensky, 2012) HOW DO PSYCHOLOGISTS CONTRIBUTE TO WELL-BEING: psychological interventions à work together with an aGected target groups to take actions to enhance or maintain their functioning and well-being COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY: to challenge conditions of oppression and inequality that cause poor well-being Is underpinned by the principle of ecology and the value of holism Approach is addressing threats to health and well-being ECOLOGICAL MODEL (THINKING ABOUT THE PERSON-IN-CONTEXT): NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 1 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW HEALTH AND WELL-BEING IN A SOCIAL CONTEXT: SOCIAL CONTEXT: DiGerences in social circumstances accounts for diGerences in health and well- being Thinking ecologically – a person in context TO SUPPORT THE WELL-BEING OF A POPULATION (PREREQUISITES): Basic physiological needs – food, clothing, shelter Physical resources – housing, access to clean water and sanitation. Social resources – peace, income, education SOCIAL FACTORS: Impact our access to prerequisite resources Create inequalities in well-being and include diGerences in: o Income, levels of education, social class, gender, ethnicity, or race o Poverty is the most salient social factor to cause ill-health INEQUALITY IN SOUTH AFRICA: Highest Gini coeGicient in the world à 0.63 in 2015 Unemployment rate in 2023 à 32.9% Nearly half of SA population is considered chronically poor à upper bound of national poverty line R995 per person per month CHALLENGES FACING SOUTH AFRICA – NDP 2011: Unemployment A high disease burden Divisions within society Failure of public services, especially in delivering to the poor Parts of the country where people are "locked into poverty" Failure to exploit natural resources well Crumbling infrastructure Corruption IMPACT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC: 4 000 631 infections & 101 922 deaths Impacted all dimensions of health and well-being Highlighted and exacerbated inequality, safety, unemployment, food, insecurity, gender-based violence etc. Marginalized and vulnerable communities experienced lack of access to key resources to protect against infection: o Water o Ability to practice social distancing o Food security Community safety threatened: Increased rates of GBV and domestic violence NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 2 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERVENTIONS MUST TAKE INTO ACCOUNT: diGerent dimensions of well-being multiple pathways of risk factors that impact well-being consider context (i.e. take an ecological approach) INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY: COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY: to challenge the conditions of oppression and inequality that cause ill-health and well-being developed as a reaction to the inability of traditional psychology to address the psychosocial problems of people give a wider scope to psychology by focusing on community processes and interventions deal with problems at multiple levels of community ORIGINS: Developed in USA in the 1960s and 1970s. Dissatisﬁed with mental health services The Social Action Model developed, focusing on addressing social issues such as poverty, unemployment etc. Used the ecological perspective as a conceptual framework to approach community issues Programmes directed at improving individual group and social system functioning Develops in reaction to the sociopolitical context in which it is implemented Liberation struggles in Latin America inﬂuenced development of Community psychology Worked towards social and political change Assisted victims of violence and oppression Community psychology is dynamic and is constantly developing while inﬂuenced by the social context IN SOUTH AFRICA: In the 1980s academic psychologists began to oppose racial disparities in South Africa. Working in context of political instability and violence. Force for social change. Trauma counselling, collaboration with community groups and organizations Political Unrest and Violence – The Trojan Horse Incident Originated as approaches for engaging with social psychological problems associated with Apartheid Focus on trauma counselling. NGOs serve as the link between psychologists and the community. To transform health and mental health provision. Psychologist as an agent of change. NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 3 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW READING: COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY IN SOUTH AFRICA: ORIGINS, DEVELOPMENTS AND MANIFESTATIONS – BY MOHAMED SEEDAT & SANDY LAZARUS (page 267-281) INTRODUCTION: African scholarly and academic voices continue to remain marginal within international knowledge creation agencies and publications Due to the controlling structure of colonialism and contemporary dominance of North American and European political, economic, and cultural systems and discourse on knowledge creation Psychology (western-ethno-science) was central to colonizing structures and discourses, which focuses on Euro-American self-knowledge and science and marginalizes other-than-western knowledge systems Furthermore it continues to produce the structural conditions and inﬂuences for the ongoing marginalization of other-than-western voices in global scholarship – as evident in colonialism and apartheid Psychology has often mirrored dominant exclusionary and discriminatory sociopolitical practices The history of South Africa provides illuminating illustration of how globally psychological discourses and practices were deployed for purposes of oppressive social engineering To address this community psychology in south Africa attempts to redress South African psychology’s racially skewed systems of knowledge production, research, service provision and register African-centered voices STRUGGLE, CRISIS, AND ORIGINS OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY IN SOUTH AFRICA: South African psychology has been characterised by many large-scale social and community applications that have addressed social, economic, and industrial problems encountered by the minority White populations These applications have helped psychology earn formalization and professionalization But it has rationalized oppressive social engineering and exclusionary policy development, including the making and preservation of privileged racial enclaves Such as the First Carnegie Commission study: o Large-scale social-community intervention for the alleviation of poverty facing dominant political minority o Racially motivated concern about the emergence of class distinctions in the white Afrikaner social order o Psychologist involved reasoned that class distinctions were eroding a sense of community among Whites, which lead to greater social contact between poor whites and Africans o The dominate discourse projected Blacks as inferior, threats and competitors o The psychological component of the Carnegie study endorsed the government’s policy of workplace and social segregation Community psychology now resonates with the broad values of: o Social justice o Equity NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 4 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW o Human rights o Freedom These values arose due to the struggle against apartheid racism and socioeconomic exploitation In turn psychology in South Africa experience it own internal crisis and struggles for democratization The crisis was triggered by the following reasons: o A growing recognition of south African psychology’s complicity with colonialism, oppressive ideological discourse, and practices o Critiques of the appropriateness of North-American community psychology o The relevance of clinical and counseling modalities that privilege individualism o Questions about the class, patriarchal, elitist, and ethnocentric basis of psychology o Debates about the exclusion of Blacks and women in knowledge production and organized psychology South African community psychology developed in context similar to that of Latin America, in Latin America: o Paulo Freire’s writings and critical sociology and the focus on political liberation and transformation of unequal societies created the social context for the emergence of community psychology SASO (South African Students Organisation), TECON (Theatre Council Of Natal), the Peoples Experimental Theatre and BCP (Black Peoples Convention) – these organizations and their work represented the precursor to the formalized radical forms of community psychology in South Africa o furthermore they represented the tenets of Black Consciousness Movement that used the term “Black” to assert liberatory and assertive mental attitudes, transcending the terms racial reference that focused exclusively of pigmentation Within these groups there was a drive for community self-empowerment, identity and solidarity in social mobilization and a rejection of apartheid racialized norms, social structures, and segregationist ideals SOCIAL ACTOR AND AGENCY CONTRIBUTIONS: Groups and initiatives that contributed to the making of community psychology in South Africa: o PAG (Psychology and Apartheid Group) o OASSSA (Organization For Appropriate Social Services In South Africa) o ISHS (Institute For Social Health Sciences) o NEPI (National Education Policy Investigation) o CSVR (The Centre For The Study Of Violence And Reconciliation) o Agape Healing Community o The Malmesbury Project o The Early Childhood Development Programme of the University of the Western Cape’s Psychology Resource Centre PAG, formed by Black psychologists, led an academic boycott of organized psychology, which through its association with the Psychological Association of South Africa (PASA) failed to publically show its abhorrence of apartheid NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 5 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW PAG alongside OASSSA in 1994 launched an inclusive democratically structured association called Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA) PAG held conferences and publications which: o brought Black voice to the ﬁeld of community psychology and critical psychology o questioned the dominance of conventional positivist-empiricist logic of research in psychology o highlighted the failure of psychology to consider the deleterious consequences of apartheid exploitation on the majority population’s well-being OASSSA, comprised of mainly White psychologists, oGered: o psychological support to victims of apartheid violence o developed models to train lay counselors and educators o organized regular seminars, discussion groups and conferences o mobilized mental health workers nationally to help promote the resilience and survival skills of vulnerable groups in the forefront of the struggle against apartheid NEPI, involved community psychology activists, concentrated on the development of education policy options for the “new” South Africa o A support services group which included: school health, specialized education and guidance and counseling in its investigation o A Western Cape Education Support Services Policy Research Forum was established for the speciﬁc purpose of policy research and development relating to education support services o The main area of focus during 1993-1994 was to prepare speciﬁc policy position papers relating to education support services as a whole and particular areas of specialization In eGorts to encourage interracial contact, dialogue, and negotiation as vehicles of peace and political, 40 south African representing various ideological positions and sectors of society, participated in an encounter group exercise over 4 days o It brought victims and beneﬁciaries of apartheid together o Black participants and Black psychologists expressed hesitancy and reservation o On the one hand the group discussion elicited anger, suspicion, and feelings of hurt and profound loss among the Black participants o On the other hand, white participants demonstrated defensiveness, guilt, and fear o The group oGered a cathartic space for the expression of a range of emotions and the Black psychologists contributed towards a deeper reﬂection o This forum represented an example of community psychologist engaging directly in sociopolitical processes and exploring ways of creating context and social readiness for negotiation and conﬂict resolution and peace making o This kind of engagement which highlights the complex oppressed- oppressor dynamic and issues in peacemaking was later developed in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 6 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW TRANSFORMATION, DEMOCRACY AND COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY: April 1994 marked South Africa’s ﬁrst democratic elections which resulted in changes in the country’s sociopolitical landscape, presenting new opportunities and challenges for community psychology’s growth and further formalization There were several mechanism and instruments that were adopted by the government: o Growth Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) – market-orientated development policy o TRC – to promote national unity and reconciliation o Moral Regeneration Movement (MRM) – restore morality that was compromised by the colonial and apartheid systems and threatened by violence, corruption, and crime in the new democratic dispensation o Race and Values in Education (RVE) – develop common values to underpin a new school curriculum o The South African Human Rights Commission- human rights o The Gender Commission – gender equality o The Independent Complaints Directorate – transparency in the criminal justice system Community psychologist began developing distinctive features and deﬁnitions, which was characterised by its promotion of critical theories and research such as: o Explaining the determinants of priority psychosocial diGiculties faced by the population o A focus on scholarship and paradigm development o Curricula reform and restructuring within tertiary institutions Post 1994, community psychology echoed critical psychology’s emphasis on the participants of Blacks and women in the processes of knowledge production Community psychologists worked within groups that were involved in the development of regional forums for mental health, education and training, and health promotion, oGering advice to ministers of Health and Education The TRC oGered a space for expressions of community psychology, the TRC process was viewed as an opportunity’s for victims of high-proﬁle human rights violations to tell their stories publicly, to help promote their well-being o Several writers have suggested that this process may be counter-intuitive to individual healing o When the TRC placed a strong emphasis on forgiveness and reconciliation at a societal level, it restricted individuals victims need to grieve and make meaning of personal losses o These insighted have spawned approaches for oGering support to victims of political trauma participating in the truth recovery process Another key element of community psychology has been the development of publications in the form of books, readers, and journal articles, aimed to: o inﬂuence the training of psychologists for the south African context o advance theoretical development in the discipline o redress the gendered and racially distorted system of knowledge production Literature post 1994 revealed psychosocial particularities (violence, poverty, HIV & AIDS, and teenage motherhood) NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 7 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW To enhance and validate community psychology’s contributions to African development, a few community psychologists have ventured into collaborative, peace-building and post conﬂict trauma and safety promotion work across the continent o This helped South African community psychology achieve an African- centeredness beyond the country’s national boundaries o The ISHS hosted regional African safe communities conferences o Memory and Healing project in Ruwanda o Mending Hearts projects in Sierra Leone o Because Sierra Leone and Ruwanda are challenged by scarce trained mental health resources, psychologists intervened to help participants to identify, recognize and use indigenous and faith-based knowledge and support systems THE MAKING OF COMMUNITY: Previously community psychology interventions have tended to help produce and support speciﬁc ideas of community o Such as the Carnegie Commission – using psychometric instruments to support exclusive radial communities consistent to South Africa’s early segregationist policies and structures In the mid 1980s, oppressed and marginalized communities and antiapartheid formations were adopted as the main beneﬁciaries of community psychology interventions Because poor and marginalizes communities are judged to be vulnerable and important political constituencies, community psychologist have tended to support their protection, development, and sustenance in the post 1994 period, resonating with the ideas of communalism and African humanism articulated by Biko Majority of south Africa population continues to vulnerable to poverty and experience joblessness, poor service delivery, inadequate health care and education and high levels of crime and violence Although Black middle and upper-middle classes have been the most signiﬁcant beneﬁciaries of aGirmative active Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) opportunities, South Africa still remains on the most unequal societies in the world CONCLUSIONS – REFLECTIONS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY: Community psychology in South Africa can be traced back to the ﬁrst Carnegie commission study However community psychology only emerged in the mid 1980s, within the context of the struggle to dislodge apartheid, assert community identity and establish democracy when south Africa psychology experience its own inner crisis Community psychology obtained formalization through a range of activities and roles, focusing on strengthening the resilience of oppressed communities and challenging apartheid exclusions within the teaching, research, and organization of psychology NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 8 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW The opportunities and challenged created by a young democracy post-1994 oGered further impetus for the growth and development of community psychology READING: COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY – A SOUTH AFRICAN PRAXIS – BY VISSER, AKHURST ECT (PAGE 3-17) WHAT IS COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY? Community psychology is a specialized ﬁeld that applies to and interacts with all the basic areas of psychological knowledge Community psychology practice draws on research, intervention principles and the skills honed during psychological training DEFINITIONS OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY: 1. Concerns the relationship of individuals with communities and societies 2. Is an emerging branch of applied psychology concerned with understanding people in the context of their communities, using a variety of interventions (prevention, health promotion and social action) to facilitate change and improved mental health and social conditions for individuals, groups, organizations, and communities. 3. An attempt to ﬁnd alternatives to dealing with deviance from societal-based norms… it is an attempt to support every person’s right to be diGerent without the risk of suGering material and psychological sanctions 4. Focuses on social issues, social institutions and other settings that inﬂuence groups and organizations, with the goal of optimizing the wellbeing of communities and individuals with innovative and alternative interventions designed in collaboration with aGected community members Key characteristics that can be sifted from these deﬁnitions: Social relevance à refers to socially responsive psychological praxis that deal with real issues people experience Ecological nature à focuses on people in interaction with their social and physical environments Multilevel perspective à encourages a multilevel perspective on human interaction – behaviour should be studied as part of interpersonal interaction in microsystems, as part of organizational and communal structures and cultural perspectives Promotion of wellbeing à focuses on making psychological knowledge useful to ordinary people in order to develop resources and enhance capacities and to promotes wellbeing and social change to allow for equally distributed health Focus on diversity à it accepts the diversity of people and respects the rights of all Democratic participation à uses a democratic style of collaboration and partnership with community members in research and interventions where the psychologists forms part of this interaction NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 9 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW DEFINITION OF COMMUNITY: 1.CoFunity as a Location: “a group of people in a geopolitical and physical area” Relationship between members based on shared proximity and experience The way in which a community is deﬁned, impacts the resources that people living in the community have access to Community deﬁned in terms of a geographical area can be described with the following: o Demographic characteristics à the social characteristics of the residents in the area (gender, social class, or family life cycle) o Land use and quality of housing à the development in the area (high- density housing, informal settlements, or large farms) o Infrastructure or formal organizations à the planned development of organizations (schools, churches, or shops) o Examples: rich and poor communities or informal settlements 2.CoFunity as a netwQk of social relationships: Where people share common characteristics or values and interests but is not restricted to a geographical area Shared social norms and experiences A person feels part of a community to the extent that the following characteristics are present: o Membership à a feeling of belonging to a group o Inﬂuence à the extent of mutual inﬂuence between the person and the group o Fulﬁlment of needs à sharing of values and resources in the group in order to satisfy individual needs o Shared emotional connection à people feeling connected through shared emotional experiences Therefore community can be considered a social system with its interacting members comprising various subsystems within the community o Examples: social media community or online support group 3.CoFunity as a consYuction of a way of life: The meaning that people attach to reality is informed by the physical and social contexts in which people live Communities can therefore be deﬁned as socially constructed, created, and evolving through interaction These are the spaces where the crises and possibilities of the interrelatedness of people, ideas and issues may be encountered People creating community through shared values and ideologies about how they want to live life o Examples: eco-communities, church/religious communities 4.CoFunity as a sociopolitical Qganisation: The concept of community has sociopolitical meaning that reﬂects the political histories and beliefs of people in a given sociopolitical context A community can therefore form a collective power structure that promotes a speciﬁc cause and inﬂuences decision making NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 10 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW Examples: gender equality groups, environmental and animal rights groups, Black Live Matter, feesmustfall, to advocate for access to resources and against oppression 5.Com]ehensive definition: A community is the speciﬁc system of action which arises when a human population (demography) settled in a given territory (geography) establishes structural arrangement to organize itself in order to live and survive as a group (economic), it develops interactive relationships among its components (sociology) and deﬁned shared ways of thinking, feeling and acting (cultural anthropology) which are internalized by all members of the population and with each individual identiﬁes to a particular degree (socialisation) according to his or her personal living experience and inherited characteristics (psychology) DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY: Why was it developed? o It developed as a reaction to the inability of traditional clinical psychology to address the psychosocial problems of people o to give a wider scope of psychology by focusing on community processes and intervention tools to deal with problems at various levels of the community Individually based interventions: o had a limited impact on community health o can only deal with a small number of issues experienced by the individual o mainly help people to adapt to the current context (regardless of whether the context promotes healthy living or not) Community psychology was oGicially recognized in the US in the 1960s It emerged through the inﬂuences of the civil rights movement – where psychologists were dissatisﬁed with the healthcare system, speciﬁcally: o Psychologists opposed the domination of psychiatrist in the mental health ﬁeld o Mental health services were inaccessible because they were expensive and irrelevant to the needs of the majority o The focus in psychology was exclusively on remedial services and no attention was given to the prevention of problems and the promotion of health Political changes that contributed to the development: o In the US: § the joint committee on Mental Health and Illness recommended radical changes in the treatment of mentally ill patients to reintegrate them into the community § Civil Rights movements § “The War on Poverty” o In South Africa “the poor white problem” Social Action model - mobilized community members to bring about change in their community, through addressing: o Poverty o Unemployment o Crime NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 11 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW o Delinquency o Poor education o Welfare inequities o Trouble in prisons Community psychology in the US developed into a specialized ﬁeld with the Society of Community Action and Research (SCRA) becoming a division within the American Psychological Association (APA) Using an ecological perspective to approach community issues, this provided a basis for action programmes directed at improving individual, group, and social system functioning Community psychology works closely with Liberation psychology, peace psychology, critical psychology, and feminist psychology – the core issue that united these ﬁelds were inequality and oppression and unjust laws and policies à it works in interdisciplinary ways Community psychology develops in reaction to the sociopolitical context therefore the character of community psychology diGers from region to region Community psychology in Latin America: o Developed due to social struggles o In the 1960s & 1970s Cuba, El Salvador, Chile, Brazil, Venezuela, and Colombia were involved in revolutionary struggles o The global economic crisis had a negative impact on the majority of poor and marginalized people in these contexts o The dominant inﬂuence in the development was the mobilization of populations towards more democratic, equitable and just social arrangements o Psychologist assisted victims of violence and state-sponsored repression o Paulo Freire (focused on raising awareness about social injustices) and Orlando FalsBorda (emphasized the need for social scientist to be engaged in social and community interventions) were extremely inﬂuential during this period and have inﬂuence South African critical community psychology Community psychology is dynamic and has diZerent characteristics in diZerent areas and is constantly developing, inﬂuenced by the social context DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY IN SOUTH AFRICA: Previously psychology had an individual-remedial focus that only served the needs of the minority white population From the early 1980s, a group of psychologists criticized psychologies failure to acknowledge and response to the outrageous social conditions and racial disparities created by the apartheid system Organizations that opposed the state: o OASSSA (the Organisation for Appropriate Social Services) o PAG (Psychology and Apartheid Group) Psychologist moved into advocacy roles to call attention to the impact of apartheid on mental health and the need for political change Critical papers termed Community psychology were published in the journal “Psychology in Society” Supportive services were developed for: o Political detainees NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 12 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW o Victims of apartheid o People in poorer communities o Rape survivors Resistance to unjust state action coexisted with action to deal with mental health issues in community as well as implementing changes in the training and practice of psychology to make it more relevant for the context This developing Community Psychology movement aimed to: o Extend the provision of mental health services to all citizens o Transform the conceptualization of psychosocial problems o Transform psychological service delivery into a contextually appropriate service o Address interracial tensions, social class inequalities, public policy and empowerment o Redeﬁne the role of psychologist to embrace advocacy, policy formation, mobilizing and networking After the 1994 elections, black-leadership started to develop in organized psychology The values in community psychology are not new to broader African culture as they relate to a communal understanding of human beings, values and traditions African communities are rich in practices and rituals that enhance mental health and interaction (e.g. storytelling & indabas) Today, community psychology is recognized as a specialized ﬁeld of practice The Community and Social Psychology (CaSP) division was established as part of PsySSA VALUES AND GOALS OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY: Values – involve the underlying philosophy that guides all activities in a ﬁeld of study Goals – are the more speciﬁc aims of interventions 1.Promotion of health and we`being: The prevention of physical and mental health problems and the promotion of health on all levels of the community Promotion of strengths and competencies Gives community psychology a proactive character 2. Cbing and Compacion / Sense of CoFunity: Community psychology is based on care and compassion for people and concern for their wellbeing The goal is captured by the concept of “sense of community” – where people care about one another and feel that they belong to a community, thus a sense that they can contribute to it and share it values Promotion of wellbeing through shared connections and feelings of belonging 3.Self-detemination, pbticipation, and empowement: To promote the level of empowerment in communities and individual Achieved through building partnerships and collaboration Believing in people’s capacity to solve their own problems Empowerment is a process whereby people gain control over their own aGairs and convey a sense of personal control NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 13 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW On a community level, empowerment also involves a process by which structural conditions are modiﬁed so that a reallocation of power is made possible 4.Respect fQ divesity and human dignity: The strength of a community lies in the diverse perspectives that come from diGerent members of the community. Respect diGerences between people and create space for all identity groups. Every person’s right to be diGerent and able to deﬁne his or her own identity should be acknowledged Thus community psychologist do not attempt to change individuals, groups, or communities Individuals, groups, and communities have to be empowered to maintain their decisions about their own lives 5.Social Justice: To address unequal access to power and resources. Unequal distribution of resources and power inﬂuences all levels of interaction The fair and equitable allocation of bargaining power, resources, and obligations in society Community psychology aims to eliminate inequality, oppression, and discrimination by transforming institutions and altering the basic premises of unjust systems Social justice can be seen as a prerequisite for the fulﬁllment of the other values because without an even distribution of social goods, other basic values, needs and rights cannot be fulﬁlled This is the value that is most neglected in psychological interventions IMPLEMENTATION OF VALUES AND GOALS IN COMMUNITY CONTEXTS: Multilevel ecological perspective: o Mental health is an interaction between people over time and the social and physical environment play and important role o People and their settings inﬂuence each other thus behaviour must be understood in the context in which it takes place o Bronfenbrenner interaction levels within a community: § Microsystem à the immediate system of which the individual is part of § Organisation à consists of various microsystems § Community à consists of various organizations § Macrocontext à a nation or governmental policies, culture, economic systems, ideologies, and belief systems forming a context within which the other levels function interactively Innovative and alternative services: o Innovative interventions can include enhancing wellbeing through recreational activities, establishing social connections and promoting leadership and advocacy roles Research methods: o Quasi-experimental designs, action research (collaborative process) and case study methods Approach to services: o Community psychologists is proactive in reaching out to communities NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 14 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW o The focus is on prevention, health promotion and mobilization of resources rather than on treatment THE FIELDS OF APPLICATION OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY – INTERVENTION MODELS: The values of community psychology are expressed through these intervention models Each model has a diGerent focus and addresses diGerent levels of the ecological system 1.Mental Health Model: Mental health interventions are provided to individuals and groups in a community setting and targets the individual in his/her microsystem (e.g. family, peer group) These are aimed at the individual or at the microsystem The psychologist takes the role of consultant This model includes developing natural resources to support and promote wellbeing in the community Is an extension of the medical model Examples: the developing of support groups for people living with HIV/AIDS and using teachers as primary mental health workers to assists children in schools dealing with emotion problems 2.Social Action Model: A strategy to mobilizes people to bring about change in structures and procedures that inhibit wellbeing A bottom-up approach that focus on changes in some adverse living conditions It aims at change in some adverse living conditions Targets community and organizational levels This model promotes the value of empowerment and self-determination This model focusses on changing the social conditions that cause social psychological problems It advocates for the rights of vulnerable and marginalized groups in society Example: empowering women to avoid and escape abusive relations and to advocate against their abuse 3.Libeation Q Psychopolitical Model: This model questions/challenges the inﬂuence of social structures, intuitions, and ideologies on the life of the individual and society Partnerships with group to challenge oppression and inequalities Social transformation à refers to the initiatives in partnership with disadvantaged groups aimed at reorganizing human relationships that perpetuate inequality, oppression, and discrimination This model involves intervention on the macrolevel “Psychopolitical validity” à the extent to which action and research contribute to community change Example: addressing cultural meanings attached to gender roles and racism or addressing poverty NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 15 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW THE ROLE OF THE COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGIST: The role of community psychologist diGers according to the intervention model chosen The community psychology may perform various functions: o A participant-conceptualizer o A trainer and clinician o A consultant or advisor o A social change agent o A researcher Naidoo suggest a continuum of roles of psychologists, community psychologist are most placed on the right-hand side of the continuum: TREATMENT OF ILLNESS PROMOTION OF HEALTH Hospital- Tertiary Secondary Primary Development Advocacy Policy Activism ization prevention prevention prevention of health making These roles can be divided into 3 sets of functions: o human resource development or clinical functions o political activity o scientiﬁc functions Community psychologist must be able to integrate aspect of these roles in the best interest of the community with which they work THE COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH: WHY COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY? In mainstream psychology the individual is the target for intervention. o In the Maseko reading - an individualistic ideology in psychology made it diGicult to conceptualize psychological phenomena from a collectivist perspective. o Traditional psychology negated the role of the socio-ecological context. Individual forms part of a context or social environment that inﬂuences their well-being. Need Approaches to intervention that allow consideration of the interaction between the individual and their context DEFINING COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY: Concerned with understanding people in the context of their communities. An approach to understanding and solving community, organizational and societal problems. Studies the relationship of individuals with communities and societies. Seeks to enhance quality of life for individuals, communities, and societies. Value-driven, action-oriented ﬁeld, focused on reducing oppression and supporting individual, group and collective well-being. KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY: Social Relevance Ecological Conceptualization NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 16 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW Action-oriented to promote health, quality of life and well-being à It uses psychological principles and techniques to prevent problems and promote healthy functioning for all members of a community. Value-Driven à It promotes values of social justice and collaboration THEMES IN COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY: Ecological Metaphor Seeking Mode – community psychology is a proactive paradigm Assets Based Approach – takes a positive approach, looks at the asserts readily available within the community to use as an assert to harness interventions Prevention – looks at the root causes VALUES OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY: Social justice Promotion of health and wellbeing Caring and Compassion – “Sense of community” Self-determination, participation and empowerment Respect for human diversity and dignity IMPLICATIONS OF THE VALUES FOR PSYCHOLOGISTS: For how psychologist conceptualise behaviour o behaviour is conceptualized as embedded in and inﬂuenced by the social context How psychological services are provided and interventions are designed o within the framework psychologists work in partnership with the beneﬁciaries or community aGected by the problem and they co-create and participate in the design and implementation of interventions. How they do their research o research is participatory and takes the form of the participatory action research cycle o action/intervention and theory or knowledge building all forming part of the research process “COMMUNITY” Political Term Key term in Apartheid Ideology - used to emphasize diGerences Used interchangeably with race or ethnic group o Implication of natural categories with inherent diGerences rather than socially constructed Used to justify separate development Potentially problematic because to recall apartheid terminology and can create the notion of homogenous communities, therefore important to conceptualize what we mean by the term WHAT IS COMMUNITY? Community may be deﬁned as a group of people who share something in common and who come together to explore this common aspect. NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 17 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW Ander-Egg (2005): o The common or shared aspect can be the territory, the sphere of traditions, customs, language, belonging to the same ethnic group; or could point to the psychological dimension, including the consciousness of similarity. READING: THE THIRD MENTAL HEALTH REVOLUTION – RELEVANCE OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY IN ZIMBABWEAN AND AFRICAN CULTURAL CONTEXTS – BY MASEKO & MAUNGANIDZE & MAPHOSA (page 76-81) Psychology’s individualistic focus is incongruent with African values OF IVORY TOWER PROFESSIONALISM: Psychology in Zimbabwe has remained detached from local realities and invisibles to the ordinary Zimbabwean when launched in Rhodesia it was classiﬁed at a “white” profession After independence, the ﬁrst black students enrolled at the University of Zimbabwe Today it has a largely black profession, but it has still failed to reach the ordinary Zimbabwean and thus remained inconspicuous One of the reasons for this failure, mainstream psychology’s focus on the individual: o Focuses on subject-psychotechnics (adjusting the individual to the environment) o Pathology and maladaptation are located in the individual thus the individual must be “treated” Community psychology oGers a framework for working with marginalized groups that leads to self-aware change with an emphasis on value-based participatory work – this orientation makes the discipline relevant in African contexts COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY AND THE AFRICAN WORLDVIEW: African values: sense of community and collectivism o Which represent diametrical sets of values, norms and assumptions and ideologies that vary across cultures and are expressed in social behaviour Individualism is associated with independence, autonomy, and emotional detachment from others o Social behaviour is determined by personal goals Collectivism involves cooperation, emotional attachment to others, concern with opinion and attention to family and relatives o Social behaviour is determined by goals shared with some collectives African scholars regard African concepts of the individual and self to be almost totally dependent on and subordinate to social entities and cultural processes Nyasani coined the term “African mind” which is “a strand of mind that is quite peculiar to Africa and which shapes the prevailing conditions and permits itself to adapt to those conditions” NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 18 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW African, Asian, and European minds are products of cultural traditions that arose from environmental conditioning Shared values that are fundamental features of African identity and culture include: hospitality, friendliness, the consensus, and common framework seeking principle, Ubuntu, and the emphasis on community rather than the individual Community psychology is concerned with how people, feel, think, experience and act as they work together “umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu” (a person is a person through persons) & “rume rimwe harikombi churu” (no man is an island) – interdependence of persons on others for the exercise, development and fulﬁllment of their goals that is recognized in African traditional thought à a feature of communitarianism Community psychology is a new label for a set of African practices in agricultural productivity, group hunting, collective defense and child protection Thus the sense of community is endemic in African communities which makes community psychology very relevant and applicable in these contexts Masolo and Mkabela identify and discuss sociality, patience, tolerance, sympathy, and acceptance as areas in which the African mind seems to reveal itself o These key traits are the bedrock for a key them in community psychology à diversity Senghor argues that there is a unique African world view on what he describes as “being” and “life forces”, thus human beings continuously inﬂuence each other either directly or indirectly by way of transcendental forces through collective consciousness COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY AS CONTEXTUALIST PSYCHOLOGY: Community psychology emphasizes multiple levels of analysis and intervention that considers the individual and his/her interpersonal context The inﬂuence of life forces is acknowledged in community psychology Bronfenbrenner’s theory of ecology of human development highlights a number of forces that inﬂuence people in context When African philosophers talk about “life forces” and ancestors, Bronfenbrenner expound on exo- and macro- level systems Bronfenbrenner recognized the inﬂuence upon human behaviour and development of the wider environment and of higher order systems A Marco-system consists of the wider pattern of ideology or culture to which a person belongs The biomedical orientation of mainstream psychology gives credence to the deﬁcit mode of human functioning based of the dismissal of and beliefs in the individuals incapability to help themselves Community psychology is steeped towards positive psychology and the asset-based approach, which emphasizes capacity building Colonialist unleased unsolicited social Darwinism on Africa and had inaccurate assumptions about African knowledge systems and indigenous community processes NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 19 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW o The colonizer promoted the theory that the African was incompetent and that they arrogated to themselves the “burden” to solve Africa’s problems by bringing “development” to the dark continent o The western expert who were sent to “redeem” Africa were ignorant of how Africans faced problems, because the were blinded by Darwinian theorization they failed to notice African collaborative ways and supportive spirit o Thus they introduced deﬁcit models In community psychology communities are seen as the experts with practitioners acting as collaborators Community psychologists explore the nature of oppression in partnership with marginalized communities The socio-ecological landscape of Africa reveals “development” initiatives that actually bypass Africa indigenous social capital The pervasive paternalism and helping attitudes towards African stems from the perception of the African as a “desperate beggar imprisoned by evolution and incapable of any achievement” Community psychology seek to share knowledge with communities to make the discipline more relevant in African contexts and to reactivate dormant psycho- social systems that typiﬁed African societies Village heads, religious leaders, elders, and community leaders need to be equipped to ensure the mainstreaming of psychology Africans, because of colonialism and globalism, have a hybrid cultural character, this is referred to as an ephemeral personality; a classic example of identity crisis This brings the understanding that every community is unique and what worked in another community cannot be transferred into another community READING: CRITICAL SOCIAL THEORY TRADITIONS IN COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY – BY TANYA GRAHAM (page 61-71) INTRODUCTION: Power is integral to many of Community psychology values and theoretical constructs, such as empowerment and social justice Critical social theory in community psychology are concerned with the ways in which power relations are enacted and structured in societies, through their intuitions, discourses, social identities, and histories Power is omnipresent and is multifaceted phenomenon, furthermore power is not solely political or psychological but always both, “power is a combination of ability and opportunity to inﬂuence a course of events” – this deﬁnition attempts to capture the signiﬁcance of both internal factors (autonomy) and external social factors FIVE CRITICAL SOCIAL THEORY TRADITIONS IN COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY: All of these traditions engage with notions of social power and powerlessness and how these shape processes of social marginalization and privilege NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 20 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW These theories connect power relations to issues of race, class, gender, colonialization, and other forms of social inequality 1. Empowerment 2. Feminism 3. Liberation 4. Psychopolitical Validity 5. Post-structuralism 1.EMPOWERMENT-ORIENTATED CRITICAL APPROACHES IN COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY The concept of empowerment was appropriated by social movements that aimed to achieve equality for groups that were politically, economically, and socially marginalized Empowerment became associated with the social action model and community development models Empowerment in community psychology was introduced as a theoretical principle for intervention and research Empowerment is an ideology that seeks to understand how people have successfully solved social problems in diverse settings and the published these solutions to assist others in gaining control over their lives People have the potential to generate unique solutions to their problems given the appropriate circumstances and opportunities that allow them to do so An empowerment approach enables them to act decisively to resolve their problems Empowerment is a process; a mechanism by which people, organizations, and communities gain mastery over their aGairs Prevention is an exemplar of how empowerment could be achieved Empowerment is a multilevel construct that is expressed both individually and collective It involves personal control, social inﬂuence, political power, and legal rights Overemphasis on individual attributes Empowerment is concerned with those who are excluded by the majority society on the basis of their demographic characteristics or their physical or emotional diGiculties Empowerment has several meanings which are unique to particular contexts and populations The empowerment tradition has a signiﬁcant presence in community psychology literature and remains one of the dominant understandings of power relations and addressing power imbalances 2.FEMiNIST CRITICAL APPROACHS IN COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY: Feminist writing foregrounds the importance of gender as a crucial component of power The main traditions of liberal feminism, radical feminism, socialist feminism and womanism each have a diGerent analysis of power and approach to social change o Liberal feminist: eradicating gender discrimination o Radical, social, womanist feminist: transformation of society Commonalities between feminism and community psychology: o An endorsement of empowerment initiatives NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 21 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW o The promotion of equality and social justice o Recognition of the structural determinants of wellbeing o The integration of research and action o An emphasis on reﬂexivity Community psychology and feminist literature both acknowledge gender as a central component of how diGerences are constructure as well as genders intersections with other forms of human diversity Initially feminist writing in community psychology focused on issues of the representation of women in organizations and authorship Feminist community psychology emphasizes the important of understanding the experiences of the oppressed and holds that social phenomena should adopt the perspective of the margins of social hierarchies Feminist theories highlight how our interpretations of reality are shaped by our social positions They support subjective experiences by highlighting the role of social power in determining which perspectives society values more and which dominant forms of knowledge are created by those in privileged positions Research and intervention methods focus on the use of collaborative approaches, multimethod, multilevel analyses, reﬂexive praxis, and the use of knowledge in promoting social change Recently scholars are now addressing the lack of systematic analysis of men and masculinity in community psychology Second-wave feminism incorporated the critical analysis of masculinity and highlights the value of examining gendered dynamics from those in positions of power or privilege 3.LIBERATORY CRITICAL APPROACHES IN COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY: A focus on power has emerged as part of the work on liberation and oppression which draws from structuralist critical theories (Marxism, postcolonial theories, critical race theory, liberation theology, critical pedagogy, and liberation psychology) Focusses on oppressive social structure and systems that produce threats to health and wellbeing A liberatory approach is primarily concerned with the way unjust political and social power structures shape, inﬂuence and disrupt people’s lives Community psychology places social justice at the forefront but promoting social justice also threatens the interests of the powerful The liberation approach is more developed in contexts where there is manifestations of oppression such as: o Collective violence o Poverty o Discriminations o Social exclusion The origins is traced to the paradigms shifts within Latin America Ignacio Martin-Baro is regarded as the founder of Liberation psychology The analysis of social and political power is important, and theorists are concerned with explicating the role of oppressive processes in shaping psychosocial realties (racism, sexism & colonization) NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 22 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW SuGering and oppression are linked to power imbalances, thus the liberatory approach has an emphasis on the analysis of social and political power Theories and interventions are aimed at transforming the unequal power relations that serve to preserve the status quo by an analysis of structural and sociopolitical context of oppression and the internal psychological patterns that relate to these social conditions In community psychology oppression have been conceptualized as both and outcome and a process o As an outcome – “a state of asymmetric power relations” Oppression represent the abuse of social and political power that is generated through material and ideological violence o Material violence includes physical coercion, threat or harm, control of mobility, the denial or resources and the failure to uphold human rights o Ideological violence is committed via belief structures and practices that promote racism, sexism, classism and heterosexism and related ideologies Oppression is predominantly related to primary structural disadvantage along class, gender, and racial/ethnic lines but many forms of social marginalization exist (age, disability, nationalist and sexual orientation) Oppression is embedded within colonialism and globalization Critical conscientization is central to liberatory approaches o a process through which the marginalized are brought to understanding of the historical, political, cultural, economic co-ordinates of social asymmetries that impact them o promotes understanding of the political and psychological dimensions of oppression Liberatory community psychology focuses on working with the least powerful (those who are marginalized), which has been aided by political language that describes the societal factors that shape power dynamics in relation to these groups This introduced a diGerent form of conceptual language within community psychology that constitutes the liberatory tradition How oppression is viewed links to conceptualizations of dominance and marginalization, social and economic rights, and quality of life Liberation and empowerment theories are dealt with in overlapping and discrete ways in community psychology literature 4.PSYCHOPOLITICAL VALIDITY IN COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY: Prilleltensky introduced the concepts of Psychopolitical validity and Psychopolitical literacy in attempt to link a connection between the understandings of power and its relationship to wellbeing at the personal, relational, and collective levels Psychopolitical literacy à peoples ability to understand the relationship between political and psychology factors that enhance or diminish wellness and justice Psychopolitical validity à whether research and action improve the human condition take these (psychological and political) factors into account o Refers to the extent to which studies and interventions integrate: § Knowledge with respect to the multidisciplinary and multilevel sources, experiences, and consequences of oppression NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 23 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW § EGective strategies for promoting psychology and political liberation in personal, relational, and collective domains Epistemic psychovalidity à the extent to which studies of wellness and justice consider both positive and negative political and psychological dynamics that aGect personal, relational, and collective needs o Premised on an awareness of the working of power in conceptualizations of communities o Concerns our understanding of the Psychopolitical dynamics of oppression Transformational psychovalidity à the extent to which interventions reduce the negative and strength the positive political and psychological forces contributing to wellness and justice o Ensures that political literacy and social change are part of all interventions o How knowledge and action are directed towards liberation in personal, interpersonal, and structural domains Power is both psychological and political and community psychology needs to line these dimensions in order to apply them Power combines the capacity and opportunity to inﬂuence a course of events and can be exercised consciously or unconsciously by capacities and opportunities provided by personal, social, or historical circumstances Empowerment initiatives must produce speciﬁc outcomes at multiple levels of the system Psychovalidity is a framework for analyzing trends and creating change in knowledge production and forms of practice It reﬂect a North American individualistic worldview and neglects cultural and context diGerences However it led to the debates about power and oppression in literature on community psychology 5.POST-STRUCTUALISM IN COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY: The post-structuralist view of power focuses on the ways in which power is understood, the use of language in deﬁning relations or power and domination, the deﬁnition, construction and accumulation of knowledge and the subjective experience of power Power is exercised through the control of discourse and the construction of particular forms of knowledge that maintain relations of power – thus empowerment is a process of challenging dominant discourses The post-structuralist perspective on power in community psychology is less developed Most recently a post-structuralist line of theoretical development have been reinvigorated by writings on decolonization examining the role of knowledge – “decolonial imperative” in community psychology Dismantling hierarchies of knowledge production NEW DIRECTIONS TO CRITICAL APPROACHES IN COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY: The “decolonial turn” in psychology is the most recent reformulations of power that has entered the lexicon of critical approaches in community psychology NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 24 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW The “decolonial turn” in community psychology challenges the colonial origins and western Eurocentric nature of scientiﬁc though and has been related to: o the production of knowledge o notions of epistemic justice o the institutional culture of higher education o pedagogic practice Dominant knowledge systems are challenged to allow alternative knowledges and perspectives to emerge Meaningful critique that promotes shifts in power relations and moves away from such patterns within scientiﬁc traditions can be gained through exposition of the histories of diGerent ways of knowing COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY IN AFRICA: “paradigm shift in psychology” “Community Psychology oGers a framework for working with those marginalized by the social system that leads to self-aware change with an emphasis on value- based participatory work and the forging of alliances. It is a way of working that is pragmatic and reﬂexive, whilst not wedded to any particular orthodoxy of method” Shared values Collectivism: sense of community, co-operation, shared, values and goals (family, work group, tribe) Holistic, and ecological, focusses on multiple levels of analysis and intervention o “I am because we are and since we are therefore, I am (Mbiti, 1969) Emphasis on community rather than individual; participation and collaboration à Ubuntu Values diversity: patience, tolerance, mutual sympathy and acceptance We are interdependent, continuously inﬂuencing each other directly and indirectly o Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu (a person is a person through persons) Communities are experts who hold indigenous social capital Seeks to reactivate dormant psychosocial systems in African societies that have been abandoned o Systems need to be (re)membered (wa Thiongo, 2012) TRADITIONS IN COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY: CRITICAL SOCIAL THEORY IN COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY: “Understandings and theories of power need to be clearly articulated through a careful analysis of how power operates in complex ways at diGerent interrelated levels of society; from the intrapsychic, individual and interpersonal to the external, discursive, structural and systemic.” Conceptual lenses through which to ﬁlter analysis and understanding of the social ‘’the personal is political” How is power constructed and manifested in society? Two related constructs: power and oppression NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 25 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW CRITICAL SOCIAL THEORIES: FIVE TRADITIONS 1. Empowerment-orientated 2. Feminism 3. Liberatory 4. Psychopolitical validity 5. Post-structuralism (decolonisation) READING: THE SOCIAL ECOLOGICAL MODEL AS THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK IN COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY – BY VISSER (page 102-115) THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOCIAL ECOLOGICAL THEORY: 1960s in USA, psychologists saw the need to move beyond one-to-one therapy and become more involved in outreach and health promotion programmes Expanded the psychologist role to a consultant, trainer & facilitator to help people improve their quality of life Initially Community psychology relied on the mental health model o The mental health model developed as an extension of the medical model to address the needs of individuals & groups in a community setting o Criticisms of the mental health model: § It is relatively resource intensive § Too reliant on the expertise of professional § It pays insuGicient attention to the Socio-economic and political determinant of peoples problems and well-being Based on the inadequacies of the mental health model the social ecological model of community psychology was developed THE SOCIAL ECOLOGICAL MODEL: Originated in the studies of Charles Darwin (he investigated the development of species as a function of their adaption to changes in the environment) The focus of this model is the interaction between the person and the environment Behaviour is the result of the interaction between individuals and the context they are exposed to An ecological context is the setting that inﬂuences an individual (the physical, social, and political environment) Thus behaviour can be understood if the context in which it takes place is understood As a result changes in human behaviour are possible when social and organizational relationships change or the physical environment changes Thus psychological interventions should also be introduced at broader levels of the social organisation Problems are now seen as incompatibilities between individual and their environment or as dysfunctional adaptations to a particular set of environmental circumstances NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 26 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW THE PRINCIPLES OF THE SOCIAL ECOLOGICAL MODEL: 1. Intedependence: Multi-dimensional, dynamic environment The multiple components of a social context are interrelated and inﬂuence the other parts Changes in one part may produce change in other parts of the context 2. DisYibution of resokces: Mapping available resources All communities have diGerent sets of resources (money, time, human resources, and political support) One can understand community functioning by mapping available resources, analyzing the deﬁnition, distribution, utilization, and development of these resources How a community spends the funds at its disposal also indicates what issues are considered important in that community Assessing resources available to deal with speciﬁc issues 3. Adaption: Refers to the process by which people cope with available or changing resources in their environment Any environment promotes certain behaviour and constrains other A person may behave diGerently in diGerent situations or in diGerent cultural contexts The loss of resources trigger adaptive responses Communities adapt in diGerent ways to maintain their functioning through generating social rules, structures, and beliefs 4. Sulecion: Change is constant Refers to the orderly process of community change as a way of adapting to new situations A community history and past experiences may aGect the way in which it will respond to new situations BRONFENBRENNER’S THEORY OF ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS: Bronfenbrenner described the environment in which development takes place in terms of a series of nested systems ﬁtting into each other An individual exists within layers of social relations: the family, friendship network (micro-systems), organizations, neighborhoods (exo-systems) and culture and society (macro-systems) Each layer has an impact on the other layers in an interdependent way An individual thus live in a constantly changing context Four environmental systems: Micro-systems, Meso-systems, exo-systems, and macro-systems Recognises the inﬂuence of the wider environment and higher-order systems on human behaviour These levels constantly interact and inﬂuence each other NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 27 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW 1. Mino-systems: Smallest social unit in which the individual interacts directly and on a regular basis Deﬁned as the immediate system of which the individual is a part People with whom the individual has direct interactions E.g. à interventions about the dangers of drug use for teenagers, improved family communication & discussion groups 2. Meso-systems: Deﬁned as the set of linkages between the diGerent micro-systems or settings in which the individual is located Bronfenbrenner proposed that development during childhood would be enhanced if the diGerent settings in which the child interacts were strongly linked 3. Exo-systems: These systems inﬂuence behaviour in the micro-systems, but the individual does not have direct contact or inﬂuence over them E.g. à schools can actively address the problem of drug abuse amongst learners by developing drug policy and access anti-drug counselling programs 4. Mano-systems: Broader societal systems that impact the individual Includes large-scale societal factors that have an impact on people’s lives, ideologies, and belief systems Includes the attitudes and values of people in particular Socio-economic position, ethnic group, or culture, as well as economic trends and gender roles It recognizes the inﬂuence of socio-cultural and economic factors (poverty & oppression) as well as large-scale social change on Behavioural patterns E.g. à legislation to restrict the availability of drugs and media campaigns to changes the community’s perception of drug use THE SOCIAL ECOLOGICAL THEORY AND COMMUNTY INTERVENTIONS: The goal of an intervention is to identify, manage and conserve resources to solve problems and to enhance the development to beneﬁt the community as a whole EGective intervention requires a collaborative relationship with the community Intervention should be aligned with existing community processes Key features and working principles of community interventions: 1.A focus on Inteaction: The ecological theory focuses on interaction in the community Problems originate as a function of the interaction between and individual and a particular context NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 28 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW Change in the context and social organisation can contribute to well-being in a community 2.A focus on Context: Interventions should be context speciﬁc because behaviour is context speciﬁc The person should receive help in his/her context or the context as a whole should participate in the interventions 3.A focus on pbtneships: Community members are considered partners who participate in the research process, understand the research results and are able to use them in their own planning 4.Shbed goals and values: The goals and values of the helping agent should be corresponded with the goals and values of the community If there are diGerence in values, the change agent may encounter resistance from the community 5.Building capacity: By developing the resource within the community or helping the community develop new resources, change may be sustainable as an institutionalized part of the setting 6.Ongoing monitQing of inteventions: Any change in a system will have multiple consequences (desired vs unwanted) Crucial to monitor interventions to evaluate their impact on the community 7.Flexibility of inqusy: Should be conducted in a ﬂexible manner Developing interventions entails a process of shared experiences between the community and the psychologist Evolves through the understanding of the context and what it is becoming Should be an open process and able respond to unexpected turn of events CONCLUSION: It is still limited an epistemological framework It focuses on change at the micro-level, the meso-level and sometimes the exo- level, but it is criticized for not being suGiciently transformative at the macro- level It also do not consider the complexities of the experiences and shared realities within communities READING: PREVENTING SOCIAL ISOLATION IN OLDER PEOPLE – BY COTTERELL, BUFFEL, & PHILLIPSON (page 1-5) INTRODUCTION: Social Isolation à an objective measure reﬂecting an individual’s lack of contact or ties with others (friends, family, acquaintances, and neighbours) o Characterised as absence or limitation in the quantity of social interactions Social isolation is linked to a range of health problems in middle and later life (cardiovascular disease, stroke, depression, dementia & premature death) NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 29 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW o Thus there is an increase us of health and social care services Social isolations aGects both individuals and the wider community IDENTIFYING THOSE AT RISK OF SOCIAL ISOLOATION: Social isolations often remains undetected Frontline professions are trained to identify individuals who may be at risk by using these assessment tools: o “Making Every Contact Count (MECC)” approach o Lubben social network scale o Duke social support index o Social disconnectedness scale Risk factors for social isolation: NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 30 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW INTERVENTIONS TACKLING SOCIAL ISOLATION: 1.One-to-one inteventions: The pairing of an individual with a professional or volunteer, who regularly contact each other Befriending schemes (new friendships are formulated between and older adult and a volunteer who has common interests) o Has positive eGects on health and helps people reconnect with others o Cost-eGective Feelings of isolation and loneliness are often associated with cognitive biases that promotes negative thinking and social withdrawal, Thus psychological interventions have been used 2.Group inteventions: They gather individuals around common interest and can included social, educational, or physical activity sessions, group discussions or group therapies Group interventions that actively engage individuals, target speciﬁc groups, and include an education and social aspect are most eGective at alleviating social isolation However none of the identiﬁed interventions include all of these aspects Examples: o Mindfulness and stress reduction o Reminiscence group therapy o Cognitive and social support interventions o Discussion groups around health-related topics o Bereavement support 3.Sevice ]ovision inteventions: Interventions in the context of existing service provisions may oGer advantages in ensuring that support can be sustained over medium and long-term Examples: o Community navigator services where volunteers act as a link between hard-to-reach individuals and local services o Students providing free computer training in retirement villages or care homes 4.Technology-based inteventions: Advance in and increasing use of social technology among older people highlight the potential of this medium for combating social isolation later in life These technologies boost the number of opportunities to socially connect with other, improve quality of life and alleviate loneliness among older adults Individuals at risk for social isolation later in life are least likely to have access to this medium 5.NeighbQhtd Inteventions: Limited evidence about the eGects of neighbourhood interventions on reducing social isolation But there is potential in developing such approaches Such as greater availability of seating areas, safer pedestrian crossings and priority seating on public transport – these make communities more accessible to older people NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 31 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW 6.SYuctkal inteventions: Applying preventative strategies at the populations level, including promoting positive aging through policy and attitudinal change New Zealand Positive Ageing Strategy reinforces the government’s commitment to promotes the participation of older people in communities Government-level policies attempt to inﬂuence societal attitudes towards ageing by mandating behaviour change FUTURE DIRECTIONS & CONCLUSION: The cultural change from cure to prevention of social isolation is required to successfully combat isolation in older age Should be oGering interventions at key transition point throughout the life- course Social isolation and loneliness are separate concepts, and such be treated as such A holistic approach is needed in the application of an ecological perspective for understanding social isolation Promoting the creation and maintenance of high-quality social relationships throughout the life-course is vital READING: CREATING AN ENABLING ENVIROMENT FOR ADOLESCENT SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH – BY SVANEMYR, AMIN,ROBLES & GREENE (page 1-8) INTRODUCTION: The sexual and reproductive health (SHR) of adolescents is strongly inﬂuenced by a range of social, cultural, political, and economic factors and inequalities These factors increase adolescents vulnerability to SRH risks (unsafe sex, sexual coercion & early pregnancy) and poses at barriers to their access of SHR information and services Building and enabling environment is essential, so that adolescent’s realize the SRH, and human rights requires intervention that work at multiple levels (with adolescents, families, communities, and societal levels) APPLYING THE ECOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK TO ADOLSCENT SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH: An enabling environment reﬂects a set of interrelated conditions that aGect the capacity of young people to lead healthy lives and access services, information, and products The ecological model provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the multiple and interacting determinates of the SRH behaviours and outcomes The ecological framework has four guiding principles: o Recognises the multiple inﬂuences on health behaviours and outcomes, including factors that operate at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, organizational, community and public policy levels o It proposes that these inﬂuences interacts across these diGerent levels NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 32 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW o It requires a focus on speciﬁc health behaviours and outcomes, identifying behaviours that inﬂuence the speciﬁc behaviour or outcome at each level o Interventions that address at multiple levels may be more eGective than those that address only one level Applying this framework to diZerent SRH outcomes: o Individual level à a need to focus on empowering adolescents through building economic and social assets as well as resources of adolescents o Relationship level à a need to build relationships that support and reinforce positive health behaviours of adolescents (parent, sexual partners, and peers) o Community level à a need to create positive social norms and community support for adolescents to practice safer behaviour and access SRH information and services (neighbours, schools & workplaces) o Societal level à a need to promote laws and policies related to the health, social, economic, and educational spheres and to build broad societal norms in support of SRH and helping adolescent’s realize their human rights KEY ELEMENTS FOR CREATING ENABLING ENVIROMENTS: 1.Individual-level inteventions: Focuses on the economic, social, and psychological empowerments of adolescents and the creation of safe spaces Economic empowerment of girls o Poverty and lack of resources are linked to greater vulnerability to poor SRH outcomes o Economic empowerment interventions have two main types of approaches: § By oGering Microcredit to young women to start a business or small enterprise § Cash transfer interventions targeting adolescent girls and young women with the aim of reduce risky sexual behaviour and relationships Creating safe spaces for adolescent girls o Social norms and taboos relating to gender, sexuality and SRH issues create a culture of silence o The lack of conﬁdential and judgement-free environments can be a barrier to girls obtaining SRH information, learn skills and feel supported in expressing their concerns related to their lives and SRH issues o Safe spaces model: § Provides a physical space where girls can meet regularly § Supports adolescents through an older or peer mentor § Provides life skills and vocational skills training along with socialization and recreation o Thus ensuring girls safety, building their assets, and connecting them with a social network NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 33 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW Schooling: o Education, especially secondary education is associated with better SRH outcomes (such as: contraceptive use, age of marriage, number of births & use of health services) o Adolescent that are currently in school are less likely to have had sex compared to those who leave school o Secondary education is strongly associated with decreased HIV rates and the reduction of risky sexual behaviour 2.Relationship-level inteventions: Focused on creating, strengthening, and nurturing supportive and equitable relationships with parents, peer, mentors, and partners to promote communication about SRH issues and improve access to information and services Parental engagement: o Parents and extended family are important in the sexual and reproductive knowledge and development of young people o Communication between adolescents and parents on issues such as sexual relationships, early pregnancy, HIV, and contraception is very limited o Barriers to communication about sexuality include: a lack of parental knowledge, reliance on schoolteachers and a perception that talking about sexuality encourages sex o If parents are given support to develop parental responsiveness they can and will communicate with their children about their sexuality Partner-oriented programs: o The experience of force sex with their ﬁrst sexual partner is a risk factor for adolescent sexual and reproductive behaviours o Whereas being able to discuss reproductive health issues is protective o Interventions are usually at the community-level because they are focuses on promoting equitable gender norms and attitudes by working with men and boys Peer-focused programs: o Peers play and important role in development and socialization and can inﬂuence one another either positively or negatively o Having peers or friends who have had sex is a risk factor o Peer education interventions increases SRH knowledge and condom use, delayed ﬁrst intercourse, promoted gender-equitable attitude and prevented STIs Mentoring and positive role modeling: o Providing mentors and positive role models to young people as a key to improving SRH as well as fertility, education, and work o Girls typically have less opportunity than boys in interacting with peers and mentors 3.CoFunity-level inteventions: Mobilization of adults and community leaders: o Community mobilization can foster intergenerational communication in support of ASRH NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 34 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW o Public education eGorts increase the prospects for attitudinal change about ASRH issues Working with boys and men to promote gender-equitable norms: o Adolescence is a period where they are intensely socialized into their gender roles and also when gender norms become more stablished o Norms related to masculinity inﬂuence boys and young men to take sexual and health risks, perpetrate violence, and perpetuate unequal decisions making in relation to girls and women o Norms related to femininity inﬂuence girls and young women into submissive roles and prevent them from asserting themselves in their sexual relationships o Heterosexual norms can promote homophobia and stigmatization o Addressing unequal and harmful gender norms is the key to creating enabling environments o Interventions include – group education, mass media campaigns and community mobilization activities and outreach o These improve SRH, HIV maternal and child health, gender-based violence and gender-equitable norms and behaviours 4.Societal-level inteventions: Promoting laws and policies and their implementation: o Laws and policies provide a framework for ASRH programing including specifying accountabilities for recourse and redress o They need to be implemented through political commitment, adequate resource allocation, capacity building and the creation of systems of accountability Media campaigns and large-scale communication programs o These contribute to raising awareness and motivating discussions about ASRH issues o Only when combined with community activities have, they contributed to changing HIV behaviour and social norms among young people COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY: Behaviour is a result of the interaction between the individual and his/her environment. “human activity does not develop in social vacuum, but rather it is rigorously situated within a socio-historical and cultural context of meanings and relationships” Interdependence between individual and environment: o Physical, social, political, economic environment RISK FACTOR: any factor that is related to the increased risk of developing an adverse health outcome. factors associated with increased susceptibility to various social problems, e.g., substance misuse, GBV etc. NOT FOR RESALE OR DISTRIBUT ION 35 NOTES BY DARYAN VDW PROTECTIVE FACTOR: any factor that is related to a decrease in risk of developing adverse health outcomes supportive factors or resources, e.g., positive, healthy and supportive relationships, access to social support, that decr

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