COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: BEHAVIORAL STRATEGIES TO ENHANCE THE QUALITY OF PARTICIPATORY PARTNERSHIPS

This article details the outcomes of an innovative, qualitative inquiry exploring specific behaviors that facilitate the creation of equitable, community‐based partnerships. Based on a convenience sample of 18 community members, service providers, and graduate student researchers previously engaged in 2 community assessment efforts, I used the critical incident technique to identify 121 unique, facilitating behaviors. These behaviors were then inductively categorized into a behavioral taxonomy containing 9 domains of interest, ranging from gaining entree to increasing community member comfort and willingness to participate to ensuring community does not feel “used or researched.” These findings offer a unique and critically important contribution to the fields of community‐based research, practice, and service learning by identifying specific behaviors that foster equitable, participatory partnerships.     

TRADITION,PSYCHOANALYSIS AND THE THERAPEUTIC COMMUNITY

This paper addresses fundamental aspects of the notion of tradition in order to try to understand the foundations of the therapeutic community by drawing on the philosophy of Hans‐Georg Gadamer and the psychoanalytic thought of Jacques Lacan. The authors argue that, although a Kleinian reading of the therapeutic community has been dominant, a hermeneutic approach can enrich our understanding through its emphasis on language, community and dwelling. This leads to a discussion – with the use of case examples drawn from the authors' work in therapeutic communities for the severely mentally ill – of memory, community and remembering, full speech, and the intersubjective nature of being (Heidegger's Mitsein) which situates us not just within tradition but within a specific set of traditions.     

IMPROVING THE CONTAINER: WARD COMMUNITY GROUPS AND THE MODERN ACUTE PSYCHIATRIC IN-PATIENT SETTING

Ward community groups have been mostly lost from acute psychiatric in-patient settings in recent years with changes related to care in the community and altered therapeutic expectations. This paper outlines the re-introduction of ward community groups to such a setting and, by using the quantitative measure of patient complaints and qualitative observations, offers evidence for their usefulness as a therapeutic medium, beneficial to the acute psychiatric in-patient ward, and as a container for disturbed states.     

TESTING A COMPREHENSIVE COMMUNITY PROBLEM‐SOLVING FRAMEWORK FOR COMMUNITY COALITIONS

Community problem solving is believed to help coalitions achieve community changes and subsequent population‐level reductions in targeted community health problems. This study empirically examined a community problem solving model used by CADCA, a national coalition training organization, to determine if the model explains how coalitions become effective community change agents and the extent to which it fits for different types of coalitions. The sample consisted of 551 substance abuse coalitions, and SEM was used to test the research questions. Results suggest the overall conceptual model fits the data and provides an adequate representation of the community problem solving process for coalitions. Additionally multi‐group modeling indicates the model fits for a variety of coalitions. CADCA's model appears to have wide utility and applicability and appears to have honed in on critical elements of community problem solving that may increase the likelihood of coalition success at reducing substance abuse within their community.     

PLACING SENSE OF COMMUNITY

Behavioral geographers interpret cognitive associations between people and places to spatially understanding the social psychology of sense of community. This report acknowledges connections between sense of community and sense of place using Google Earth images to position experiences and meanings. Having participants identify significant spaces and places using Google Earth represents an alternative approach for researchers to understand how relationships are located in particular places—further framing this notion of sense of place with the literature on sense of community. The practical impact of this approach suggests an attempt to assist nongovernmental organization planners and community developers about the significance of further exploring social and psychological meanings embedded in space and place as a way of understanding local sense of community.     

COMMUNITY READINESS AS A MULTIDIMENSIONAL CONSTRUCT

Both the organizational studies literature and the community psychology literature discuss the importance of readiness when implementing change. Although each area emphasizes different characteristics, several common themes are present within the literature. The current study integrates and applies organizational and community psychology literature in evaluating community readiness in the context of a school-community-university collaborative prevention model. Results demonstrate (a) that there is substantial agreement between members of community prevention teams on the level of readiness of a community; (b) that readiness is a cohesive, but multidimensional, construct related to hypothesized community and individual characteristics; and (c) that there is small to moderate agreement between members of prevention teams and their "agency directors." These results support the notion that clear "theories of change" need to be formulated before deciding how to assess community readiness, as assessments will vary due to several factors: the type of respondent, the level in which analyses are conducted, and the specific community domain (i.e., school, workplace collaboration, collaboration experience) investigated.     

HOW IDENTIFICATION PROCESSES AND INTER‐COMMUNITY RELATIONSHIPS AFFECT SENSE OF COMMUNITY

Based on the Social Identity and Social Categorization Theory framework, this study investigated how identification with the physical component of a community (i.e., the place identity), the perception of a community (i.e., the ingroup) in terms of cohesion and entitativity, and the perception of one or more territorial communities as laying beyond a community's boundaries (i.e., the outgroup) affect a psychological sense of community (PSOC). A survey was conducted with 477 residents (55.1& female; aged 16‐80 years) in the Salento region, Italy. The results showed that the more individuals identified with the spatial community, the more they felt connected to their fellow residents and the more satisfied they were with their social relationships. More importantly, the findings highlighted the contribution of ingroup‐outgroup relationships on shaping PSOC, which suggests that determinants of PSOC should include both the internal identification processes and the processes that lead communities to behave towards other communities.     

UNDERSTANDING COMMUNITY ISSUES OF INTERFAITH GROUPS

Community psychologists are interested in community‐based organizations that work to address community issues. To extend research in this area, we use k‐means cluster analysis with a sample of 81 interfaith groups from across the United States to understand what types of issues they work on in their local communities. We demonstrate three typologies of how groups work on explicitly religious and/or more general social issues (i.e., religious and social issues, social but not religious issues, religious but not social issues). Moreover, we show typologies differ on group characteristics such as religious and racial diversity, the degree of religious and community information sharing at meetings, and the extent groups sponsor events or organize protests. Overall, this study furthers an understanding of the different ways interfaith groups contribute to community change efforts by working on distinct sets of issues in their community. Limitations and directions for future research and collaboration are discussed.     

METHODOLOGICAL PLURALISM AND MIXED METHODOLOGY TO STRENGTHEN COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCH: AN EXAMPLE FROM OXFORD HOUSE

This article evaluates how a plurality of research methods has served a research program that has functioned in a much‐needed area of research: the role of housing and recovery residences in addiction recovery. The review focuses on one mutually supportive recovery residence model, called Oxford House, which represents more than 1,700 democratic, self‐governing residences. To date, there has been no comprehensive evaluation of the research methods used with Oxford House or any other recovery residence. In this article, research methods, including study designs and data analyses, are summarized for 114 peer‐reviewed empirical studies that included data on Oxford Houses or Oxford House residents. This review of a pluralistic research program can inform community researchers about the value of recovery residences, the many ways in which recovery residences may be assessed, and the benefits of using multiple methods. Implications for future recovery residence research are discussed.     

COMMUNITY ACTIVISTS’ COMPETENCE: THE CONTRIBUTING FACTORS

This study examined the contribution of the personal and social resources to community activists' competence. The research population included 163 activists who engage in volunteer activity in traditional communities. The findings revealed that the activists' gender, supervision by community‐organizers, sense of mastery, sense of belonging to the community, citizen participation, representation, and perceptions of leadership all contributed significantly to the activists' competence. A comprehensive analysis of the findings is presented, as well as practical recommendations for community organization. The recommendations highlight the importance of professional supervision for community activists, which aims to develop perceptions of community leadership, community belonging, citizen participation, and representation in order to enhance the success of community activity. Finally, the examination of personal and social resources that contribute to activists' competence can facilitate identification of potential community activists, in addition to shedding light on the content that professional supervisors should incorporate in their work with activists.     

DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES AS ANTECEDENTS OF ISRAELI COMMUNITY AND NATIONAL RESILIENCE

This study focuses on demographic antecedents of community and national resilience. We hypothesized that both kinds of public resilience would be predicted by 4 demographic variables, which have rarely been associated with community or national resilience in the past: community type, age, and levels of religiosity and preparedness. The final sample of 435 participants included 92 kibbutz members, 61 moshav members, 38 inhabitants of villages, and 244 town dwellers. Results indicated the following: (a) when demographic variables were accounted for, community and national resilience were positively correlated with each other; (b) the demographic variables in the path analysis model, controlling for each other, significantly predicted community and national resilience; (c) older age and higher level of religiosity positively predicted both community and national resilience; (d) higher preparedness positively predicted only community resilience; and (e) higher communality of the community was associated with higher community resilience and lower national resilience.     

BUILDING A RESEARCH‐COMMUNITY COLLABORATIVE TO IMPROVE COMMUNITY CARE FOR INFANTS AND TODDLERS AT‐RISK FOR AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS

This article describes the formation and initial outcomes of a research‐community collaborative group that was developed based on community‐based participatory research principles. The group includes a transdisciplinary team of practitioners, funding agency representatives, researchers, and families of children with autism spectrum disorders, who partnered to improve community‐based care for infants and toddlers at risk for autism through the implementation of evidence‐based practices. Data from this group provide support for the feasibility of developing and sustaining a highly synergistic and productive research‐community collaborative group who shares common goals to improve community care.     

COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY ENACTMENTS IN PALESTINE: ROOTS AND CURRENT MANIFESTATIONS

This article describes enactments of community‐centered work and a master's program at Birzeit University as manifestations of community psychology in Palestine. The early roots of community psychology may be traced back to the community organizing and grassroots activism evident during the first Intifada in 1987. These early enactments affirmed community voice and supported national liberation receded in the post‐1993 Oslo Agreement era when international donor funding and institutional arrangements privileged the establishment of nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and research on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), focusing on Palestinian victims of military violence. These enactments tended towards unreflexive individualized modalities of community psychology. In contrast, the Birzeit program is positioned as an attempt to continue and develop the spirit and substance of the critical enactments contained in the first Intifada. This article embodies a case for the development of critical community psychology in Palestine given its history of prolonged colonial occupation and disenfranchisement.     

SENSE OF COHESION AMONG COMMUNITY ACTIVISTS ENGAGING IN VOLUNTEER ACTIVITY

The present article attempts to shed light on the direct and indirect contribution of personal resources and community indices to Sense of Cohesion among activists engaging in community volunteer work. The sample comprised 481 activists. Based on social systems theory, three levels of variables were examined: (1) inputs, which included personal resources (self‐esteem, sense of mastery, and sense of coherence); (2) throughputs, which included community indices (organizational commitment, leadership competence, and representation); and (3) outputs, i.e., change in the community which enhances community cohesion. Path analysis revealed interesting results: organizational commitment, representation, and leadership competence fully mediated between self‐esteem and community cohesion; and sense of coherence had a direct positive association with organizational commitment. Moreover, sense of mastery and sense of coherence contributed directly to community cohesion. The Discussion presents an analysis of these findings.     

FROM ISOLATION TO COMMUNITY: EXPLORATORY STUDY OF A SENSE‐OF‐COMMUNITY INTERVENTION

This exploratory pilot study analyzes the role a facilitated neighborhood intervention, geared towards meeting one's neighbors and discussing local needs and civic action, can play in moving individuals from isolation to community. It focuses on whether NeighborCircles (NC), a neighborhood intervention run by a nonprofit in Massachusetts, is associated with increases in social capital (SC); the main constructs used are Perkins and Long's (2002) 4 dimensions of SC (sense of community [SOC], collective efficacy, neighboring, and participation), with a primary focus on SOC. Surveys and interviews with a majority Latino sample group reveal NC is associated with reported increases in all 4 dimensions of SC. The author concludes by considering what may have led to these reported increases, as well as implications for both future research about and experimentation with similar interventions.     

EVALUATING COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IN RESEARCH: QUANTITATIVE MEASURE DEVELOPMENT

Although the importance of community engagement in research has been previously established, there are few evidence‐based approaches for measuring the level of community engagement in research projects. A quantitative community engagement measure was developed, aligned with 11 engagement principles (EPs) previously established in the literature. The measure has 96 Likert response items; 3–5 quality items and 3–5 quantity items measure each EP. Cronbach's alpha is used to examine the internal consistency of items that measure a single EP. Every EP item group had a Cronbach's alpha > .85, which indicates strong internal consistency for all question groups across both scales (quality and quantity). This information determines the level of community engagement, which can be correlated with other research outcomes.     

A METHOD FOR ARTICULATING GRASSROOTS COMMUNITY ORGANIZING OUTCOMES

Concept mapping (Trochim, 1989 ) was used to visually articulate the full range of organizing outcomes from a grassroots community organization (GCO) in a western United States city. Outcomes belong to five general categories: (a) victories, (b) personal development, (c) public leadership skills, (d) organizational relationships with power people, and (e) building an organizational culture of civic engagement. Results from the concept map have been triangulated with other GCO data sources to determine whether the concept map presents a credible representation of the range of outcomes which can be expected from community organizing. Advantages of concept mapping as a method for community‐based research are discussed. Names of places and organizations have been changed to protect the privacy of participants.     

塔里木盆地蜱类群落结构的研究

为掌握塔里木盆地蜱类群落的结构特征,探讨该地区生态环境的差异对蜱类群落结构的影响,按照地理区划和生境类型选择调查点进行蜱类种类和数量调查,采用群落生态学技术方法,分析不同生态环境条件下的蜱类群落的丰富度、多样性和均匀性。共在该地区采获蜱类5属10种,扇头蜱和革蜱在盐碱湿地生态景观中占主要地位,亚洲璃眼蜱是植被发育良好的盐碱沙地或沙漠化生态景观中的优势蜱类。在土壤以盐碱湿地为主的生态环境中,游离蜱群落组成单一,优势种类突出,优势度高,丰富度、多样性和均匀性低;在草本植物和灌木发育良好,地质较为干燥的盐碱和盐碱沙化生态环境中,蜱类群落的丰富度、多样性和均匀性高,优势度适中等;在草本和灌木发育良好的漠化的生态环境中,蜱类的组成较为简单,优势度高,丰富度、多样性和均匀性低,优势种的蜱指数高;在乔木密集,草本植物和灌木稀少的干旱的盐碱和盐碱沙化生态环境中,地面游离蜱的种类和数量均十分稀少。高海拔戈壁湿地生态景观的蜱类群落与其他生态景观的蜱类群落的相似性指数最低,其次为沙漠化生态景观,但该生态景观的2类生境中的蜱类群落具有非常高的相似性;盐碱类生态景观中的各蜱类群落间具有较高相似性,均在0.9以上,且该类生态景观中的蜱类群落与具有较高植被覆盖度的盐碱沙化生态景观和戈壁原生景观的蜱类群落也具有较高的相似性;盐碱沙化生态景观的蜱类群落与其他生态景观中的蜱类群落具有中等水平的相似性指数,在0.5～0.9之间,蜱类群落结构的类型介于盐碱和沙漠化类生态景观的蜱类群落结构形态之间。     

RACE AND COMMUNITY PRACTICE: REFLECTIONS FROM THE SUPERVISION OF PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

Given South Africa's unique history of colonization and racial segregation, understanding and working with issues of race and racialization have been of paramount importance in South African critical community psychology. This article considers how race has emerged in the supervision of community work with master's students in a community psychology practicum. Using an autoethnographic approach, we document our reflections as two community psychology supervisors to discuss the dilemmas experienced in dealing with race in community psychology supervision. We engage with notions of Whiteness and Blackness, intersections of race and language, and race and crime, and document specific issues that emerge in the supervision for Black and White supervisors. In conclusion, we highlight the importance for supervisors to adopt a critical stance that utilizes reflexivity as a tool for the supervision of community work to help students to reflect on issues of race and racism as part of their community engagement.