American journal of community psychology
-
Am J Community Psychol · Sep 2012
Development and psychometric evaluation of the Social Justice Scale (SJS).
The study describes the development of the Social Justice Scale (SJS). Practitioners, educators, students, and other members of the community differ on their attitudes and values regarding social justice. ⋯ A scale was designed to measure social justice-related values, attitudes, perceived behavioral control, subjective norms, and intentions based on a four-factor conception of Ajzen's theory. Confirmatory factor analysis and analyses for reliability and validity were used to test the properties of the scale.
-
Am J Community Psychol · Dec 2011
Unikkaartuit: meanings of well-being, unhappiness, health, and community change among Inuit in Nunavut, Canada.
Suicide among young Inuit in the Canadian Arctic is at an epidemic level. In order to understand the distress and well-being experienced in Inuit communities, a first step in understanding collective suicide, this qualitative study was designed. Fifty Inuit were interviewed in two Inuit communities in Nunavut, Canada, and questionnaires asking the same questions were given to 66 high school and college students. ⋯ Discontinuity of kinship structure and function appears to be the most harmful effect of the internal colonialism imposed by the Canadian government in the 1950s and 1960s. Directions toward community control and action are encouraging, and are highlighted. Inuit community action toward suicide prevention and community wellness is part of a larger movement of Indigenous self-determination.
-
Am J Community Psychol · Dec 2011
Councils as empowering contexts: mobilizing the front line to foster systems change in the response to intimate partner violence.
Collaborative approaches to change are common, and though evidence for their effectiveness is equivocal, there is growing support that councils facilitate desired changes in the systems response to intimate partner violence. Questions remain regarding the specific mechanisms by which this change is facilitated, and recent work has focused on examining the intermediate processes through which councils may produce more distal change. One such mechanism relates to the potential of councils to be empowering contexts for their membership, often comprised of front-line providers and responders. ⋯ Study findings suggest that both contexts-council and organizational-are important when considering the degree to which members are empowered. Specifically, member participation, council leadership, and supportive council and organizational climates are significantly positively related to the degree to which councils function as empowering contexts. However, the effect of belonging to a council with a supportive climate, characterized in particular by shared power in decision-making, is stronger when members are from high organizational support settings versus low support settings.
-
Am J Community Psychol · Sep 2011
Randomized Controlled TrialPreventing children's aggression in immigrant Latino families: a mixed methods evaluation of the Families and Schools Together program.
The effectiveness of the evidence based program, Families and Schools Together (FAST), was examined in two inter-related studies with immigrant Latino (Mexican) families in the U. S. In Study 1, we reported findings from pre-test, 3-month post-test, and 12-month follow-up surveys of parents and children participating in the FAST program. ⋯ In Study 2, we conducted two focus groups with ten FAST participants to explore whether other unmeasured outcomes were noted and to understand better the mechanisms and impact of FAST. All of the parents in the focus groups reported that FAST had helped them better relate to and communicate with their children, and that the greatest effect was on the behavior of their older children. Results are discussed in terms of cultural fit of the FAST program for immigrant Latino families and future directions.
-
Am J Community Psychol · Sep 2011
Essential elements for community engagement in evidence-based youth violence prevention.
In the field of youth violence prevention, there has been increasing emphasis on "evidence based" programs and principles shown through scientific research as reaching their intended outcomes. Community mobilization and engagement play a critical role in many evidence-based programs and strategies, as it takes a concerted effort among a wide range of people within a community to alter behavior and maintain behavioral change. ⋯ The authors propose placing greater emphasis on "evaluative thinking" and organizational capacity for evaluation as we pursue evidence-based practices for youth violence prevention. This is especially important for ethnic groups for which an evidence base is not well established.