American journal of community psychology
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Am J Community Psychol · Dec 2000
Feminist and community psychology ethics in research with homeless women.
This paper presents a feminist and community psychology analysis of ethical concerns that can arise throughout the process of doing research with women who are homeless. The unique contexts of the lives of women who are homeless demand that researchers redefine traditional ethical constructs such as consent, privacy, harm, and bias. ⋯ Feminist and community research ethics must go beyond the avoidance of harm to an active investment in the well-being of marginalized individuals and communities. Using feminist and community psychology ethics, this paper addresses some common problems in research with women who are homeless, and argues for the transformation of research from a tool for the advancement of science into a strategy for the empowerment of homeless women and their communities.
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The current study presents results of a survey of 3,215 calls received at seven centers of telephone emergency services (TES) in Israel during the Gulf War, when citizens of Israel experienced severe stress resulting from SCUD missile attacks. Whereas former surveys have shown that characteristics of calls to TES in Israel are generally not affected by external stressogenic events, a remarkable change was recorded in both the quantity and quality of calls received in TES centers in Israel during the Gulf War. ⋯ A comparison between this group of "war calls" and a control group of "nonwar calls," revealed that the two groups represented populations of callers differing in sociodemographic characteristics, expectations, and benefits from the calls. Results are discussed in reference to the unique role of TES as a source of psychological first-aid in a community crisis situation.
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Am J Community Psychol · Aug 1994
ReviewA contextual-behavioral model of empowerment: case studies involving people with physical disabilities.
When people with disabilities, ethnic minorities, older adults, women, and others lack power, they usually experience adverse conditions disproportionate to other members of society. Empowerment--the process by which people gain some control over valued events, outcomes, and resources--is an important construct for understanding and improving the lives of people of marginal status. ⋯ The case studies show the use of different combinations of empowerment tactics in a variety of contexts: (a) setting improvement agendas from the perspective of people with disabilities, (b) enforcing ordinances that preserve access to parking spaces designated for people with disabilities, (c) enabling access to homes through housing modifications, (d) enhancing support available through mutual-aid groups, (e) developing skills for recruiting mentors, (f) promoting self-directed behavior change with personal and health concerns, (g) enhancing skills for personal self-advocacy, and (h) building the capacities of groups of people with disabilities for systems advocacy. Finally, we discuss issues that may contribute to research and action related to empowerment.
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Am J Community Psychol · Apr 1994
ReviewThe continuity principle: a unified approach to disaster and trauma.
The continuity principle stipulates that through all stages of disaster, management and treatment should aim at preserving and restoring functional, historical, and interpersonal continuities, at the individual, family, organization, and community levels. Two misconceptions work against this principle and lead to decisional errors: the "abnormalcy bias" which results in underestimating victims' ability to cope with disaster, and the "normalcy bias" which results in underestimating the probability or extent of expected disruption. This article clarifies these biases and details the potential contributions of the continuity principle at the different stages of the disaster.
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Am J Community Psychol · Oct 1991
Research workshop on Methodological Issues in Evaluating Preventive Interventions Using Mutual Support.
The Prevention Research Branch, Division of Clinical Research, of the National Institute of Mental Health held a research workshop on the methodological issues in evaluating preventive interventions using mutual support. This workshop, held in June 1989, was part of an effort to stimulate high-quality research on preventive interventions using mutual support. These interventions include but are not limited to naturally occurring self-help groups. Participants reviewed methodological problems, generated strategies for dealing with these problems, and made recommendations for future research in this area.