Community Psychology: Past and Present

Marybeth ShinnVanderbilt University

Presentation at National Institute on Teaching of Psychology (NITOP), January,

2012

Audiences•Teachers who want to incorporate a class session on

community psychology into their courses

•Advisors of students who want to make a difference, and aren’t sure how to prepare themselves

Outline

•Overview of community psychology▫Origins▫Current themes

•For teachers▫Community psychology in relationship to your fields▫Current research examples

•For advisors▫Overview of graduate training▫Council of Education Programs powerpoint on

educational options and careers

Origins•Clinical psychology: focus on welfare, but not just

one individual at a time•Public health: focus on prevention, populations•Social psychology (Lewin): action research; reversing

the fundamental attribution error•Developmental psychology (Bronfenbrenner): levels

of context from microsystem to macrosystem

Initial Themes•Contexts of human welfare •Synergy of research and action•Social justice

Additional Current Themes•Positive change, health, and empowerment at

individual and systemic levels•Collaborative relationships with communities,

groups, organizations in directing change•Multidisciplinary approach

Teaching community psychology• Introductory exercise (for any class)• Research exemplars relevant to▫Social psychology▫Developmental psychology▫Clinical/abnormal psychology

▫Materials in packet include teaching resources and a lecture outline by Jean Hill (particularly suitable for intro or health psychology)

▫Resources for service learning courses are at: http://www.scra27.org/resources/educationc/teachingcp/communitys

Introductory Teaching Exercise: Origins of HomelessnessWhy do some people become homeless?

Why do so many people become homeless?

• Alcohol, drugs• Mental illness• Job loss• Underwater on mortgage• Laziness• Bad luck

• Poverty, inequality• Recession• Foreclosure crisis• Unemployment rates

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1Annual Percentage Rates of Shelter Use by Age

<1 1-5 6-12 13-17 18-30 31-50 51-60

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Social psychology: Achievement Gap• Social Psychologists study stereotype threat, implicit

theories of intelligence, etc. • Community psychologist Kenneth Maton in

collaboration with university president Freeman Hrabowski closed the gap in STEM disciplines at UMBC▫African American students have GPAs comparable to

Caucasian and Asian students▫A third of African American graduates are in STEM majors▫University is major contributor of African American

students to science Ph.D. programs

UMBC Meyerhoff Program (Maton)Transformation of Culture Theory of Empowering Settings

• Financial Aid• Summer bridge program• Study groups• Program values• Program community• Personal advising, counseling• Tutoring• Multiple research experiences• Faculty, administrative, family

involvement• Mentors• Community service

• Group-based belief system• Core activities • Relational environment• Opportunity role structure• Leadership• Setting maintenance and change

Developmental Psychology: Positive Youth Development•Developmental psychologists study settings that

foster positive youth development• In his book, Immigrants raising citizens, community

psychologist Hirokazu Yoshikawa followed a birth cohort of 380 infants of African American, Chinese, Dominican, and Mexican families through age 3:▫Surveys of parents▫Direct assessment of children▫Ethnographic interviews with a subset of families

Immigrants Raising Citizens (Yoshikawa)

•Children of undocumented parents showed delayed:▫Early language development▫Motor development▫Perceptual skills

•Mediators▫24 months: Economic hardship, parental distress▫36 months: Parental work conditions, low use of

center-based child care

Abnormal/Clinical: Functional Impairment

•Clinical psychologists study functional impairment and how to overcome it.

•Community psychologist Sam Tsemberis created a Housing First program for individuals with serious mental illnesses and long histories of homelessness:▫Individuals on the street are given apartments with

private landlords, without preconditions▫Wrap-around services are available but under tenant

control

Pathways Housing First (Tsemberis)• In randomized trial (Tsemberis, Gulcur, Shinn, others)

comparing housing first to the “staircase model” housing first participants:▫Had 99 fewer days homeless in first year▫Did not differ in substance abuse

Data were consistent with control programs sorting rather than changing people

▫Cost less, due to lower levels of hospitalization▫Got housed faster and stayed indoors longer

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Quick (N=115)

Medium (N=26)

Slow (N=19)

In and Out (N=7)

Never (N=25)

Cluster Membership

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% of Exp

% of Con

Quick 115 74% 43%

Medium 26 17% 10%

Slow 19 4% 13%

In and Out 7 2% 4%

Never 25 0% 22%

Outlier 10 2% 7%

Summary for Teaching•Community psychologists use research and theory to

empower individuals and create positive social change

•Community psychologists focus on social contexts, including policy contexts, that promote (or inhibit) positive outcomes for individuals

•Many more resources at http://www.scra27.org/education

Advising Students: Education Programs at http://www.scra27.org/education •44 Ph.D. Programs▫17 Community Psychology▫15 Clinical/Community Psychology▫12 Interdisciplinary programs

•27 Masters programs▫19 Community Psychology▫ 3 Community-counseling/clinical▫ 5 Interdisciplinary/prevention

Advising Students•www.SCRA27.org website has many more resources,

including:▫Idealist.org article by Sharon Hakim, which is in your

meeting materials▫Power point by Council of Education Programs (also

shown at NITOP meeting)•See also the Community Tool Box: http://

ctb.ku.edu/en/default.aspx▫Marvelous free resource with over 7,000 pages of

practical guidance in creating community change

References

• For age structure of homelessness (citation for calculation, no graph):▫ Shinn, M. (2010). Homelessness, poverty, and social exclusion in the United States and Europe. European Journal of

Homelessness, 4, 19-44. http://eohw.horus.be/files/freshstart/European%20Journal%20of%20Homelessness/Volume%20Four/article-1.pdf

• For Maton empowerment and UMBC story▫ Maton, K. I. (2008). Empowering community settings: Agents of individual development, community betterment, and

positive social change. American Journal of Community Psychology, 41, 4-21. ▫ Maton, K. L., Hrabowski, F.A., Özdemir, M., & Wimms, H. (2008). Enhancing representation, retention, and

achievement of minority students in higher education: A social transformation theory of change. In M. Shinn & H. Yoshikawa (Eds.). Toward positive youth development: Transforming schools and community programs (pp. 115-132). New York: Oxford University Press.

• For Yoshikawa study of immigrant groups:▫ Yoshikawa, H. (2012) Immigrants raising citizens: Undocumented parents and their young children. New York: Russell

Sage Foundation.• For Housing First study results

▫ Gulcur, L., Stefancic, A., Shinn, M., Tsemberis, S., & Fischer, S.N. (2003). Housing, hospitalization and cost outcomes for homeless individuals with psychiatric disabilities participating in Continuum of Care and Housing First programmes. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 13,171-186.

▫ Tsemberis, S., Gulcur, L. & Nakae, M. (2004). Housing first, consumer choice, and harm reduction for homeless individuals with a dual diagnosis. American Journal of Public Health, 94 (4), 651-656.

▫ Tsemberis, S., Moran, L.L., Shinn, M., Asmussen, S. M., & Shern, D. L. (2003). Consumer preference programs for homeless individuals with psychiatric disabilities: A drop-in center and a supported housing program. American Journal of Community Psychology, 32, 305-317.