Community, Culture and Values

Question 1

Community

Answer 1

1. Geographical notion

2. Quality of relationships in a group

Question 2

Sense of community

Answer 2

The feeling of belonging or attachment to one's community.
McMillan & Chavis (1986)
• membership
• influence
• integration and fulfilment of needs
• shared emotional connection

Question 3

Membership

Answer 3

Feeling of belonging or of sharing a sense of personal relatedness.

Feeling that one has invested a part of ones to become a member and therefore has a right to belong.

• boundaries
• emotional safety
• common symbol system
• sense of belonging and identification
• personal investment

Question 4

Boundaries

Answer 4

Divide those who belong and those who do not.

Common symbol systems establish boundaries.

Individuals need for boundaries to protect their intimate social connections.

Groups also use deviants as scapegoats to establish boundaries.

Question 5

Emotional safety

Answer 5

Security

Boundaries provide structure and security that protect group intimacy

Can also be physical and economic security.

Question 6

Common symbol system

Answer 6

Defines boundaries, who is a member and who is not.

Question 7

Sense of belonging and identification

Answer 7

Feeling that one fits in the group and has a place there, feeling of acceptance by the group, and a willingness to sacrifice for the group

facilitates development of common symbol system, which defines boundaries.

Question 8

Personal investment

Answer 8

Working for membership provides the feeling that one has earned a place in the group

Makes membership more meaningful and valuable.

Question 9

Influence

Answer 9

Individuals are attracted to become members of a community they have influence in but community cohesiveness requires members be prepared to conform

Conformity + community influence => strength of attachment to community

Needs of individual and group for consensual validation => pressure for conformity

McMillan (1996) - communities more cohesive when leaders influence members and vice versa concurrently

People who acknowledge others’ needs and opinions are more influential than those who do try to dominate and ignore their wishes.

Question 10

Consensual validation

Answer 10

Validation that occurs when the individual’s experiences are validated by the group and the group’s world view is validated by the individual

Inherent need for the individual to know that the things they experience are experienced in the same way by others, counterbalanced by the group’s need for the individual to validate the group’s world view.

Question 11

Integration and fulfilment of needs

Answer 11

Reinforcement

The feeling that members’ needs will be met by the resources received through their membership in the group

Membership must be rewarding for a group to stay together

Status, success and competence and capabilities of other members

Group success brings members closer

Rappaport (1997) - person-environment fit. • people are attracted to others whose skills
and competence can benefit in some way
• people gravitate towards people and
groups that offer the most rewards

Foster cooperation by making rewards for individuals dependent on group outcomes

Aronson & colleagues (1978)
• students in cooperative classrooms learn
better - work together to achieve group
goals and receive marks on basis of class
product
• individuals can have needs met through
membership of group with shared values,
who think and feel similarly, and with whom
they can safely be themselves

Extent of shared values determines ability of community to organise and prioritise its need-fulfilment activities.

Question 12

Shared emotional connection

Answer 12

Feeling connected to another through common emotional response to shared activity or event

Often represented in art - stories, music and other expressions that represent values and traditions

Important features:
1. Contact hypothesis: more interaction =>
become closer
2. Quality of interaction: more positive
experience and relationships => greater
bond
3. Closure to events: ambiguous interaction
+ unresolved tasks => cohesion inhibited
4. Shared valent event hypothesis: greater
importance of shared events => greater
bond
5. Investment: amount of investment =>
sense of community
6. Effect of honour and humiliation on
members: reward or humiliation in
presence of community => attractiveness
of community to individual
7. Spiritual bond: ‘community of spirit’

Question 13

Stress

Answer 13

A state of physiological or psychological arousal that results from an individual’s interpretation of stressors.

Question 14

Stressors

Answer 14

Objects or events that result in stress

Significant events that result in challenging life crises.

Question 15

Stressful Event Characteristics

Answer 15

PEC

1. Predictability
2. Controllability
3. Experience threat or loss

Question 16

Positive Responses to Stressful Events

Answer 16

People react differently to same stressors

1. Hardiness
2. Resilience
3. Post-traumatic growth

Question 17

Hardiness

Answer 17

Quality demonstrated by an individual who responds positively to stress

Kobusa (1979)
◦ Personality differences
◦ 600 executives and managers completed 2 questionnaires, one measured personality, and other stressful events and any illnesses in past 3 years
◦ 2 groups - above and below average for illnesses
◦ Both had lots of stressful events

◦ High stress/low illness:
• saw change as challenge, opportunity to
demonstrate mastery
• felt more in control of life
• sense of direction in work and personal
life

Kobusa & colleagues (1982)
◦ longitudinal study followed group of executives over 2 years
◦ those identified as having hardy personality at start less likely to become ill

Question 18

Resilience

Answer 18

The capacity to act positively in the face of difficult or traumatic circumstances

Qualities: OFSC

1. Make the most of small windows of opportunity
2. Deep-rooted faith in system of meaning
3. Healthy social support network
4. Wide comfort zone

Can be trained

Challenge-based personal development programs - personal growth and resilience can be taught by combining challenges with support

Sense of community influences individual’s responses to major stressful events, important to psychological wellbeing and affects resilience after an emergency, and participation in positive activities in the community

MindMatters program in 45% of WA schools
◦ 1 of 4 major components aggresses resilience and designed to help develop skills to cope with stress and adversity

Question 19

Stressful Lifestyles: FIFO

Answer 19

Taylor & Simmonds (2009)
◦ Factors associated with family satisfaction and healthy family functioning
◦ Family functioning satisfaction:
   1. Flexibility
   2. Cohesion
   3. Communication

External factors
◦ Workplace cultures
◦ Rosters
◦ Recruitment factors

Meredith, Rush & Robinson (2014) - Reduce stress by provision of information during recruitment process so workers and families better understand challenges.

Question 20

Positive Community Responses to Negative Events

Answer 20

◦ Community competence

◦ Post-traumatic growth

Question 21

Community competence

Answer 21

The ability of a community to identify needs and issues, and work together to carry out plans and achieve goals

Competent community + sense of community = resilient community

Pooley & colleagues (2006)
◦ Impact of cyclones on northwest Australian communities
◦ Community competence + sense of community = increased self-efficacy and social networks => reduced stress and increased growth.

Question 22

Trauma

Answer 22

Most distressing forms of stress.

Question 23

Post-traumatic growth

Answer 23

Positive change as a result of the new reality that a person experiences after a traumatic event

ARSAS

1) Greater appreciation of life and change in previous priorities
2) Changed relationships, greater intimacy and warmth
3) Increased sense of personal strength
4) Awareness of new possibilities and alternate life paths
5) Spiritual development

Prati & Pietrantoni (2009)
◦ meta-analysis of 103 studies to determine contribution of social support, coping strategies and personality factors to ptg
◦ coping styles involving religion or positive reappraisal of situation => greatest effect
◦ religion of greatest value to women and older people trying to make sense of situation
◦ social support, spirituality and optimism => moderate
◦ acceptance => least

Question 24

Negative Responses to Stressful Events

Answer 24

Common to experience strong reactions after trauma
◦ Physical - disturbed sleep, nightmares, exhaustion, restlessness, headaches
◦ Cognitive - poor concentration, attention and memory disturbances, flashbacks, intrusive thoughts, disorientation
◦ Emotional - fear, avoidance, anxiety, panic, depression, guilt, withdrawal

Young children may regress in behaviour and lose trust in adults

Severity of reactions vary depending on situation, resources and support.

Question 25

PTSD

Answer 25

A severe and continuing reaction to the trauma of experiencing actual or perceived threats to life, violence or serious injury

DSM (5th ed) criteria: PDANC

1) Past experience, actual or perceived
2) Distressing symptoms
3) Avoidance of stimuli associated
4) Negative changes in thoughts and mood
5) Changes in reactions and responses to stimuli associated

Delayed onset triggered by specific incident

Factors:
◦ Genetic - type of trauma exposed to
◦ Pre-trauma - early traumatic events make people more susceptible
◦ Post-trauma - support

Question 26

Negative Impact of Stressful Events

Answer 26

Vulnerable groups

Hurricane Katrina - socially disadvantaged groups most vulnerable (Elliot & Pais, 2006)

Buckle (2001-2002)
◦ 1998 Esso natural gas plant explosion
◦ natural gas widely used for hot water and heating => cold showers and nights
◦ elderly coped better than young
◦ past experiences with different resources needs and supplies + reduced expectations of external help = deal with crises easier