Community Psychology Flashcards
Broadly speaking, community psychology is concerned with trying to….
understand people in the context of their communities
Comm psych doesn’t just focus on psych problems, but is also concerned with improving
social conditions for individuals, groups and communities
Comm psych originated as a
reaction to mainstream psychology
Break down the creation of Comm Psych as a reaction to mainstream psych. What drove this? (4 points)
- CP disenchanted with mainstream psych’s medical model and DECONTEXTUALIZED view of MI
- CP critical of the discipline be “scientific” and “value free” - called on service providers to become political/social activists
- CP influenced by the Public Health model’s success (which focused on preventative interventions rather than curative ones)
- CP felt the need to move away from emphasis on individual therapies and treatments
Within the United States, the rise of CP took place within a broader socio-political context. Outline this context. (
- CP arose in the US in the 1960s, the same time as the rise of:
1. the civil rights movement
2. the war on poverty
3. gender rights movements - these movements brought with them a principles such as equality, social action and social justice
1960’s also saw the rise of the Anti-psychiatry movement and the first laws encouraging community based MHC
Give an example of how psychologists were complicit im apartheid policies
- Fick (1939) found black children to have an mental age 5 years below that of white children (ignore access to education and cultural bias of test)
- This was in part used to justify bantu education and employment policies
- When same 5 year MA gap was found in poor white kids, it was put down to malnutrition and poor education
South Africa Psychological Association (SAPA) split in 1961 when… and formed …….(a whites only association) and …….. (inclusive and community/anti-apartheid oriented)
black psychologists applied for membership
PIRSA
OASSSA
CP developed in South Africa as part of a…… This was in the….
broad resistance to oppressive social engineering of apartheid
1980s - 20 years after the USA
In the early 1980s was when South African psychologists first…
opposed apartheid and commented on the negative impact of policies on mental health
SA in 1994 saw an upsurge in…. and universities started offering courses on…. This allowed psychologists to start applying themselves to pressing community issues such as….
community interventions and research projects aimed at social transformation
Community psychology
violence, trauma, child development
The Mental Health Model focuses on which two things?
- The broader community/population
- Prevention (primary care)
The mental health model aims to help larger groups of people. How does it plan on doing this?
by using its understanding of common risk factors
The Mental Health Model is has 3 levels of intervention. What are they?
- Primary - prevention
- Secondary - early ID and help
- Tertiary - ID and treat established disorders
Give the limitations/critiques of the Mental Health Model (4 marks)
- The community is viewed as homogenous by the “professional expert psychologist” (no input from the people)
- Ameliorative care rather than treating the root
- Diagnoses can lead to stigmatization and victim-blaming
- No emphasis on social justice and action
What drove the emergence of Social Ecological Models (SEMs) (1 mark)
- Criticisms of the MHM
Describe the SEM in 3 key points
- Focuses on interaction between person and environment
- Behaviour = result of interaction between person and their context. So behaviour is better understood if the context is understood
- Psych interventions should not be focused on the indi only, but introduced at broader levels of society as well.
The SEM is based on what other model?
- Bronfenbrenner’s Theory of Ecological systems
