Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology最新文献

Across the world, governments are struggling to help people recover from substance use problems. Due to their particular risk factors, two age groups are of special interest to public health: emerging adults and older adults. Psychological sense of community (PSOC) is a key dimension in their recovery. Yet, to develop context-sensitive and effective strategies tailored for these groups, there is a need to understand their discourses of PSOC as situated within their context. This study offers a multi-level and comparative analysis of discourses of PSOC for 21 emerging adults and 23 older adults recovering within the same context. Using a discourse analytic tool and a comparative approach ideological impacts on the two groups' discourses of PSOC were identified. Both groups' discourses suggest that achieving and maintaining PSOC in recovery is challenging within a developing neo-liberal context. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate differences between the two groups' with respect to (a) the particular impact of ideologies, (b) sources for PSOC in recovery and (c) challenges in community participation. The article builds on the findings to suggest strategies targeting the two groups. Please refer to the Supporting Information section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

Migrant families of children with special health and welfare needs such as mental, developmental, and physical disabilities face significant barriers to health and welfare services. This could result in social inequalities and exclusion. The aim of this article was to explore the role and relevance of voluntary sector in promoting health and social inclusion of migrant families of children with special health and welfare needs in Norway. The study is based on a qualitative participatory research design using co-production and interdisciplinary research methodologies. A total of 15 voluntary sector employees participated in semi-structured qualitative interviews. We found three major themes to summarise the role of voluntary sector: 1) Providing arenas for social inclusion and belonging; 2) Facilitating access to public health and welfare services; and 3) Provision of complementary health and welfare services. Results indicate that voluntary services use more informal community centered caring approaches and are supplementary to public health and welfare services. An exploration of more opportunities for participation of migrant families of children with special health and welfare needs in the development of services and collaboration between voluntary services and public welfare providers may foster inclusion and could be of relevance to future welfare research and practice. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

Limited access to social services often hinders women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) from seeking support. This mixed-methods (survey- and interview-based) study investigated the impact of a no-cost, one-month, self-directed self-compassion intervention on women experiencing IPV compared with women in non-violent relationships. Among the 28 participants (n = 15 non-IPV, n = 13 IPV), significant improvements were noted in total self-compassion scores (F(2,52) = 6.126, p = 0.004, η²_p = 0.18), and specific domains such as self-kindness (F(2,52) = 6.552, p = 0.003, η²_p = 0.20) and over-identification (F(2,52) = 4.251, p = 0.020, η²_p = 0.14) over time. Interview findings indicated that women perceived meaningful improvements in their mental health and resilience because of the intervention, with some women in violent relationships reporting that the intervention facilitated leaving the relationship. This intervention demonstrates strong potential as an accessible, effective health promotion intervention for women in violent relationships.

Sexting is the exchange of sexually suggestive content through technological means. Despite being tasked with addressing such incidents in schools, teachers are underrepresented in sexting research. The present study explores teachers' discursive constructions of sexting, consent and gender using Critical Discursive Psychology, analysing 30 interviews with educators and safeguarding staff. The first key finding uncovers the interpretative repertoire of ‘Sexting as a threat’. This repertoire showcases the gendered positions teachers assign adolescents to, positioning ‘Boys as oppressors; girls as victims of sexting’, with girls being simultaneously constructed as sexting to attract boys' attention through the ‘Girls as the validation-seeking Other’ position. Regarding consent, we explicate three repertoires: ‘Consent as an oxymoron in relation to non-consensual distribution’, ‘Consent as illegal’ and ‘Coercion as a power imbalance’. We contextualise and discuss these findings within the socio-political discursive terrain. We highlight their ideological implications and the need to initiate emancipatory positions and discussions regarding inclusive sexting education. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

In a religiously diverse world, understanding how young children perceive and interact with peers from other religious groups is pivotal for promoting harmony from an early age. The study examines how children's understanding of an outgroup religion is associated with their prosocial behaviours towards children from that religion. Conducted with 210 children aged 3–6 years (mean = 4.19 years; 50.7% boys) from the majority religion (Catholic) in state schools in Malta, we assessed children's religious understanding through identification of ingroup religious symbols, and prayer. Additionally, we measured children's outgroup (i.e., Muslim) religious understanding through outgroup prayer. Children's prosocial behaviours were assessed through their costly giving of stickers to outgroup children. Findings indicate that outgroup religious understanding moderated the link between children's religious understanding and outgroup giving. Specifically, outgroup religious understanding dampened the association between ingroup religious understanding and outgroup giving for children with higher ingroup religious understanding. Implications of children's outgroup religious understanding on prosocial behaviours are discussed.

Through their design, museums can craft specific experiences for their visitors, ranging from more hedonic to more eudaimonic well-being experiences. Little is known, however, about whether potential visitors anticipate eudaimonic or hedonic well-being experiences depending on how the museum design is described. To answer this question, we conducted three social-psychological experiments with Croatian (Study 1, N = 128 and Study 3, N = 213) and American (Study 2, N = 289) participants. Participants in Study 1 and 2 read about either one of the two different hedonically designed museums or one eudaimonically designed museum which was the same across the studies, and then reported their anticipated well-being and emotional experience. Particularly for Studies 1 and 3, our findings revealed strong support for the differentiation of eudaimonic and hedonic well-being in the anticipation of different museum visits. Moreover, the anticipated eudaimonic experience moved beyond the typical positive hedonic experience by uniquely including both positive and negative emotions such as compassion, awe, sadness and guilt. We discuss the implications of our findings for modern psychological theorising on well-being and emotions, and, in a more applied sense, the relevance of describing the design of museums to potential visitors to guide their anticipation of the museum experience.

Communities possess various resources, such as sporting organisations, that establish positive relationships with young people whom statutory services may struggle to engage. Boxing has been shown to attract individuals from diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds, offering proven benefits in areas such as physical health and engagement. When taking into consideration mental and physical well-being, there is limited knowledge regarding the overall well-being benefits of boxing for young people. This study adopts an ethnographic approach within an Inner London community boxing gym to investigate the well-being benefits of boxing for young people. Qualitative interviews, field notes and observations were employed with young people, staff and volunteers. The community identified that boxing provided young people with a changed sense of self, engaged them in a recursive learning process and instilled a sense of belonging, like that of a new family. These factors can all be associated with well-being. The study highlights the significance of community-based resources, such as boxing gyms, in providing support for improving well-being for a diverse cohort of young people. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement

Growing empirical evidence demonstrates that intergroup contact has the potential to reap effects that go beyond prejudice reduction. Much of this evidence, however, is based on findings from cross-sectional surveys. Building on the relatively smaller body of longitudinal intergroup contact research, we conduct a three-time point survey amongst youth in Northern Ireland to determine whether frequent and good-quality interactions with ethnic minority groups are associated with later reports on: (1) attitudes towards ethnic minorities, (2) prosocial behaviour towards ethnic minorities, and (3) civic engagement. Data were collected over the period of a school year amongst youth living in Belfast (n = 420, M_{age; T1} = 14.9 years) and analysed using longitudinal path analyses and structural equation models in Mplus. Results demonstrate a lagged effect of higher-quality contact on more positive attitudes towards ethnic minorities over the school year. There was also a lagged effect of more frequent contact on self-reported prosocial behaviour in support of ethnic minorities. No lagged effects were observed of intergroup contact on civic engagement. Findings highlight the potential longitudinal effects of intergroup contact on attitudes and behaviours towards ethnic minorities.

The organisational environment and work design dramatically influence employees' performance, wellbeing and identity. However, little is known about how organisational normative structure – that is, the set of general values and shared norms that regulate individuals' behaviours in a community or an organisation – influences employees experiences and wellbeing. We apply the concept of anomie to explore how Norwegian homecare workers (HCWs) experience their working environment, the normative structure of their organisation and its influence on their performance, wellbeing and identity. We examine organisational anomie in terms of perceptions of a discrepancy between job demands, various expectations and job resources as well as a discrepancy between one's normative ideals of care and the organisational work design to fulfil the caring duties and obligations. We conducted a qualitative interview study, recruiting 10 HCWs in Norway. Using reflexive thematic analysis, we developed the following five major themes to describe HCWs' understanding of their working environment and its influence: (1) The only sure thing is that anything can happen, (2) Multiple affordances of home as a context for care, (3) Conflict between normative beliefs and the organisational working environment, (4) Time pressure affects presence and (5) Did I do a good enough job? We discuss these themes with regard to their practical implications for the homecare institution and the theoretical implications for extending anomie theories to the organisational context.