American journal of community psychology最新文献

Despite the heightened mental health challenges amid rising Anti-Asian sentiment, Asian Americans have significantly underutilized mental health services, a trend that persisted even before the COVID-19 pandemic. Although considerable efforts have been made to understand how various factors are related to mental health service use in this population, research integrating these multiple factors in a single study, with a specific focus on ethnic disaggregation, remains limited. Using a cross-sectional Study of Filipino and Korean American young adults (M_age = 21.37, US-born = 65.03%), we examined the combined impact of individual, familial, and ethnic-cultural, immigrant, and racial stereotype factors on their mental health service utilization through hierarchical logistic regressions. Depressive symptoms, being female, and less stigma associated with mental health care were significantly associated with more service use regardless of ethnicity. Notably, primarily speaking English or both English and ethnic language equally at home (as opposed to an ethnic language) was significantly associated with more service use among US-born Filipino Americans. Conversely, the internalized model minority stereotype was significantly associated with less service use among Korean Americans. This study underscores the importance of developing effective mental health interventions tailored to both shared and unique determinants within diverse Asian American populations.

Substance use, specifically opioid and methamphetamine use, is of increasing concern among American Indian (AI) populations in the Great Plains. This community-driven participatory study investigated the impacts of substance use and community-defined needs in treating addiction. It determined the priorities for future research on behavioral health and substance misuse in the Great Plains region. Behavioral health and social services professionals and community stakeholders were identified from eight Great Plains communities and invited to attend eight focus groups (N = 47). Conversations were audio-recorded, transcribed, and coded by the research team. The qualitative data analysis identified four themes: (1) Challenges with Treatment and Recovery, (2) Impact of Substance Use, (3) Reasons for Substance Use, (4) Solutions and Research Priorities. The findings highlight barriers to substance use disorder (SUD) treatment ranging from policy issues to lack of funding. The most significant finding centered on integrating cultural strengths into treatment and recovery programs, including Ceremony Assisted Treatment (CAT). Data reports for each participating organization were provided to disseminate outcomes in their respective communities. Other key findings suggest that addressing the root causes of substance use disorder, along with early intervention and comprehensive counseling services, are essential for long-term success.

One source of support that may help first-generation college students (FGCS) complete their undergraduate studies is institutional natural mentors (e.g., university faculty, staff). Yet, few researchers have examined factors that contribute to having these relationships, and their relationship to college adjustment, among FGCS. The aim of this study was to examine whether FGCS' help-seeking behaviors predicted the presence of institutional natural mentoring relationships, and whether these mentoring relationships were related to students' sense of belonging at their college and GPA over time. Participants included 358 first-generation, ethnically/racially diverse college students. Path analyses indicated that help-seeking beliefs before college did not significantly predict the presence of institutional natural mentoring relationships during college overall, but did predict a higher number of endorsed institutional mentors. The presence of any institutional natural mentor within the first 2 years of college was not significantly related to academic outcomes in students' third year; however, having a greater number of institutional natural mentors was related to a stronger sense of belonging on one's college campus. Study findings have implications for interventions aimed at supporting FGCS to persist in higher education.

Scholars of community psychology have demonstrated that religion and spirituality play an important, yet often overlooked, role in social justice activity. However, more research is needed to understand the nuances of how religious actors utilize their faith in the pursuit of social justice. This study draws on the community psychology of religion and social movement studies to examine how Episcopalians employ religion/spirituality in their racial justice organizing. Based on 3 years of ethnographic fieldwork with an Episcopal Beloved Community Commission, findings reveal that members leveraged four specific religious resources-theology, sacrament, liturgy, and communal events-to frame racism as a spiritual, not solely social or political, problem. These strategies functioned as sanctification processes, ultimately recasting antiracism as a sacred endeavor. Unlike prior research that depicts sanctification as an individual process, the Commission practiced it collectively, leveraging Episcopal theology (e.g., naming racism as sin) to create new pathways for racial justice engagement among their faith community. Interventions in religious contexts can be strengthened by integrating theological teachings, sacramental practices, liturgical framing, and community gatherings into racial justice efforts.

While the relationship between community violence exposure and maladaptive outcomes has been established, the dynamic between violence exposure and resilience factors in youth is not well understood. The current study utilizes a community-based participatory research (CBPR) framework and employs a novel mixed-methods approach integrating quantitative geographic information systems (GIS) data and semi-structured qualitative focus groups to examine violence exposure, family functioning, and neighborhood characteristics, such as community assets, as experienced and reported by Latino adolescents. Participants (N = 40; age 12-18) included Mexican American youth residing in an urban area and were recruited based on their involvement in a youth organization. The youth-made maps and focus groups revealed that participants identified friends and family, social capital, and community engagement as safe and protective. However, the characterization of schools was more complicated and inconsistent. While schools appear to be sources of refuge and places to process neighborhood stressors for some youth, exposure to violence within and around school made them unsafe for others. Future studies and interventions, especially school safe passage programs, should consider a similar CBPR mixed-methods approach due to the precision of the GIS data and the youth voice brought by the qualitative methods.

Youth participatory action research (YPAR) has been effectively used for substance use prevention. Yet, YPAR has not been evaluated for opioids, which negatively impact individuals and communities across the United States. The current study evaluated an opioid-focused YPAR project. YPAR participants (n = 28) completed a pre- and post-survey capturing psychological empowerment and opioid knowledge and behavior. A non-YPAR comparison group (n = 18) provided post-survey data. Mean comparisons were conducted to identify changes among participants and between intervention and comparison groups. YPAR participants demonstrated increased psychological empowerment and opioid knowledge and behaviors. In contrast to the comparison group, YPAR participants reported increased psychological empowerment and opioid knowledge, but not behaviors. Evaluation of this opioid-focused YPAR project indicated positive outcomes. Findings expand research on YPAR effectiveness for substance use prevention. Engaging youth is an effective approach for individual and community change and a promising strategy to address the opioid epidemic.

In September of 2025, the School of Social Welfare at the University of California, Berkeley-where Dr. Lonnie Snowden was a faculty member for two decades-organized a research symposium to reflect his life's work and to honor his outsized influence on the field of mental health disparities research and on the lives and careers of many mental health policy and services scholars. The symposium, and the events surrounding it, revealed a profound truth about Dr. Snowden's commitment to community psychology: Through his work, not only did he uncover important and difficult insights about disparities in mental health treatment for vulnerable populations with rigor and relevance, but he also orchestrated and developed an intergenerational community of scholars to carry that work forward. Through his mentorship, friendship, and multidisciplinary collaborative research, the community of scholars he has grown and mentored over the last 40 years generates impact equal to that of his scholarship, continuing his legacy in improving access to high quality mental health treatment and reducing mental health disparities. Stories from colleagues, former students, post-doctoral fellows, and his family, illustrate how Dr. Snowden made every person he worked with, especially those he mentored, feel special-seen, valued, and heard. This unique and incredibly important talent is perhaps the biggest part of Dr. Snowden's legacy.

In some communities, schools and housing agencies are innovatively partnering to prevent family homelessness and protect students from the negative outcomes associated with housing hardship. While there is increasing interest in expanding the array of housing solutions via school-housing partnership, more research is needed to understand the complex experiences of families navigating the housing services sector to understand how housing agencies and schools can best partner to support families. In this case study, Greater Boston housing crisis response staff and school personnel were convened to build a shared understanding of the connections between housing and education using community-based system dynamics techniques. Participants illuminated that organizational capacity, foundational trusting relationships, and coordination between organizations are intertwined to shape the experiences of families and children navigating school. Findings suggest a need to further integrate the housing services sector and build system capacity, so as to facilitate school-housing partnership success in promoting family wellbeing and better housing and educational outcomes.

This paper introduces the term "Black-bodied" as an offering and to guide a self-reflection account of the praxis of community psychology upon receiving the 2023 award for Distinguished Contribution to Practice in Community Psychology from Division 27. This paper aims to shift the field of community psychology through a personal account of witnessing patterns of Black-bodied resistance, healing, and love in research and what it means to embrace these practices to reimagine the practice of community psychology in communities that have been racially marginalized and minoritized. This self-reflective account shares patterns of resistance, healing, and love in community-driven research and the implications of those patterns on self and communal transformation. The author shares how the field of community psychology can do research differently.

This qualitative study explores how Indigenous, racialized, and Global South practitioners and scholars engage in liberatory praxis, drawing on decolonial theory and critical psychologies, to reimagine community wellbeing and mental health (CWMH) beyond Western-based psychological frameworks. The study addresses the need for culturally relevant, reflective, and justice-oriented approaches that center relational care and collective healing. Using purposive sampling, I conducted semi-structured interviews with 11 participants (7 women, 4 men) across Lebanon, Palestine, South Africa, the United States, Australia, India, and Indonesia. Using thematic analysis, I identified six key themes: (1) integrate experiential, reflexive, and community-based knowledge; (2) critique the harms of modernity/coloniality in psychology frameworks; (3) use counterstorytelling to resist dominant narratives; (4) engage in personal and collective healing, unlearning, and liberation; (5) approach praxis as a nonlinear and evolving process; and (6) challenge academic and professional spaces and discuss creating alternative collectives in these spaces. These insights demonstrate the limitations of Western psychological models and affirm the importance of culturally relevant and liberatory praxis in CWMH. In response to this study, emerging collectives have formed in Canada, Lebanon, and the United States to extend these practices through shared praxis, mutual care, and community-based application.