American journal of community psychology最新文献

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.

Youth participatory action research (YPAR), a method in which young people are engaged as research partners and change agents, offers a powerful paradigm to promote empowerment and liberation. YPAR interventions have been applied in diverse settings to address various issues. Identifying barriers and facilitators to implementing YPAR programs may increase the scope and impact of this study. Implementation and dissemination science (IDS) utilizes structured evaluation frameworks to assess determinants of intervention uptake, utilization, and sustainability. IDS has long been utilized in community psychology; yet applications to YPAR are limited. In the present study, we use the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) to evaluate a community-based YPAR intervention. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative data collected from multiple informants (e.g., participants, facilitators, and research team members) throughout the implementation period, we describe key barriers and facilitators related to programming. In addition, we present preliminary implementation outcomes (e.g., feasibility, acceptability) from our intervention. In describing these analyses, we center IDS as a key approach for rigorous evaluation of YPAR and similar community-based programs.

Coaching can increase elementary school teachers' implementation of evidence-based classroom practices, including equity-centered or culturally responsive practices. However, coaching by personnel external to schools can be expensive and difficult to sustain. Community science principles and social network research suggest the potential of influential peer leaders in schools to accelerate implementation. In the first phase of a multi-year project to develop and evaluate tools to help teachers use evidence-based, equity-focused positive behavioral support strategies in K-5 classrooms, we examine a school-partnered, network-informed process for identifying peer coaches, educator satisfaction with this process, and how feedback influenced process modifications. Educators in various roles (n = 85) from three elementary schools in two Central Ohio districts completed social network nomination and satisfaction surveys and interviews; research-practice partnership meeting records and field notes were analyzed. Findings suggest that a network-informed process to identify peer coaches results in distinct coaching teams and requires flexible application due to the unique, changing nature of school contexts (e.g., staff roles, turnover). We discuss the potential promise of harnessing teacher networks to identify peer coaches to fit the real-world contexts of elementary schools and meet the goal of accessible coaching and, ultimately, more equitable and supportive school environments for all students.

Youth advisory boards are ubiquitous in community-based research, yet there is limited description of their development or direct benefits to participants within international research contexts. This convergent mixed-method study describes and evaluates the design and implementation of a bilingual International Youth Advisory Board (IYAB) of 10 sexual and gender diverse youth (SGDY) aged 15-21 from Canada, the USA, and Mexico. During a 1-year term, youth participated in six virtual meetings, each incorporating an affirming group check in activity, bespoke youth-development workshop requested by participants (e.g., maintaining healthy relationships, managing conflict), and a feedback session to review draft study materials (e.g., recruitment flyers, surveys, and infographics). Participants completed brief quantitative measures at pre- and posttest and reported increased hope, self-esteem, sense of SGD community, self-advocacy skills, access to supportive adults, groupwork skills, and research competence. Qualitative data collected during a focus group in the final meeting were analyzed using inductive content analysis, producing five content categories of growth, diversity, action, connection, and reciprocity. Integrating these findings, three recommendations for implementing an IYAB are described: (1) support youth development and impact, (2) integrate diverse perspectives, and (3) design a transparent feedback loop. Implications for community psychology and community-based participatory research are discussed.