The Acculturation of Community Psychology: Is There a Best Way?

In this paper I describe a community psychology perspective on acculturation and adjustment of immigrants and refugees and suggest that this field of acculturation research has in turn something to offer heuristically as we consider our identity and training for future generations of community psychologists over the next 50 years. I suggest that honoring our heritage, maintaining our disciplinary identity as community psychologists, and sustaining doctoral programs that offer training specific to community psychology are crucial for our survival as a field and is not antithetical to, and is indeed necessary for, interdisciplinary collaborations.     

School neuropsychology

There is an increasing interest among school psychologists in the field of neuropsychology as it relates to children in the educational environment. This article attempts to identify those forces which have led to this increased interest as well as to provide a conceptual framework for recognizing this area of specialty within the profession of school psychology. Potential roles related to levels of training and preparation are discussed.     

The practice of psychology in rural communities: potential ethical dilemmas

The practice of psychology in rural areas offers unique challenges for psychologists as they try to provide optimal care, often with a minimum of resources. Psychologists are frequently required to be creative and flexible in order to provide effective services to a wide range of clients. However, these unique challenges often confront psychologists with ethical dilemmas and problems for which their urban-based training has not prepared them. The author examines how certain characteristics of rural communities may lead to specific ethical dilemmas. By being a part of a small community, psychologists will inevitably face multiple relationship dilemmas. Confidentiality is harder to maintain in a small town, particularly with its informal information-sharing network. To provide services to meet community needs, with a limited number of referral options, psychologists typically need to be generalists. This may lead to concerns about scope of practice, training, and experience with diverse populations. Psychologists also face other competency issues, such as a lack of supervision and consultation resources. Other concerns addressed include the psychologist's personal life, and the blurring of professional and personal roles. Suggestions are made for coping with each of these ethical issues, although more quantitative research and discussion are needed on the practice of psychology in rural areas.     

Training needs of prospective school psychologists: The practitioners' viewpoint

Based on a national sample (N = 516) of practicing school psychologists who are members of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), present and future training needs for prospective school psychologists are addressed. Data from five research questions dealing with preferred course work, current course trends, rankings of categories of courses, practica, and internship are analyzed. The results indicate that, although assessment remains the dominant training need, roles for school psychologists have greatly expanded. The discussion is centered around roles expansion and how the profession may want to address the question of securing training, certification, and accreditation both now and in the future.     

United we stand, divided we fall: the education and training needs of clinical child psychologists

Reviews efforts to delineate training needs for psychologists who are providing clinical services to children, adolescents, and families. In particular, this article (a) describes efforts of clinical child and other psychologists who work with children, adolescents, and families to develop education and training guidelines; (b) discusses the overlap among various child and adolescent providers within psychology; and (c) highlights several key competencies that have been identified as important for all psychologists in practice roles with children and adolescents. In particular, we emphasize the need for greater collaboration and integration among various psychological specialties that focus on children, adolescents, and families and for greater system-wide discussion of training needs and priorities.     

Community psychology in Thailand

Conclusion It appears that, though the medical model will predominate in the health field for a long time to come, community psychology is slowly taking shape and laying down its foundation in Thailand. Increasing numbers of health professionals are becoming aware of the paradigm shift and the limitations of the conventional approach.With gradually accumulated experiences and more formal training, which Thai psychologists will be able to avail themselves of in the future, the results should be a better quality of community programs, with more systematic evaluation, and better research. The goal would be to develop innovations utilizing existing resources within the unique Thai culture and environment. With such progress, Thai community psychologists will be able to improve their status from the present auxiliary role to equal partnership and move into much better positions to make significant contributions in the field of community psychology.     

How special are the specialties? Workplace settings in counseling and clinical psychology in the United States

How special are the specialties? Although clinical and counseling psychology each have distinctive origins, past research suggests their potential convergence across time. In a survey of 5666 clinical and counseling psychologists, the similarities and differences between their workplace settings were examined during early-, mid-, and late-career phases to explore the distinctiveness of the two specialties. Overall, clinical and counseling psychologists reported markedly similar workplace settings. However, some significant differences remained; a greater proportion of counseling psychologists reported working in counseling centers, while a greater proportion of clinical psychologists reported working in medical settings. In addition, during late-career, substantially more counseling and clinical psychologists worked in independent practice contexts than in community mental health centers, medical settings, academia, or university counseling centers. Findings are discussed in relation to the ongoing distinctiveness of the two specialties and the implications of this for training and service in the field of professional psychology.     

Transforming psychological practice and society. Policies that reflect the new paradigm

As people with disabilities challenge psychology to acknowledge the sociopolitical foundations of their marginalization, they urge psychologists to help improve disability policy within and beyond the borders of the discipline. Understanding disability through a social paradigm offers opportunities to reframe the way psychologists define problems related to disability, to develop more collaborative relationships between psychologists and people with disabilities, and to adopt new professional responsibilities with respect to the disability community. The authors address the impact of the social paradigm on policies within psychology that guide consulting, advocacy, and training. The impact of national policy decisions, such as those associated with reimbursement, on practice and training is also discussed. Highlighted throughout are points of controversy prompted by new disability frameworks that remain open to illumination from the field.     

Collaborating for social change: the black psychologist and the black community

Several prominent Black scholars have argued that the predicament of Black intellectuals is inseparable from that of Black communities (C. West, 1994), and that Black psychologists should be at the forefront in developing culturally relevant psychological interventions (J. A. Baldwin, 1989). Yet, for Black psychologists there are a number of challenges to conducting successful interventions in Black communities, including historical abuses of Black communities by the helping professions and divergences in values, goals, and behaviors of professionals as compared to community members. In order for community psychologists to design interventions that are respectful of the cultural traditions and norms of Black communities, these obstacles to collaboration need to be addressed. This paper outlines some of the challenges faced by Black community psychologists, as well as the unique strengths they can mobilize when collaborating on research and interventions in Black communities. The paper also addresses methods of empowering Black communities and improving the training of community psychologists.     

The role of psychologists in requests to hasten death: A literature and legislation review and an agenda for future research

The opportunity for patients to request support to die is legalised in several countries and is associated with the development of a social and political debate that has taken place in recent years. We believe that psychologists can contribute to this debate. Here, we conducted a literature and legislation review with the aim of understanding arguments regarding the roles of the psychologist in hastening death. A systematic review of the peer-review literature in this field was carried out. The legislation of each country with hasten death practices was analysed to understand if psychologists are included in the protocols of hasten death practices. Despite a lack of literature, we found competence assessment, communication, psychological counselling, research and training and public policy to be the possible roles of psychologists in requests to hasten death. Based on the review, an agenda for future research is developed. We highlight the importance of psychology, raising its profile in the study of the various forms of death hastening requests.     

Reflections on the Future of Community Psychology from the Generations after Swampscott: A Commentary and Introduction to the Special Issue

This special issue commemorates the 50th anniversary of the founding of U.S. community psychology in Swampscott, Massachusetts in 1965. The issue includes commentaries from a cross‐section of community psychologists educated in community psychology training programs established after Swampscott, in the 1970s or later. The contributors, who vary in their involvement in community‐engaged research, training, and practice, offer a diverse set of perspectives on the field. Each was asked to reflect on the future of community psychology based on their own training and experiences. After providing some background to the Swampscott Conference and the era in which it took place, I offer a few of my own reflections on community psychology's future growth and development. I then introduce the 15 commentaries that follow.     

Clinical Community Psychology: Reflections on the Decades Following Swampscott

The Swampscott report was foundational, but in some ways reflected divisions within community psychology that have continued into the present. Community psychologists trained in the 1970s and, especially, the 1980s confronted a period where the original focus of community mental health began to have less influence in the mental health field due to a variety of public policies, and the growth of third party payments as a significant source of health care funding. Programs that engaged communities and provided a base for prevention interventions were greatly curtailed because of changes in federal legislation and limited opportunities for state and local funding, although prevention interventions found growing interest from research funders. Clinical and community psychologists who trained in this period increasingly looked to a variety of areas outside of mental health. Consequently, the field of community psychology has become more applied and less academic, with increased attention to advocacy, theory, and global perspectives. The sweep of these changes and their implications for the future of the field are discussed here.     

Exploring unique roles for psychologists

Presents a comment on "Psychological Treatments" by D. H. Barlow. Barlow highlighted unique roles that psychologists can play in mental health service delivery by providing psychological treatments--treatments that psychologists would be uniquely qualified to design and deliver. In support of Barlow's position, the authors draw from their own clinical practice with special psychiatric populations, such as adults with severe and persistent mental illness and behaviorally disordered youths, to illustrate some potential unique roles for psychologists. The authors believe psychologists are uniquely trained to design such individualized functional behavioral analysis protocols because of their training in research design, behavior analysis, learning theory, and behavior change. Psychologists may also be uniquely qualified to design, implement, and evaluate many specialized therapy techniques, as Barlow has outlined and suggested.     

Psychology in Medical Settings in Thailand

This article explores the development of psychology as a profession in Thailand, its challenges, and future trends. There are currently very few Thai psychologists who are active in the medical fields in comparison to other health care professions. Being held back by limited education and training, many psychologists see their future career as less than promising. The lack of professional licensing standards and dominance of psychiatry further limit their career advancement. However, tremendous opportunities await those who persevere to expand their roles beyond the traditional assessment, treatment, and research models. A small number of them have ventured out into unexplored territories such as behavioral medicine, AIDS counseling, health promotion, and prevention of mental health problems. There is a strong potential for Thai psychologists to make significant contributions in these areas. It is clear that higher standards of education and more rigorous training are needed if this goal is to be realized in the near future.     

Health psychology in international perspective: A summary and some thoughts for the future

This article reviews the progress made by the field in its short history and attempts to look at developments which seem likely to occur as the field matures.

Recommendations are made for training of health psychologists in the future and a plea is made for international standardisation of health psychology training programmes at the Ph.D. level which incorporate research and clinical training. Health psychologists are further encouraged to take a more active public and political role in order to provide needed visibility for their work.     

Fight,Flight, or Remain Silent? Juggling Multiple Accountabilities throughout the Formative Stage of a Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative

This paper describes the experiences of a research team as they navigated uncertain ethical and political terrain throughout the formative stage of a public housing redevelopment project. Specifically, we discuss the challenges related to balancing multiple accountabilities and the tensions among the various roles and responsibilities that emanated from different accountabilities. Due to contractual obligations to our funding source, established relations with community partners, and an ethical imperative to align with those holding the least power, we grappled with embodying multiple and often conflicting roles. Without oversight provided by our university institutional review board or a clear ethical framework for community psychology research and action, our team was left to negotiate the challenges that emerged through critical reflection and financial considerations. Throughout the case example presented in this paper, we highlight our difficulty in ethical decision‐making with respect to the principles of obligation, disclosure, consent, commitment, and professionalism. Community psychologists often straddle the realms of academia, community partnerships, and conscious engagement with little guidance in navigating often conflicting roles and value systems. We present our narrative to highlight the complexity of scholar‐activism in the context of community psychology and the necessity for developing ethical standards and guidelines tailored to meet the unique needs of community psychologists.     

Toward a distinctive community psychology: An ecological metaphor for the conduct of community research and the nature of training

In conclusion, I have attempted today to cast the current status of the field of community psychology within the framework of partial paradigm acquisition—to slightly revise Ray Lorion's phrase, of promises kept, and promises still to keep—and have outlined one fledgling perspective which, I hope, will stimulate discussion and debate about the field's future. In focusing on the conceptual connections among community research, the research relationship with citizens, and the training of community psychologists, I have put my money on the unfinished business of integrating the historical values of the field with its research and training efforts. If, when conducting our work, be it as Director of a CMHC, research scientist, social activist, or mental health practitioner, we “see,” we have a world view that focuses on the community-embeddedness of our programs and the persons they are designed to serve, if we develop a perspective that centers on the creation and expansion of resources for our community, and if our actions for the quick fix are embedded in a vision about the long haul, then we can, by both wordand deed, assert both the distinctiveness of community psychology and further the aspirations underlying the creation of our field. Let me close by sharing with you the only paradigm joke I know. Fortunately, it's on target for my purpose here today. René Descartes is attending a cocktail party and is approached by a waiter. Would you care for a cocktail, Mr. Descartes?, the waiter says. “I think not,” says Descartes, and promptly disappears. For Descartes, paradigm premises held consequences for ensuing behavior. Let us remember Descartes.     

Integrating consultation and program evaluation in school psychology

Consultation approaches to providing psychological services are widely used by school psychologists. Recently, the need for school psychologists to be proficient in educational program evaluation has been recognized. The present paper discusses how school psychologists can use their existing consultation skills as an approach to program evaluation. The integration of consultation skills with evaluation results in an approach to program evaluation that is particularly useful where program goals and objectives are broad and nonspecific (as in many educational innovations). Also, the consultation approach to evaluation is easier for school psychologists to blend with their other roles in schools than the assessment-oriented evaluator role of some evaluation models. The consultation approach to evaluation is illustrated using a federally sponsored training program for school teachers and administrators.     

Divergence between community psychologists in academic and nonacademic settings: A closer look at the implications

The ecological principle of interdependence has been a guiding theme in our research and conceptualization. For the development of community psychology, academic and applied interest and networks must be integrated in ways which value the views and resources of both groups. This is the focus of Kelly's (1984) remarks. The dynamic interplay of ideas, data, and practices is likely to facilitate the collaboration between researchers and setting inhabitants which Trickett (1984) describes as the distinctive quality of community psychology. Common pathways of information exchange, joint responsibility for training future members of the field, and mutually enhancing role relationships are needed. Current channels of communication provide little ease of access or incentives for participation by psychologists in nonacademic settings. It thus becomes the reponsibility of all concerned community psychologists to use their organizational skills to redress this harmful imbalance (Kelly, 1984). For this to occur, however, we must take the initial steps of frankly recognizing differences in our folkways and organizational constraints, while also emphasizing our common values and assets. The largest threat to the field is external constraints from university and clinical service settings on the work that represents community psychology (Elias et al., 1984). If we are dividedor uninformed in the face of these environmental presses, we will never create the adaptive niche that community psychology needs to survive.