Community-driven learning activities,creating futures: 30,000 people can't be wrong—Can they?

A major vehicle for the practice of community psychology is through the organization of community-based activities. My colleagues and I have developed many programs for community learning centers, in-school and after school programs, and community technology centers. In the last 10 years, 30,000 people (mostly children) have participated in activities designed for enjoyment and learning, with a view to adding protective factors and reducing negative factors in at-risk communities. Development of these programs for literacy, education, life and work skills, has increasingly followed a community responsive model. Within each program, we created explicit images of future success. That is, people could see themselves being successful where they normally fail: self modeling with feedforward. Data reports show that individuals generalized and maintained their new skills and attitudes, but the sustainability of programs has been variable. Analysis of the variations indicates the importance of program level feedforward that brings the future into the present. The discussion includes consideration of how individual-level and community-level practices can inform each other. Author Note: Aspects of this article have been presented at the 10th Trans-Tasman Community Psychology Conference, Sydney, April 2006, and in an invited address at the 114th annual convention of the American Psychological Association, New Orleans, August 2006. Partial support in the preparation of this paper was provided by mutliple grants from the US Department of Education, although no endorsement is implied.     

The Ecology of Adolescent Substance Abuse Service Utilization

This paper presents an ecological-community model toward the explanation of variation in patterns of substance abuse (SA) service utilization among adolescents who are enrolled in Tennessee's Medicaid program (TennCare). Guided by a theoretical framework that draws from the social ecology work of Bronfenbrenner and health services utilization models promoted by Aday and Andersen, we apply a social indicators approach toward explaining the impact of community ecology on identification of SA and treatment engagement. Both county-level rates and individual-level treatment utilization are examined and hierarchical linear modeling is incorporated to examine the individual-in-community phenomenon. This study is an expansion of previous service utilization research and suggests that explanations of youth's service utilization must necessarily include not only individual, familial, and service system characteristics, but community factors, as well.     

Validity of Treatment Target Progress Ratings as Indicators of Youth Improvement

We examined whether clinical progress ratings on the Monthly Treatment and Progress Summary form (MTPS), an idiographic treatment progress measure, were meaningfully related to changes measured by two separate standardized instruments; the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS) and the Child and Adolescent Level of Care Utilization System (CALOCUS). Validity coefficients were examined at intake and three-, six-, and nine-month follow-up periods. Samples were selected for each measure and follow-up period from the population of youth receiving services through the Hawaii Child and Adolescent Mental Health Division’s (CAMHD) system of care. Significant youth improvement was evident on all three measures across all follow-up intervals. The type of changes measured by the MTPS and CAFAS were more alike over longer follow-up intervals than changes measured by the CALOCUS. The MTPS captures distinct aspects of client change that overlaps somewhat with CAFAS and CALOCUS measures. The MTPS is a brief client-tailored measure that seems to provide valid, sensitive, and nonredundant client specific treatment outcome information that can be collected on a frequent basis within a complex system of care.     

Family Empowerment as a Mediator between Family-Centered Systems of Care and Changes in Child Functioning: Identifying an Important Mechanism of Change

We investigated the associations among perceived fidelity to family-centered systems of care, family empowerment, and improvements in children's problem behaviors. Participants included 79 families, interviewed at two time points across a one-year period. Paired samples t-tests indicated that problem behaviors decreased significantly across a one-year period. Hierarchical multiple regressions indicated that both fidelity to family-centered systems of care and family empowerment independently predicted positive change in children's problem behavior over a one-year period. However, when family empowerment is entered first in the regression, the relationship between fidelity to family-centered systems of care and change in children's problem behavior drops out, indicating that family empowerment mediates the relationship between family-centered care and positive changes in problem behaviors. Consistent with other literature on help-giving practices, family empowerment appears to be an important mechanism of change within the system of care philosophy of service delivery. Implications for practice and staff training are discussed.     

Traumatic loss and major disasters: strengthening family and community resilience

This article presents the core principles and value of a family and community resilience-oriented approach to recovery from traumatic loss when catastrophic events occur. In contrast to individually based, symptom-focused approaches to trauma recovery, this multisystemic practice approach contextualizes the distress in the traumatic experience and taps strengths and resources in relational networks to foster healing and posttraumatic growth. The intertwining of trauma and traumatic losses is discussed. Key family and social processes in risk and resilience in traumatic loss situations are outlined. Case illustrations, model programs, and intervention guidelines are described in situations of community violence and major disasters to suggest ways to foster family and community resilience.     

Using Concept Mapping to Operationalize Mental Well-Being for Men and Boys

A primary purpose of many prevention-oriented interventions is to improve the general well-being and quality of life for individuals and their communities. Unfortunately, well-being is often poorly defined, with definitions embracing related issues of quality of life, happiness, and physical health. Mental well-being as a concept is also poorly defined, particularly for different population groups. As part of a larger study to assess community-level prevention efforts aimed at men and boys, a participatory approach was used to operationalize mental well-being from a male-centered, community-based perspective using concept mapping. A set of 96 statements perceived as important aspects of mental well-being for men and boys were developed and sorted by 90 participants from the study communities. The 8-cluster solution was selected as the most parsimonious and the best conceptual fit in relation to the mental well-being concept, namely, positive self-worth, supportive community, community connections, positive masculinity, responsive institutions, strong social connection, dignity and respect, and safety. These eight clusters of mental well-being, which were classified into two overarching domains of socio-environmental and emotional well-being, can provide a basis by which to assess community-based programs aimed at this population.