Fertile Ground for Community: Inner-City Neighborhood Common Spaces

Research suggests that the formation of neighborhood social ties (NSTs) may substantially depend on the informal social contact which occurs in neighborhood common spaces, and that in inner-city neighborhoods where common spaces are often barren no-man's lands, the presence of trees and grass supports common space use and informal social contact among neighbors. We found that for 145 urban public housing residents randomly assigned to 18 architecturally identical buildings, levels of vegetation in common spaces predict both use of common spaces and NSTs; further, use of common spaces mediated the relationship between vegetation and NSTS. In addition, vegetation and NSTs were significantly related to residents' senses of safety and adjustment. These findings suggest that the use and characteristics of common spaces may play a vital role in the natural growth of community, and that improving common spaces may be an especially productive focus for community organizing efforts in inner-city neighborhoods.     

PROMPTING PATRON SAFETY BELT USE AT A RESTAURANT

A reversal (ABABAB) design was used to assess the effects of a verbal prompt on safety belt use of restaurant patrons. A verbal prompt delivered by employees at the exit door resulted in an average increase of 20% in safety belt use by drivers leaving the restaurant. A previous study provided this type of antecedent immediately before supermarket patrons entered their vehicles. This effort demonstrates the effects of a verbal prompt with greater latency between the prompt and target response.     

The role of primary prevention in mental health services: A review and critique

Community psychology in the West has had a growing impact on mental health service provision. One facet of this development has been the advocacy of an increased focus on the primary prevention of mental illness. This paper reviews both theoretical and practical work in this area in order to assess the current role and relevance of primary preventive interventions. There is a discussion of primary prevention's historical and theoretical contexts, of its conceptualisations and definitions, of criticisms of its relevance and efficacy, and of examples of its practice. It is argued that primary prevention is inappropriately marginalised in current service provision and that there is a need to engage in the long-term planning and evaluation of primary preventive interventions in order to facilitate their fuller incorporation into national and local policies on mental health.     

The resident researcher: An alternative career model centered on community

Considers the potential benefits and costs of an alternative career model for community researchers, one in which professionals specialize in the community where they live. By virtue of their local familiarity, resident researchers can make more informed judgments about research problems and methods. They can employ longitudinal designs to assess change and be available to assist in interpretation and implementation of research. Potential costs include the possibility of provincialism, unintended researcher effects, ethical dilemmas, the need to cultivate community relations, and role conflicts. Interdisciplinary training programs and research field stations can contribute to the development of the resident researcher role. Researchers in the community can help generate grass roots support for social science research. We acknowledge Louise Shedd Barker's helpful comments and suggestions on an earlier version of this article.     

Effects of public posting on driving speed in Icelandic traffic

We replicated a study by Van Houten, Nau, and Marini (1980) that had revealed reductions in vehicle speeding following the posting of percentages of drivers not speeding on a sign at roadside. Our subjects were drivers entering a residential area where the speed limit changed from 90 km/hr (55.9 mph) to 60 km/hr (37.3 mph). A total of 4,409 vehicle speeds were taken from two observation sessions per day for 20 consecutive weekdays. The intervention consisted of a single posting condition, in which a hypothetical daily percentage of drivers not speeding was posted on a feedback sign, followed by a double posting condition, in which a sign posting a best result was erected beyond the feedback sign. Results revealed a significant speed reduction from an average of 69.0 km/hr (42.9 mph) during baseline to 63.4 km/hr (39.4 mph) during single posting. Average speed during double posting was 62.9 km/hr (39.1 mph). The percentage of drivers exceeding 70 km/hr (43.5 mph) dropped from 41.0 during baseline to 20.5 during single posting. The significant speed reductions add to the generality of findings of similar studies in Canada and Israel and offer possible explanations for the failure of feedback posting to reduce speed in the U.S.     

The University as Learning Community

Organizations are increasingly faced with the need to "reinvent" themselves as they adapt to a changing society. In this article, the university is examined as one such organization. Faced with enormous pressures to educate an increasingly diverse group of students, equip them with skills for the global marketplace, and prepare them to be responsible citizens, the university must become a more responsive institution that can respond effectively to these challenges. Various perspectives on how the university can become a learning organization are discussed. Central to the discussion is the need to change the university culture in ways that encourage and nurture more interdisciplinary programs and problem-focused teams that address the needs of communities. It is suggested that culture change is also necessary to encourage the development of new types of learning environments that nurture the spirit and the mind. Future business organizations are then compared with the university. A key issue that needs to be considered is how universities can better prepare students for the work settings of tomorrow. It is suggested that such preparation requires environments that help students adapt to change and encourage them to become lifelong learners.     

Development and Validation of the Screen for Adolescent Violence Exposure (SAVE)

Empirical evidence was provided on the utility of the Screen for Adolescent Violence Exposure (SAVE) in assessing adolescent exposure to school, home, and community violence. The SAVE was empirically developed on 1,250 inner-city adolescents, and obtained excellent reliability and validity. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses identified three factors: Traumatic Violence, Indirect Violence, and Physical/Verbal Abuse. The SAVE demonstrated utility in classifying high- and low-violence participants, and correlated significantly with both objective crime data and theoretically relevant constructs (anger, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and internalizing/externalizing problems). Thus, the SAVE provides measurement of the stressor criterion associated with posttraumatic stress disorder, and allows quantification of severity of violence exposure by setting.     

ALAIN LOCKE AND COMMUNITY

Locke consistently argues for the importance of cosmopolitan identity, i.e., cultural-citizenship. Paradoxically, he also argues for the importance of particular, local, and racial/ethnic identities. People have a natural instinct that Locke terms a consciousness of kind, to bond with persons in relatively closed communities. Communities are not natural social groups for Locke, but historical social constructions. I argue that Locke's ethical and conceptual paradox is revolved by considering the relationship between instincts and particular social groups as asymmetrical; that groups are inherently constructed, and thus require continual revaluation. Particular communities are, at best, Gemeinschaft.     

PROMPTING PATRON SAFETY BELT USE AT A SUPERMARKET

We used a reversal (ABAB) design to assess the effects of a personal prompt on safety belt usage by grocery store patrons. A personal prompt delivered by grocery carriers resulted in a 12% increase in the number of patrons exiting the parking lot with their safety belts buckled. This simple, low-cost intervention offers potential savings to society from increased safety belt use.     

PROMPTING TECHNIQUES TO INCREASE THE RETURN RATE OF MAILED QUESTIONNAIRES1

To increase the return rate of questionnaires mailed to clergy and physicians concerning their mental-health practices, different prompts were used after the questionnaire was received during four mail-outs to four randomly drawn samples of clergy and physicians. For each mail-out, the sample was divided into experimental (received prompt) and comparison (no prompt) groups, and one type of prompt or combination was used. Non-returnees of the questionnaire in the experimental group received either: (a) a single telephone call, (b) a memo, (c) a package (personal letter and new questionnaire) or package plus a telephone call, or (d) a double call. Comparison physicians and clergy were mailed only the original questionnaire. Relative to their respective comparison group's return rate, which averaged 22% across the four mail-outs (range 18% to 24%), the single call and package alone about doubled the overall return rate, the package and call increased the return rate about two-and-a-half fold, and the double call almost tripled the return rate. The memo was ineffective. A cost-effectiveness analysis indicated that the double-call procedure was less expensive than the single call, and much less expensive than the package alone or package with a call in securing returns. An analysis of the pattern of returns showed clearly that when prompts were not delivered (comparison groups), very few returns were received after about seven days from the initial mail-out. Most returns from prompts (experimental groups) were received by several days after the prompt. The results were seen as salient to the problem of reducing selection or volunteer bias in questionnaire studies and subsequent research demonstrating the effectiveness of telephone calls made about a week after distribution of surveys in securing high return rates was discussed.