Putting the ‘heart’ back into community psychology: some South African examples

In this paper we explore the impact of emotional dynamics in the field of community psychology and the value of psychodynamic concepts in making sense of this. Emotional processes have often not been very well acknowledged or conceptualized in writing in the area of community psychology practice. This neglect is understandable given the individualizing, pathologizing and medicalizing assumptions underlying many psychological theories of emotion. Psychodynamic ideas may, however, make a useful contribution to understanding central concerns in community psychology in so far as they are able to shed light on emotional processes in groups, the political determinants of emotional response and the emotional dynamics of power, which are all central to the thinking of community psychologists. Using examples drawn from a long-term programme of consultation to community-based services in South Africa, we explore the potential of psychoanalytic understandings of emotional processes in illuminating some of the complexities and challenges faced in developing effective community partnerships and working towards the empowerment of communities.     

Internal reflections of an external peace process: A case study

Abstract

This case study records and analyzes how external changes, emanating from the ceasefires in Northern Ireland in 1994, resulted in significant changes within the internal world of a Northern Irish Client     

Accidental Communities: Race,Emergency Medicine,and the Problem of PolyHeme®

This article focuses on emergency medical care in black urban populations, suggesting that the classification of a “community” within clinical trial language is problematic. The article references a cultural history of black Americans with pre-hospital emergency medical treatment as relevant to contemporary emergency medicine paradigms. Part I explores a relationship between “autonomy” and “community.” The idea of community emerges as a displacement for the ethical principle of autonomy precisely at the moment that institutionalized medicine focuses on diversity. Part II examines a clinical trial for the blood substitute PolyHeme^® (Northfield Laboratories, Inc., Evanston, IL). It illustrates the ways in which bias in research paradigms and Institutional Review Board decisions attach to the notion and utility of the language of “community.” The conclusion's contemporary anecdote makes apparent the vitality of the issues of prehospital emergency medical care and the ways in which decisions and practices fall too easily into a narrative of culturally biased treatment.     

Wholistic Theology as a Conceptual Foundation for Services for the Oldest Old

SUMMARY

Social service agencies are focusing more and more on the “old-old.” Some organizations have secular missions that address multiple domains (i.e., physiological, economic, social, etc.). Other agencies, developed by the religious community, designate spirituality as a domain to be addressed in serving the “old-old.” This paper examines interfaces between secular social service organizations and those persons (whether staff, board or religious leaders) who attempt to provide a wholistic perspective for service provision to the “old-old.”     

Faith Organizations and Ethnically Diverse Elders: A Community Action Model

SUMMARY

In this article we argue that faith organizations should become involved in developing social service programs for older adults in the community. In the current political climate, the government is providing fewer social service programs, and future prospects for services are bleak. The literature provides evidence that religion and faith-based organizations are important in the lives of Americans, particularly the current cohort of ethnically diverse elders. Our earlier Korean church study found that Korean older people benefit from church-based services and church-involved, older Koreans had higher rates of well-being. Churches remain untapped resources and we believe they should be extensively involved in provision of community programs. We offer a twelve-step model for the development of community programs under the auspices of faith organizations: The Faith-Based Community Action Model (FBCAM).     

Collaboration of Churches and Service Providers: Meeting the Needs of Older African Americans

ABSTRACT

This article describes a community outreach volunteer project designed to reach frail community-based older adults. The project is an example of church and secular agency collaboration in which the church provides leadership in volunteer recruitment and the agency provides training and outreach activity monitoring. The church's role in this project illustrates that small and medium-size African American churches can play an important role in mobilizing volunteer resources and can perform a linking role in helping secular agencies to gain access to frail, hard-to-reach, low-income older adults.     

Religious Research in Gerontology, 1980–1994: A Systematic Review

ABSTRACT

This article presents results of an NIA-funded systematic review of research on religion and aging published from 1980–1994 in mainstream gerontology and religion journals, including the Journal of Religious Gerontology. Findings are summarized from 73 empirical studies, a subset of the 115 articles included in NIA's bibliography on this topic. In general, these studies use multiethnic samples, include multiple religious dimensions, and focus on age comparative analyses and on analyses of religious effects on life satisfaction, health, and well-being. Also summarized is gerontological research on patterns, predictors, outcomes, and measures of religious involvement, and an agenda for future research is proposed.     

The Health and Social Service Needs of Transgender People in Philadelphia

SUMMARY

Two Philadelphia-based HIV service organizations and a local university collaborated on a study of health and social service needs of transgender people. Transgender people were the primary resource for the development of the needs assessment survey. In this article, the survey development process, including two discussion groups and two focus groups, are described. Findings on barriers to care, violence, perception of public safety and comfort, suicide and health and social service needs are presented. Total sample size was 81, with 49 male-to-female and 32 female-to-male transgender individuals. Most (68%) were African American. About half of the respondents had thought about attempting suicide. High levels of violence were reported, especially among male-to-females. Health and social service needs included job training/work, dental care, health care, legal services, transportation, education and housing.     

Identification and Follow-Up by Primary Care Doctors of Children with PTSD After Terrorist Attacks

Abstract

Many children and adolescents were among the victims of the suicide bomb attacks in Israel since March, 2000. While the number with emotional and behavioral symptoms was expected to be high, very few children who developed terrorism-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were actually referred to mental health professionals for assessment or treatment. Prolonged exposure to terrorism lowers even further the number of children who remain in treatment. This article discusses reasons and presents a training program for primary care providers (pediatricians, family doctors) in identifying PTSD in child victims, and for mobilizing them to carry out long-term follow-up of these children.