James G. Kelly

Originally published in 1979, the primary emphasis in Social and Psychological Research in Community Settings is on research-oriented interventions. The focus of the book is two-fold: to showcase model research studies of change in community contexts and to present the process of carrying out such studies – the “behind the scenes" material that is usually omitted from formal research reports. It was hoped that the book would serve as a catalyst to rigorous thinking about community psychology and as a resource book to psychologists and social scientists who were willing to take the plunge into community work. Today it can be read in its historical context.

Empowering Settings and Voices for Social Change combines a focus on understanding social settings as loci for empowering intervention with a focus on understanding and giving voice to citizens. The volume illuminates advances in theory and method relevant to changing a broad spectrum of social settings (including programs, organizations, institutions, communities and social policy) from a strengths-based perspective. Three cross-cutting concepts -- a strengths-based approach to research and social action, empowerment, and narrative research methods -- serve as integrating and foundational themes. Part I takes up issues of setting processes and outcomes of influence, research methods, and implications for setting and community change efforts and social policy. Questions addressed in Part I include: What is the nature of current and future conceptualizations of social settings? What are the actionable features in social settings? How can settings that place a premium on empowerment and promotion be created or restructured? What are the organizational characteristics of empowering community settings? What mechanisms mediate the impact of these characteristics on individual well-being? Part II examines how action scientists have sought to understand and amplify the voices of those individuals and communities who serve as the focus of their research and social change actions. Part II authors explore the role of institutional beliefs, community narratives, and personal stories in recovery from serious mental illness; trace the cultural contours of "mental health" among the Gros Ventres of the Fort Belknap Indian reservation; examine youth voice in the juvenile justice system, illuminating the loss of focus on individualized justice and accountability to youth; and, outline ways in which community narrative can enrich culturally anchored work in prevention and public policy. Finally, chapters in Part III seek to situate the rest of the volume's chapters in the context of decades of work on empowering settings, giving voice and social change.

Community Psychology in Practice: An Oral History Through the Stories of Five Community Psychologists is a unique examination of how community psychology evolved through the years. Five highly respected community psychologists recount their personal histories telling how they went from academia to careers disseminating principles of community psychology. Newer members to the field of psychology can trace how these leaders came to pursue careers in community psychology. As these respected experts tell their own stories in accessible narrative form, the reader gains a clear understanding of how applied community psychology intertwines with history, context, social movements, and individual personalities is revealed. Each career story in Community Psychology in Practice: An Oral History Through the Stories of Five Community Psychologists illustrates how societal events such as wars, economic depressions, the civil rights movement, and discrimination shaped personal philosophies and ultimately lead to their decision to become applied community psychologists and practitioners. Each contributor was asked to discuss their stories from four experiential dimensions: personal, contextual, intellectual, and ideological. The various viewpoints reveal how each one’s ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and academic background affected how they experienced the history of community psychology. Three eminent scholars from the fields of community psychology, history, and business psychology discuss the narratives to provide further insight. The narrative studies in Community Psychology in Practice: An Oral History Through the Stories of Five Community Psychologists include:Anne Mulvey John Morgan Irma Serrano-Garcia Tom Wolff Carolyn Swift. Community Psychology in Practice: An Oral History Through the Stories of Five Community Psychologists is an encouraging, stimulating look at community psychology that is valuable to community psychologists, historians of psychology, researchers, industrial organization (IO) psychologists, educators, and students.

Community Psychology in Practice: An Oral History Through the Stories of Five Community Psychologists is a unique examination of how community psychology evolved through the years. Five highly respected community psychologists recount their personal histories telling how they went from academia to careers disseminating principles of community psychology. Newer members to the field of psychology can trace how these leaders came to pursue careers in community psychology. As these respected experts tell their own stories in accessible narrative form, the reader gains a clear understanding of how applied community psychology intertwines with history, context, social movements, and individual personalities is revealed. Each career story in Community Psychology in Practice: An Oral History Through the Stories of Five Community Psychologists illustrates how societal events such as wars, economic depressions, the civil rights movement, and discrimination shaped personal philosophies and ultimately lead to their decision to become applied community psychologists and practitioners. Each contributor was asked to discuss their stories from four experiential dimensions: personal, contextual, intellectual, and ideological. The various viewpoints reveal how each one’s ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and academic background affected how they experienced the history of community psychology. Three eminent scholars from the fields of community psychology, history, and business psychology discuss the narratives to provide further insight. The narrative studies in Community Psychology in Practice: An Oral History Through the Stories of Five Community Psychologists include:Anne Mulvey John Morgan Irma Serrano-Garcia Tom Wolff Carolyn Swift. Community Psychology in Practice: An Oral History Through the Stories of Five Community Psychologists is an encouraging, stimulating look at community psychology that is valuable to community psychologists, historians of psychology, researchers, industrial organization (IO) psychologists, educators, and students.

Six Community Psychologists Tell Their Stories: History, Contexts, and Narrative presents the unique opportunity to examine how culture and social norms have combined with chance, coincidence, and serendipity to form the professional identities of men and women who were among the first generation trained to work in the field of community psychology. The book’s contributors - disciples of those who founded the sub-field - provide insights into the factors (social status, family history, education, social environment, cultural events, important ideas) that furthered their professional development in an emerging field. Their stories - still works in progress - go far beyond facts, figures, dates and details to document what they’ve done with their lives - and why. Six esteemed community psychologists - three men who began their careers as the field was established in the mid-1960s and three women who took part in the increased opportunities available in the 1970s - recall how important events and social movements affected them as they fulfilled their personal and professional goals. They discuss the effects of family values and styles, class, ethnic status, gender, racism, anti-Semitism, the power of social settings, supportive education and work settings, and the impact of post-World War II government programs on their education, including the G. I. Bill, and the establishment of United States Public Health Service fellowships. Their stories touch on many common themes, including social marginality and sex discrimination, making personal discoveries in response to educational experiences, the significance of fate, and the experience of gaining a new or renewed sense of self through meaningful events, occasions, and people. These Six Community Psychologists Tell Their Stories:Dr. Jean Ann Linney (University of South Carolina), whose experiences involve a combination of idealism, supportive contexts, and good fortuneDr. Julian Rappaport (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), who views himself as an “insider/outsider,” whose personal and professional identity crosses traditional boundariesDr. N. Dickon Reppucci (University of Virginia), who became a community psychologist by accident, an outgrowth of his involvement with social protest in the 1960sDr. Marybeth Shinn (New York University), whose story reflects her interest in the social contexts of neighborhoods and community settingsDr. Edison J. Trickett (University of Illinois at Chicago), who writes of the life experiences that have influenced both his work and his longtime involvement in folk musicDr. Rhona S. Weinstein (University of California at Berkeley), whose work in the dynamics of self-fulfilling prophecies in educational settings developed early in her careerInsightful commentary on their recollections is provided by two distinguished scholars—Henrika Kuklick, Science Historian at the University of Pennsylvania, and Dan McAdams, Professor of Psychology at Northwestern University. Six Community Psychologists Tell Their Stories: History, Contexts, and Narrative is a unique resource for community psychologists, autobiographical researchers, and anyone interested in the history of psychology.

Six Community Psychologists Tell Their Stories: History, Contexts, and Narrative presents the unique opportunity to examine how culture and social norms have combined with chance, coincidence, and serendipity to form the professional identities of men and women who were among the first generation trained to work in the field of community psychology. The book’s contributors - disciples of those who founded the sub-field - provide insights into the factors (social status, family history, education, social environment, cultural events, important ideas) that furthered their professional development in an emerging field. Their stories - still works in progress - go far beyond facts, figures, dates and details to document what they’ve done with their lives - and why. Six esteemed community psychologists - three men who began their careers as the field was established in the mid-1960s and three women who took part in the increased opportunities available in the 1970s - recall how important events and social movements affected them as they fulfilled their personal and professional goals. They discuss the effects of family values and styles, class, ethnic status, gender, racism, anti-Semitism, the power of social settings, supportive education and work settings, and the impact of post-World War II government programs on their education, including the G. I. Bill, and the establishment of United States Public Health Service fellowships. Their stories touch on many common themes, including social marginality and sex discrimination, making personal discoveries in response to educational experiences, the significance of fate, and the experience of gaining a new or renewed sense of self through meaningful events, occasions, and people. These Six Community Psychologists Tell Their Stories:Dr. Jean Ann Linney (University of South Carolina), whose experiences involve a combination of idealism, supportive contexts, and good fortuneDr. Julian Rappaport (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), who views himself as an “insider/outsider,” whose personal and professional identity crosses traditional boundariesDr. N. Dickon Reppucci (University of Virginia), who became a community psychologist by accident, an outgrowth of his involvement with social protest in the 1960sDr. Marybeth Shinn (New York University), whose story reflects her interest in the social contexts of neighborhoods and community settingsDr. Edison J. Trickett (University of Illinois at Chicago), who writes of the life experiences that have influenced both his work and his longtime involvement in folk musicDr. Rhona S. Weinstein (University of California at Berkeley), whose work in the dynamics of self-fulfilling prophecies in educational settings developed early in her careerInsightful commentary on their recollections is provided by two distinguished scholars—Henrika Kuklick, Science Historian at the University of Pennsylvania, and Dan McAdams, Professor of Psychology at Northwestern University. Six Community Psychologists Tell Their Stories: History, Contexts, and Narrative is a unique resource for community psychologists, autobiographical researchers, and anyone interested in the history of psychology.

This provocative and useful volume is a step-by-step guide to assist professionals in implementing valid and useful community research and creating preventive interventions that have positive and lasting effects on the development of the community. The authors--including James G. Kelly, one of the fathers of prevention--offer valuable suggestions for developing community processes to assist the prevention researcher and the community in designing research that is embedded in the community. Experts focus on the topics that can help establish and sustain effective long-term working relationships with community members. Numerous examples illustrate how the collaborative working relationship can create the variety of resources that are needed to eventually implement policy changes stimulated by the research and help to sustain the impact of the research findings after the research has been completed. This exciting book illustrates how community research related to the prevention of mental illness and the promotion of mental health can be scientific and objective, as well as a positive collaboration between the research staff and community members. Focus upon community needs Emphasize educational activities to support the prevention research Identify points of policy impact before the research begins Enhance the development of social networks and social support systems for the development of competencies Provide criteria for the selection of systemic variables for the research Include reference to the multiple levels of a community which may affect the research topic Specify ways in which participants can identify and own the research topic Outline criteria for assessing the side effects of the prevention research In order to better understand the needs, values, commitments, and resources of the community in which he or she is working, the researcher is encouraged to select research topics derived from underlying community needs, educated the public about prevention, identify points of policy impact, and determine the informal social networks that enhance the development of social competencies in the community. The benefits of the collaborative relationship between prevention researchers and the community are strongly emphasized. A Guide to Conducting Prevention Research in the Community aims to guide citizens and professionals in implementing valid and useful community research and create preventive interventions that have positive and lasting effects on the development of the community.