Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice

Volume 7, No. 4

Published December 16, 2016

Articles

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    James H. Dalton

    Just What Community Psychologists Would Do: A Commentary on the Special issues

    The papers in these two Global Journal special issues focus on the 18 Community Psychology Practice Competencies proposed by the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA) in 2012. In this commentary, I articulate some of my enjoyment in reading the articles in these special issues, share some thoughts on the history of the practice competencies, and propose some ideas for conversations that may be useful in their development over time.

    The SCRA practice competencies have been useful in opening conversations about how to articulate what community psychologists can do in working with community members, and about how to provide educational practices to prepare students for that work. These special issues build on the volume on community psychology practice edited by Scott and Wolfe (2015) and the earlier Global Journal special issue on international competencies (Wolfe, Scott, & Jimenez, 2013). The practice competencies can be useful only if we consider them to be inevitably incomplete descriptions of community psychology practices – practices that are inherently dynamic, contextual, and value-laden. They can be useful only if we continually re-examine and revise them, and adapt them as needed for work in specific contexts.

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    James H. Dalton

    Overview of Articles in the Special Issues

    Below I provide a brief overview and commentary on each article in these special issues of the Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice. In describing each article below, I have noted the practice competencies highlighted by the authors, and also listed in brackets any other competencies that seemed to me to be especially involved in their work. I also listed any Proposed Competencies specified in each article.

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    Gabriel P. Kuperminc, Wing Yi Chan, Scot Seitz, Christyl Wilson

    Infusing Community Psychology Practice Competencies into Doctoral Training

    Since 2008, the Georgia State University doctoral training program in Community Psychology has made several modifications to coursework requirements, qualifying examinations, community practicum requirements, and advisement processes. Recognizing that graduates pursue trajectories ranging from independent consulting practice to academia, the primary goal was to provide greater flexibility in shaping training to match the types of careers that students envision. Accordingly, the Community Psychology Practice Competencies and the closely aligned Community Psychology Value Proposition provide a useful framework for helping guide students and advisors in selecting relevant coursework and field experiences that match the students’ training goals. In this paper, we focus on two specific areas in which we have infused the Competencies. The first area is practicum field-work, for which we have created a process built around the Value Proposition: students identify a potential field experience, work with community contacts to develop a statement of work focused on building experience and expertise in as many as four competency areas, and negotiate relevant deliverables. The second is advisement: Students are asked in their year-end progress reports to reflect on the extent to which they have gained experience with each competency during the year, and to identify a subset of focal competencies to gain experience and expertise in the coming year. With their advisors, students can then use this information to map out and modify their training plans. The paper describes the materials we have developed and provides preliminary quantitative and qualitative information about how the use of the Competencies is beginning to benefit students, advisors, and community partners. We describe successes and challenges we are encountering and conclude with the next steps we anticipate in the evolution of our training program.

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    Regina Day Langhout, Erin R. Ellison, Danielle Kohfeldt, Angela Nguyen, Jesica Siham Fernandez, Janelle M. Silva, David L. Gordon, Jr., Stephanie Tam Rosas

    Thinking through our processes: How the UCSC Community Psychology Research & Action Team strives to embody ethical, critically reflexive anti-racist feminist praxis

    Co-written by eight people, this paper describes how the UCSC Community Psychology Research and Action Team (CPRAT) organizes itself in weekly group meetings and how this structure is an attempt to embody an ethical, critically reflexive anti-racist feminist praxis. First, we outline the community psychology core competency of an ethical, reflective practice (Dalton & Wolfe, 2012). We offer a friendly amendment to consider an ethical, critically reflexive anti-racist feminist praxis. Second, we discuss how we organize CPRAT meetings to uphold these ideas. We describe our current structure, which includes personal and project check-ins, rotating facilitation, and attention to broader professional development issues. Third, we provide two examples to illustrate our process: (a) why talking about poop matters in addressing imposter syndrome and (b) getting our team on the same page regarding a research site. We end the paper with a description of a “rough edge,” or an area for growth in our praxis.

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    Kelly Collins, Christopher Keys, Martina Mihelicova, Kris Ma, Nicole Colon Quintana, Jordan Reed, Madison Sunnquist, Carolyn Turek, Christopher Whipple

    Addressing the Community Psychology Competency Dialectic through Participatory Pedagogy

    Ongoing discussions persist regarding the potential usefulness and/or harmfulness of a defined set of core competencies in the field of community psychology. The competency thesis is that identification of core competencies can help define the field and distinguish the capabilities of community psychologists (Dalton & Wolfe, 2012). A set of competencies has implications for training and education, including clarity regarding what skills current and future students can expect to learn and what community psychologists may be expected to do. However, others have criticized the nature of standardized competencies. Presenting the antithesis to the competency thesis, Dzidic, Breen and Bishop (2013) question if compartmentalized competencies focus too much on static, individually oriented skills. They may distract from considerations of context, ethics and power within the dynamic ecologies of community psychology practice.

    Community psychology education and training programs are challenged with exposing students to a variety of central competencies while preparing them to engage in value-based research and practice in context. This article focuses on three applications of participatory pedagogy within the classroom that sought to synthesize the dialectic between core competencies and values-based, dynamic community psychology practice. Instructional materials for all three sessions are appended both for readers’ perusal as examples and for possible future adaptation and use in other community psychology courses. Participatory pedagogical approaches seek to foster student engagement, reflection, and collaboration to promote critical thinking, knowledge application and problem solving. In so doing, participatory pedagogy can bridge the gap between competencies and context, and offer at least a partial synthesis for the competency dialectic in community psychology education and training.

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    Dawn X. Henderson, Jameika R. Matlock, DayQuan Garrett, Christopher Clark

    What does it mean to use competencies in "praxis" with undergraduate students at Historically Black institutions?

    Dialogue concerning competencies in community psychology practice has contributed to the articulation of undergraduate and graduate education in community psychology. This dialogue shares resources in applying community psychology competencies but lacks a voice—Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Historically Black Colleges and Universities have undergraduate courses and graduate programs in community psychology, yet, no one has written on competencies and "praxis" from these settings. This article uses reflective narratives from faculty and undergraduate students to illustrate the use of competencies in community psychology practice with a local community. The context of the institution, emerging from legal segregation in the south, and primarily populated by economically disadvantaged and ethnic minority students, models community inclusion, ecological perspectives, empowerment, value of socio-cultural diversity and reflective practice in a neighborhood revitalization project. Discussion centers on lessons learned and challenges in engaging in praxis across undergraduate settings and HBCUs.

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    Victoria C. Scott

    Leveraging Community Psychology Competencies to Advance Medical Education and Improve Obesity Healthcare

    In this manuscript, the author draws from her experiences on a South Carolina educational-research obesity initiative to describe the important value that community psychology (CP) brings to medical education and healthcare organizations.  The article describes the set of CP competencies that were most influential to the initiative and discuss how those competencies shaped the course of the initiative.  More specifically, the author discusses: 1) how the use of a participatory action research approach helped ground project efforts in the practical realities of the participating practices, 2) how the team developed sociocultural and cross-cultural competence to better understand the complexity of weight-related issues in healthcare, and 3) how using an ecological perspective facilitated practice-wide improvements in obesity management. Through a series of examples, the article highlights specific ways medical education organizations can leverage community psychology competencies to move beyond traditional continuing medical education (CME) methods.

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    Jacqui Akhurst, Carolyn Kagan, Rebecca Lawthom, Michael Richards

    Community Psychology Practice Competencies: Some perspectives from the UK

    Within global north spaces, the outcomes-based approach to programme delivery in higher education and the focus on accountability in professional training has increasingly led to calls for competency frameworks to be developed. However, the paradigm underpinning competencies as applied in higher education needs further examination. This paper aims to consider the technicist roots of the concept and the translation of derivatives of behavioral economics to critical community psychology. We distinguish competences from competency, noting the potential risks of a fragmentary approach and the mismatch between individually-based assessments and the participatory and egalitarian principles espoused by community psychology.

    Drawing from discussions and workshops with postgraduate students and community psychologists in the UK during early 2015, the contributions and distinctive nature of community psychology training in comparison with other disciplines will be highlighted. Proposals for alternative frameworks will be explored, emphasising the need for these to incorporate flexibility and diversity, and to be more holistic (rather than atomistic, as lists of competencies often are); with emphases on community-based rather than individualised principles and values. Consideration will also be given to capabilities that relate both to functions and to freedoms, and to more process-oriented qualities to enable ongoing development. The imperatives to foreground social justice and to enable reflexive thinking and action will be emphasised, leading to interactive and inclusive processes. 

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    Isidro Maya Jariego

    Competencies for Community Psychology Practice in Spain: Standards, Quality and Challenges in Social Intervention

    In this paper, competencies for community psychology practice are examined within the Spanish context, based on the experience of a Master in Psychology of Social and Community Intervention in the University of Seville. The list of competencies was developed specifically for monitoring the practicum of master students, and it was developed in a portfolio format, following the usual pattern in the European accreditation process "EuroPsy," designed by the professional associations of psychology. The portfolio consists of 29 generic professional competencies, grouped in seven blocks: needs specification, evaluation, product development and services, psychological intervention, assessment of psychological interventions, communication, and enabling competencies. At the national level, we analyze the impact that the new system of training and accreditation of psychologists who perform health activities is having on the professional recognition and the role of community psychologists. At the international level, we compare the EuroPsy proposal with the list of 18 competences proposed by Dalton and Wolfe (2012) and approved by the Society for Community Research and Action, APA Division 27. Finally, we discuss the advantages and limitations of a generic model of competency assessment, focused on the professional practice of psychology.

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    Tabitha Underwood

    Intersections of Community Psychology Practice and Higher Education Community Engagement: An Essay of Core Competencies

    This reflective essay presents information concerning civic engagement related positions on campuses such as those within the realms of community service, service-learning, and community-based research and examines how these roles connect to the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA) Community Psychology Practice Competencies. To illustrate these connections, I reflect on my experience in higher education civic engagement and compare the practice competencies to two new resources that outline competencies for civic engagement professionals. Higher education civic engagement is proposed as a feasible career path for community psychologists interested in practice, based on the connection between the two fields. 

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    Gregor V. Sarkisian, Sylvie Taylor

    Challenges and Strategies in Promoting Empowering Academic Settings for Learning Community Psychology Practice Competencies

    This article will provide readers with practical strategies to develop meaningful opportunities for students to gain experience with community psychology practice competencies in educational settings. First, the authors will provide a brief program profile to better understand opportunities students have to gain experience in competencies within the Applied Community Psychology Specialization at Antioch University Los Angeles. Next, challenges in teaching students to gain experience with community psychology practice competencies at the master’s level will be presented. Finally, practical strategies for overcoming these challenges will be discussed.

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    Nuria Ciofalo, Susan James, Mary Watkins

    Reflections on the Assessment of Practice Competencies Competencies Community Psychology, Liberation Psychology, and Ecopsychology Specialization, M.A./PhD Depth Psychology Program, Pacifica Graduate Institute

    The framework of the Comprehensive Assessment Plan of the Community Psychology, Liberation Psychology, and Ecopsychology Specialization of the M.A./Ph.D. Depth Psychology Program is guided by the values and goals set forth in Pacifica Graduate Institute’s Strategic Plan. The Practice Competencies designed by the Community Psychology Practice Council and the Council for Education Programs of the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA – Division 27, American Psychological Association) were integrated into the development of a rubric that includes particular competencies that are based on depth psychological and ecopsychological abilities, capacities, and sensitivities nurtured in our values and curriculum. This rubric was applied to praxis courses that are specifically oriented to the application of knowledge and competencies earned in theoretical courses. Findings and reflections obtained from the application of the adapted rubric and narrative assessments were combined with the analysis of portfolios and video-documentation as testimonies of attained practice competencies.