Volume 14, No. 2

Brittney R. Davis, Brittany A. Jaso, Ashli S. Cleveland, Laura P. Kohn-Wood, Aaron S. Heller, Kilan C. Ashad-Bishop

The Power of Community: The Role of Community-Based Organizations in Mitigating COVID-19-Related Impacts on Well-Being Among South Florida's Minoritized Populations

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The rapid closure of schools and businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact in South Florida, highlighting diverse challenges to community well-being. Community-based organizations (CBOs) have served as a source of support for community members, particularly in stressful times. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, and in collaboration with Breakthrough Miami, a CBO committed to addressing the educational opportunity gap in Miami-Dade County, we conducted a study to assess challenges to the well-being of systematically minoritized families during the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study included longitudinal survey data collected via ecological momentary assessment and in-depth interviews with Breakthrough Miami families to gather richer and nuanced data regarding indicators of well-being and CBO engagement. Quantitative results indicated that as perceived stress increased over time, so too did emotional and informational support. Follow-up qualitative interviews indicated that 100% of families identified Breakthrough Miami as a source of academic support during the pandemic. Additionally, families cited the important role Breakthrough Miami played beyond their standard academic programs and services in coping with the most significant sources of stress reported through the pandemic: meeting basic needs and threats to socioemotional well-being. Implications for CBOs are addressed.

Ann Marie Beals, Margaret Douglin, Kimberly Jewers-Dailley, Sarah Ranco, Kai Reimer-Watts, Rajni Sharma

The COVID-19 Crisis: Using the Cracks in Neoliberalism for Social Transformation Towards a More Just Society

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Within the current COVID-19 pandemic, cracks observed in neoliberal dominant global economic paradigms reveal how austerity policies have crippled crucial social safety nets, such as health care, with capitalism continuing to adversely impact our climate with ad infinitum extraction of resources for overconsumption. In examining these associations, this collaborative paper critically applies social theories to explore ideas and approaches to creating transformative social change, in an effort to move towards a more just and sustainable society in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and other ongoing systemic crises. The paper presents the pandemic as a social crisis and explores theories of social justice and how they might be applied within the context of neoliberal capitalism, also known as neoliberalism. The authors of this paper argue that to move towards a just society, social transformation is needed, informed by the theories of decoloniality and intersectionality. A conceptual model is presented that demonstrates how these theories can be woven together to inform community psychology action and research, addressing COVID-19 specifically. Possibilities for transformation in the areas of mental health and climate justice are also presented. Finally, recommendations for community psychology researchers seeking social transformation, while navigating this challenging and complex new reality, are shared.

Maria Latumahina

Critical Conscientisation; Linking Insecurity Feelings with Structural Oppression A Case Study of Fisheries Community of Saribi and Submander In the Island of Numfor, Papua province of Indonesia

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Many pioneers of critical pedagogy and popular education have suggested that a collective approach of critical reflection and action can help communities to develop a better understanding of their social realities and improve their well-being (Paulo Freire, 1972, Anne Hope and Sally Timmel, 1984, Alastair McIntosh and Matt Carmichael, 2006). This approach of critical conscientisation that includes collective memory work and training for transformation, have been tested with members of fishing communities on Numfor Island in the Indonesian Province of Papua. The results of this research are presented in this paper. The testimonies of participating community members suggest a causal link between their feelings of insecurity, structural oppression, economic policies that promote selfishness and fierce competition among individuals, and their own state of chronical poverty, indebtedness and dehumanisation. Participating community members have identified their increasing dependence on government handouts and a lack of market access as the critical drivers behind the rise of jealousy, anxiety and corruption, and the decline of communal solidarity. These trends are perceived to have escalated the selling of land and the degradation of the natural resource base that are critical to their livelihoods and well-being.

Coralie Mercerat, Thomas Saïas

Analysis of the accessibility of perinatal and early childhood services for parents with physical disabilities: A modelled reading of access barriers

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Perinatal and early childhood services are valuable resources for all new parents, particularly in supporting them as they transition to their new role. However, parents with physical disabilities report several barriers to accessing these services, including difficulty physically accessing services, lack of knowledge or negative attitudes of professionals, and lack of adaptation of services. The objective of this article is to analyse, through the Dixon-Woods et al. accessibility model, the barriers to accessing perinatal and early childhood services from the perspective of parents with physical disabilities. Thirteen semi-structured individual interviews, using the life story approach, were conducted. The results highlight barriers to access to services in all dimensions of the accessibility model. Principal barriers reported include non-inclusive criteria for accessing services (taking account both parenthood and disability), lack of knowledge about the services offered and the inadequacy of services in addressing parents’ needs. The sixth dimension (“offers and resistance”) presents a dynamic element, as it relates to the parents’ decision to use – or not – a service to which they are entitled. Using this model allowed for a pragmatic and systematic description of the obstacles encountered by parents, as well as the identification of needs and potential directions for action.

Stacy Ogbeide

The Use of Creative Podcasting in Combating Ethno-Racial Health Disparities in Primary Care Education: A Brief Report

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Racially and ethnically diverse populations are more likely than non-Hispanic Whites to report experiencing poorer quality patient-provider interactions as well as perceived discrimination from the primary care team. An approach to address discrimination in primary care is through alterations in primary care workforce development. This paper will focus on how the use of trainee-generated content (TGC) through creative podcasting can be used as a teaching aid to help trainees address implicit bias and discrimination in clinical practice. Doctoral-level health service psychology trainees in an integrated primary care course engaged in creative podcasting to promote deep learning related to racial and ethnic health disparities during the spring 2021 semester. Overall, trainees reported a positive experience with creative podcasting, reporting a strong connection with the material discussed in the podcast and improved self-reflection on biases related to racial/ethnic health disparities. TGC through creative podcasting appears to be an appropriate teaching approach to improve trainee engagement related to topics of implicit bias and discrimination as well as  allowing trainees, especially trainees from racially/ethnically marginalized groups, a more equitable learning experience between the trainee and educator.

Filippos Barbaresos, Nelly Georgiou, Fotis Vasilopoulos, Chrysovalantis Papathanasiou

Peer support groups and peer mentoring in refugee adolescents and young adults: A literature review

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Peer support and peer mentoring have been used in various contexts as interventions to improve mental health and help people cope with life difficulties. This literature review explores the application of these methods for adolescent refugees. It also attempts to determine the effectiveness of these interventions, the methodology of assessment of their effectiveness and the specific settings where they have been used. We conducted a review of studies that included peer support and peer mentoring interventions for adolescent refugees/asylum seekers. We searched Google Scholar, PUBMED and SCOPUS, for the period from 2011 to September 2021. The review identified only five studies that met our criteria in terms of demographic characteristics and type of intervention. Four of the five studies used only qualitative methods for their assessment. Only one of them used quantitative methods to determine the intervention’s effectiveness. The settings included schools, universities, and other general community spaces. The refugee status varied between asylum seekers and refugee status. There is a need for more rigorous and methodologically consistent research, using more quantitative methods to enable clearer comparison of evidence-based results. The usefulness of peer mentoring and peer support should also be explored in more contexts, such as in Reception and Identification Centers for asylum seekers. Despite these shortcomings of the current literature, all the reviewed papers outline a positive impact of the interventions on young refugees’ lives in terms of mental health benefits, coping with life difficulties, or gaining access to valuable resources.