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Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) classrooms can work to shift the dialog and structure of schools to better fit the needs of students and disrupt dominant narratives that have marginalized students of Color. As scholars have shown, this work is not devoid of tensions. This paper examines the tensions that arose during the first 2 years of a high school PAR class. Written from the perspective of the 23 students in Soy Yo, the students use testimonios to narrate their collective experience as they analyze three tensions that could have ended Soy Yo and their YPAR project before it began. As a decolonial method, testimonios allow students to reclaim their stories by shedding light on their struggles, tensions, and transformative moments that adult collaborators might overlook. These testimonios illustrate the potential for YPAR classrooms to becoming a third space that allows for campus change and personal transformation. The paper concludes with lessons learned for future scholars and educators to explore. Highlights: Contributes to the growing literature on tensions within Youth Participatory Action Research projects in schools.Highlights the use of testimonios as a decolonial method to be used in community based work.Illustrates how classrooms can become third spaces for students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we name and uplift the ways in which Miya community workers are building communities of resistance as ways to address the manifold colonial, structural (including state‐sponsored), and epistemic violence in their lives. These active spaces of refusal and resistance constitute the grounds of our theorizing. Centering this theory in the flesh, we offer critical implications for decolonial liberatory praxis, specifically community‐engaged praxis in solidarity with people's struggles. In doing so, we speak to questions such as: What are the range of ways in which Global South communities are coming together to tackle various forms of political, social, epistemic, and racial injustice? What are ways of doing, being, and knowing that are produced at the borders and liminal zones? What are the varied ways in which people understand and name solidarities, alliances, and relationalities in pursuit of justice? We engage with these questions from our radically rooted places in Miya people's struggles via storytelling that not only confronts the historical and ongoing oppression, but also upholds desire—Interweaving and honoring rage, grief, pain, creativity, love, and communality. Highlights: Reclaiming theory is a decolonial imperative for people excluded from Western knowledge societies.Miya women's praxis moves beyond "inclusion" to create non‐oppressive modes of being and knowing.Miya people resist commodification and damage‐centered narratives of Global South communities.Researchers must prioritize solidarity and honor communities' vocabulary, metaphors, and silences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latinx immigrants regularly navigate adversity and oppression through resilience and empowerment; however, little research has sought to delineate when, how, and why they may engage in either process. Through the Transtheoretical Model of Empowerment and Resilience, this paper examines how Latinx immigrants living in distinct U.S. contexts interact with their communities. Seventy‐three Latinx immigrants (ages 18 to 70, M = 40.85, SD = 13.65) participated in 12 focus groups in Albuquerque, NM; Maricopa County, AZ; Baltimore, MD; and Richmond, VA. Participants had lived in the United States for less than 1 to 39 years (M = 14.19, SD = 8.72) and had varying immigration statuses. Analyses revealed that empowerment and resilience goals diverged by individuals' beliefs in the degree to which external change was vital, possible, and theirs to attempt. Beliefs coincided with the fundamental risk posed, based on the interaction of a context's conditions with an individual's characteristics and sense of community. Results indicate that while resilience is important to navigate risky settings, it may uphold oppressive power structures because it is consistent with the status quo. Interventions to spur external change should involve empowering processes, including facilitating gains in relative privilege and fostering sense of community. Highlights: Immigrants frequently adapt to and withstand adversity and oppression through resilience processes.A belief that external change is possible, needed, and one's to undertake fosters empowerment goals.Resilience and empowerment depend on personal characteristics interacting with context to form risk.An immigrant's sense of community in their new context likely facilitates empowerment processes.Resilience in the absence of empowerment may uphold oppressive power structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State‐sanctioned violence (SSV) has resounding effects on entire populations, and marginalized communities have long persisted in the work toward liberation despite continued SSV. This paper aims to bridge the gap between the vast scholarship on resilience and the practical challenge of sustaining and thriving in communities targeted by SSV. We use the theoretical frame of the Transconceptual Model of Empowerment and Resilience (TMER) to articulate the process of resilience and the resources that support it: maintenance, efficacy, skills, knowledge, and community resources. As a practical frame, we ground our application of the model in the experiences of the first two authors in their own communities. Centering examples from the Black Lives Matter movement and the CeCe McDonald Support Committee, we use our theoretical and practical frames to explore the scholarship on resilience relevant to resisting SSV, and we identify mechanisms for supporting community stakeholders' efforts to move toward liberation from SSV. We discuss implications for future research and activism, and we include a toolkit with suggested strategies as an appendix for psychologists, activists, and community stakeholders to consider as they work to facilitate community resilience and build a society free from SSV. Highlights: Adapts findings from resilience literature to inform strategies for community resilience.Presents model for community resilience in communities targeted by state‐sanctioned.Presents model for resilience in communities targeted by state‐sanctioned violence.Black lives matter, Black trans lives matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community psychology involves several dialectics between potentially opposing ideals, such as theory and practice, rights and needs, and respect for human diversity and sense of community. Some recent papers in the American Journal of Community Psychology have examined the diversity-community dialectic, some with the aid of agent-based modeling and concepts from network science. This paper further elucidates these concepts and suggests that research in community psychology can benefit from a useful dialectic between agent-based modeling and the real-world concerns of community psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities experience notable health disparities associated with substance use, including disproportionate rates of accidents/injuries, diabetes, liver disease, suicide, and substance use disorders. Effective treatments for substance use are needed to improve health equity for AI/AN communities. However, an unfortunate history of unethical and stigmatizing research has engendered distrust and reluctance to participate in research among many Native communities. In recent years, researchers have made progress toward engaging in ethical health disparities research by using a community‐based participatory research (CBPR) framework to work in close partnership with community members throughout the research process. In this methodological process paper, we discuss the collaborative development of a quantitative survey aimed at understanding risk and protective factors for substance use among a sample of tribal members residing on a rural AI reservation with numerous systems‐level barriers to recovery and limited access to treatment. By using a CBPR approach and prioritizing trust and transparency with community partners and participants, we were able to successfully recruit our target sample and collect quality data from nearly 200 tribal members who self‐identified as having a substance use problem. Strategies for enhancing buy‐in and recruiting a community sample are discussed. Highlights: Indigenous communities experience numerous health disparities associated with substance use disorder.Previous unethical research with Native communities serves as a barrier to research participation.Community based participatory research is a framework for overcoming barriers to research.Trust and transparency are crucial for conducting respectful research with Indigenous participants.We discuss effective strategies for recruiting a community sample of American Indian participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past couple of years, a debate has played out in the pages of the American Journal of Community Psychology concerning the relationship between two of Community Psychology's core values: promoting diversity and promoting a sense of community. This special section is to continue a discussion about diversity and community, both among the debate's initial contributors (Alex Stivala, Greg Townley, and Zachary Neal), as well as among others whose own work has touched on these issues (Anne Brodsky, Richard Florida, Jean Hill, and Roderick Watts). In this essay, I address some broad questions that have emerged through this discussion. First, because much has been written on the relationship between diversity and community, both in community psychology and in other disciplines, what do we know, or at least think we know? Second, since the constructs of diversity and sense of community are complex and multi-faceted, how can definitions get in the way and how can we avoid talking past one another in this discussion? Finally, looking across the original papers that initiated this discussion, as well as the contributions in this special section, what path(s) forward do we have? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this critical summary the editors summarize main themes that cut across special issue papers including challenges in introducing interventions into communities theorized as dynamic systems, strengths and problems presented by multilevel interventions in single communities, the value of community based culturally situated preventive interventions, and some solutions to evaluation of interventions in complex social settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: Adverse Childhood Experience (ACEs) may be mitigated by trauma‐informed social environments.However, there is little empirical evidence that show how community approaches can address ACEs.A participatory change process was implemented by a community coalition in response to ACEs.Data was used to track implementation, generate hypotheses and guide a community response to ACEs.Results show how one community initiated steps to build a resilient, trauma‐informed community. Adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, may be mitigated by trauma‐informed social environments—programs, services, systems, communities—that offer responses to trauma that promote healing, recovery, and resilience. However, there is currently little empirical evidence to support the use of specific approaches to do so. Guided by a population health perspective, this paper describes a participatory community change process in response to ACEs that seeks to build a resilient, trauma‐informed community in Pottstown, PA. We examine the initial implementation phase of this change process, centered originally on the education sector and the social and behavioral health services sector, and then eventually expanding to 14 community sectors across two years. A variety of data sources and methods are used to track individual and organizational processes, as well as service system network processes. A central feature of this research is the use of data to generate hypotheses rather than test them. Data were also used to guide understanding and decision‐making during implementation. The results show that moving forward the community is well‐positioned to establish stronger inter‐agency and system supports for trauma‐informed practice in the service system and in the broader community. We discuss results for their implications for building resilient, trauma‐informed communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: Conducting research on American Indian (AI) issues may present unique challenges for AI researchers.Here, two AI researchers reflect upon qualitative research focused on AI issues and/or communities.Their reports highlight the need to increase personal and institutional support for AI researchers. It is presumed that Indigenous researchers are optimally positioned to conduct research about or within their own or other Indigenous communities. However, these researchers may still experience challenges, barriers, and distressing events that are important to identify. Qualitative inquiry may be a particularly vulnerable context for Indigenous researchers given the nature of data collection methods and an emphasis on researcher–participant relationships. This paper details the personal reflections of two American Indian (AI) researchers who carried out qualitative research focused on AI issues and/or communities. The first project examined undergraduate students' opinions of the use of AI imagery in the form of a race‐based university mascot. The second was a study of the mental health needs of AI youth and families in an urban community. Several themes characterized both of their experiences and might be generalizable to others working in these contexts: (a) coping with racism and microaggressions; (b) the role and impact of identity politics; (c) community insider/outsider tension; and (d) managing personal distress associated with the research topics and process. These themes are discussed to illuminate ways that Indigenous researchers, engaged in research on Indigenous topics and/or with Indigenous communities, are challenged and affected by their work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This retrospective analysis of a long‐term community‐based participatory research (CBPR) process spans over two decades of work with Alaska Native communities. A call to action from Alaska Native leadership to create more effective strategies to prevent and treat youth suicide and alcohol misuse risk initiated a response from university researchers. This CBPR process transformed into a collaborative effort to indigenously drive and develop solutions through research. The People Awakening project started our team on this translational and transformational pathway through community intervention science in the Central Yup'ik region of Alaska. We examine more deeply the major episodes and their successes and struggles in maintaining a long‐term research relationship between university researchers and members of Yup'ik Alaska Native communities. We explore ways that our CBPR relationship has involved negotiation and engagement with power and praxis, to deepen and focus attention to knowledge systems and relational elements. This paper examines these deeper, transformative elements of our CBPR relationship that spans histories, cultures, and systems. Our discussion shares vignettes from academic and community perspectives to describe process in a unique collaboration, reaching to sometimes touch upon rare ground in emotions, tensions, and triumphs over the course of a dozen grants and twice as many years. We conclude by noting how there are points where, in a long‐term CBPR relationship, transition out of emergence into coalescing and transformation can occur. Highlights: Long‐term CBPR requires preparation and resolution of crises when we lose key partners over time.Relational cycles are a natural part of a CBPR process and impact upon the research in keys ways.Long‐term community‐based participatory research allows the spirit to come into the science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically reviews two diverse intellectual traditions concerned with community-based interventions: the literature on dissemination of community interventions and the critical psychology literature that is concerned with systemic power inequalities and structural injustice. The dominant dissemination-of-innovations framework has shifted toward an emphasis on community, yet it does not generally take into account issues of power and inequality within the diverse community spheres into which interventions are disseminated. On the other hand, critical psychologists, who have concerned themselves with both understanding and addressing issues of power and structural injustice, have tended to eschew the possibility of standardizing and making transferable practices, programs, and even processes that address these issues in particular settings. This paper traces and critiques both sides of this divide within community psychology, positing a framework to bring these diverse intellectual resources together so that community interventions might fruitfully be examined in terms of their community-based practices, or practices that bear on structural injustice. This framework is illustrated with a case study of the community-based practices of a widely disseminated evidence-based community intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue on community-based interdisciplinary research grew out of the work of the SCRA Interdisciplinary Task Force and an Interdisciplinary Working Conference held at Vanderbilt University in May, 2004. In this introduction to the special issue, the historical context for interdisciplinary underpinnings for community psychology theory, research, action and training is first depicted. This is followed by a brief description of the mission and work of the recent SCRA Interdisciplinary Task Force and the Interdisciplinary Working Conference. The introduction concludes with a brief summary of the papers in the two main sections of the special issue, Prospects and Perspectives (four scholarly papers and three commentaries) and Community-Based Interdisciplinary Action-Research (four interdisciplinary action-research projects). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examined the relationship between reported Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) desistance and neighborhood concentrated disadvantage, ethnic heterogeneity, residential instability, collective efficacy and legal cynicism. Data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) Longitudinal survey were used to identify 599 cases of IPV in Wave 1 eligible for reported desistance in Wave 2. A Generalized Boosting Model was used to determine the best proximal predictors of IPV desistance from the longitudinal data. Controlling for these predictors, logistic regression of neighborhood characteristics from the PHDCN community survey was used to predict reported IPV desistance in Wave 2. The paper finds that participants living in neighborhoods high in legal cynicism have lower odds of reporting IPV desistance, controlling for other variables in the logistic regression model. Analyses did not find that IPV desistance was related to neighborhood concentrated disadvantage, ethnic heterogeneity, residential instability and collective efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the concept of culture has long been central to community psychology research and intervention, it has most frequently referred to the communities in which such work occurs. The purpose of this paper is to reframe this discussion by viewing community interventions as instances of intercultural contact between the culture of science, reflected in community intervention research, and the culture of the communities in which those interventions occur. Following a brief discussion of the complexities of culture as a concept, two illustrative stories of failed community interventions are provided to highlight the centrality of cultural and contextual understanding as prelude to community intervention. These stories, set 50 years apart, reflect the depth and pervasive influence of both the culture of science and the culture of communities. Next, a series of propositions about the culture of social science as a partial reflection of the broader culture of the United States are offered, and their implications for the conduct of community interventions drawn. The paper concludes with a series of recommendations which, together, provide an ecological mind-set for taking culture seriously in community interventions. Central to this mind set are the importance of focusing on communities rather than programs and emphasizing the intervention goal of choice over change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses intertwined issues in the conceptualization, implementation and evaluation of multilevel dynamic systems intervention science (MDSIS). Interventions are systematically planned, conducted and evaluated social science-based cultural products intercepting the lives of people and institutions in the context of multiple additional events and processes (which also may be referred to as interventions) that may speed, slow or reduce change towards a desired outcome. Multilevel interventions address change efforts at multiple social levels in the hope that effects at each level will forge synergistic links, facilitating movement toward desired change. This paper utilizes an ecological framework that identifies macro (policy and regulatory institutions), meso (organizations and agencies with resources, and power) and micro (individuals, families and friends living in communities) interacting directly and indirectly. An MDSIS approach hypothesizes that change toward a goal will occur faster and more effectively when synchronized and supported across levels in a social system. MDSIS approaches by definition involve “whole” communities and cannot be implemented without the establishments of working community partnerships This paper takes a dynamic systems approach to science as conducted in communities, and discusses four concepts that are central to MDSIS—science, community, culture, and sustainability. These concepts are important in community based participatory research and to the targeting, refinement, and adaptation of enduring interventions. Consistency in their meaning and use can promote forward movement in the field of MDSIS, and in community-based prevention science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pathways and processes through which empowering community settings influence their members, the surrounding community and the larger society are examined. To generate the proposed pathways and processes, a broad range of studies of community settings were reviewed, in the domains of adult well-being, positive youth development, locality development, and social change. A set of organizational characteristics and associated processes leading to member empowerment across domains were identified, as well as three pathways through which empowering settings in each domain contribute to community betterment and positive social change. The paper concludes with an examination of the ways that community psychology and allied disciplines can help increase the number and range of empowering settings, and enhance the community and societal impact of existing ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there has been a trend toward greater disciplinary collaboration over the last several decades, the emergence of the HIV pandemic has required that disciplines work more closely and creatively to generate the multiple and innovative approaches necessary to meet the demands for effective prevention and treatment. This paper describes the nature of collaborative relationships among U.S. and Indian anthropologists, psychologists, demographers, epidemiologists, physicians and representatives of other fields and sectors in conducting a large scale, multi-year HIV/STD prevention project directed toward married men in urban poor communities in Mumbai (Bombay), India. The project has challenged members of the participating disciplines to develop a transdisciplinary conceptual model, to test the model with community-based formative research and to utilize the results in the development and implementation of a multi-level (community, provider and patient) intervention. The paper describes the interaction among disciplines and international sectors in the conceptualization, methodology and community-based action components of the project. In addition, it examines both the inhibiting and facilitating factors that are a part of the collaborative process. The paper concludes with implications for future transdisciplinary partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community-based research often brings investigators from different disciplinary backgrounds together with community representatives to conduct research on topics of mutual concern. This paper describes a case example that illustrates an interdisciplinary/intersectoral study of depression and barriers to mental health care among older adults and illustrate the factors central to implementing a successful research partnership. It will address the following conditions that facilitate and challenge interdisciplinary/intersectoral research: (1) achieving commonality of purpose in study design and research and referral approaches; (2) ensuring the ability to develop, field-test and implement psychometrically rigorous and culturally and qualitatively appropriate instruments; (3) building effective management structures for interdisciplinary/intersectoral research partnerships; and (4) identifying, training and supporting qualified researchers to carry out a mental health study with older ethnically diverse adults. The paper concludes with strengths and limitations of the approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the neighborhood effects literature, collective efficacy is viewed as the key explanatory process associated with the spatial distribution of a range of social problems. While many studies usefully focus on the consequences of collective efficacy, in this paper we examine the task specificity of collective efficacy and consider the individual and neighborhood factors that influence residents' perceptions of neighborhood collective efficacy for specific tasks. Utilizing survey and administrative data from 4,093 residents nested in 148 communities in Australia, we distinguish collective efficacy for particular threats to social order and assess the relative importance of social cohesion and neighborhood social ties to the development of collective efficacy for violence, delinquency and civic/political issues. Our results indicate that a model separating collective efficacy for specific problems from social ties and the more generalized notions of social cohesion is necessary when understanding the regulation potential of neighborhoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an effort to inform empowerment theory and research, this paper provides a structural conception of power. First, we examine the essential features present in three dominant conceptions of power in community psychology: social power, psychopolitical power, and relational power. Next, commonalities in the key features of power identified by these conceptions are explored and pared down to yield a more parsimonious conception of power that is grounded only in the structural pattern of relationships through which resources are exchanged. Drawing on social exchange theory, we offer a method for measuring this streamlined, structural conception of power that allows for its more precise examination. Finally, we discuss the implications of a structural conception and measurement of power for targeting and facilitating empowering processes and evaluating empowered outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we draw on the findings of a critical, multi-sited ethnographic study of two rural communities affected by a wildfire in British Columbia, Canada to examine the salience of place, identity, and social capital to the disaster recovery process and community disaster resilience. We argue that a reconfiguration of disaster recovery is required that more meaningfully considers the role of place in the disaster recovery process and opens up the space for a more reflective and intentional consideration of the disorientation and disruption associated with disasters and our organized response to that disorientation. We describe a social-psychological process, reorientation, in which affected individuals and communities navigate the psychological, social and emotional responses to the symbolic and material changes to social and geographic place that result from the fire's destruction. The reorientation process emphasizes the critical importance of place not only as an orienting framework in recovery but also as the ground upon which social capital and community disaster resilience are built. This approach to understanding and responding to the disorientation of disasters has implications for community psychologists and other service providers engaged in supporting disaster survivors. This includes the need to consider the complex dynamic of contextual and cultural factors that influence the disaster recovery process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of positive outcomes associated with strong psychological sense of community (PSOC) has grown worldwide. Yet most research explores PSOC as a uni-dimensional (positive) variable operating in a single referent community. Theoretical and empirical literature has suggested, however, that PSOC can be positive, neutral or negative (Brodsky in J Commun Psychol 24(4):347–363, ; Brodsky et al. in Psychological sense of community: Research, applications and implications. Kluwer, New York ) and since people live in multiple physical and relational communities, there may be multiple PSOCs (M-PSOC) operating simultaneously and interactively (Brodsky and Marx in J Commun Psychol 29(2):1–18, ). This paper explores the operation of M-PSOC in the lives of Afghan women, and male supporters, who belonged to a resistance organization before, during and after the Taliban regime. Decisions to join and stay in this community can be explained, in part, through the differentiation of positive, organizational-level PSOC from negative, macro-community-level PSOC. In addition, M-PSOC suggests unique cultural meanings of the terms “community” and “choice.” Findings have implications for cross-cultural community work and for fostering resilient sub-communities in the face of macro and societal-level risks and oppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we describe a successful multi-level participatory intervention grounded in principles of individual and group empowerment, and guided by social construction theory. The intervention addressed known and persistent inequities in influenza vaccination among African American and Latino older adults, and associated infections, hospitalizations and mortality. It was designed to increase resident ability to make informed decisions about vaccination, and to build internal and external infrastructure to support sustainability over time. The intervention brought a group of social scientists, vaccine researchers, geriatricians, public health nurses, elder services providers and advocates together with senior housing management and activist African American and Latino residents living in public senior housing in a small east coast city. Two buildings of equal size and similar ethnic composition were randomized as intervention and control buildings. Pre and post intervention surveys were conducted in both buildings, measuring knowledge, attitudes and peer norms. Processes and outcomes were documented at four levels: Influenza Strategic Alliance (macro and exo levels), building management (meso level), building resident committee (meso level) and individual residents. The Influenza Strategic Alliance (I.S.A.) provided ongoing resources, information and vaccine; the building management provided economic and other in-kind resources and supported residents to continue flu clinics in the building. The V.I.P. Resident Committee conducted flu campaigns with flu clinics in English and Spanish. The vaccination rate in the intervention building at post test exceeded the study goal of 70% and showed a significant improvement over the control building. The intervention achieved desired outcomes at all four levels and resulted in a significant increase in influenza vaccination, and improvements in pro-vaccination knowledge, beliefs, and understanding of health consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social change, well-being and liberation have been intertwined in community research and action, as much as being used as political common-places. In this paper, it is argued that community research and action can have a political character. The epistemological premises shared by both the community and political spheres are discussed, and concepts are defined. The way community psychological action can produce changes is illustrated by an experience carried out with children from poverty sectors of Caracas, Venezuela, intended to construct citizenship by developing awareness about values, civic rights and duties, while experiencing the advantages of participation, peaceful negotiation and solidarity, during art classes. Topics regarding citizenship values and ethics were painted and discussed in a participatory way. Results about how the children developed consciousness about those topics, relating them to their lives, are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One distinctive approach to community psychology intervention research involves finding ways to contribute to the development of communities. Ecological inquiry is a primary theoretical framework for this work. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the spirit of ecological inquiry may be expressed in the descriptions of how we design, conduct, and evaluate community interventions. We first elaborate a set of criteria as a heuristic framework for carrying out and documenting community intervention writing, theory, and action. We then pilot the application of these criteria to explore the presence of an ecological emphasis within intervention studies published in the AJCP between 1994 and 2002. This exercise helped illuminate the extent to which an ecological perspective is reflected in intervention accounts, and select intervention accounts that reflect a substantial ecological emphasis are described. Further, this review highlights the areas of our written work which contain fewer makers of ecological inquiry, as with the relevant exclusion of citizens in formative intervention roles. We conclude with a series of reflections about constraints on published intervention accounts and recommendations for those interested in furthering the spirit of ecological inquiry through their research and action commitments to community development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the development, application, and results of an implementation monitoring component of the Communities That Care (CTC) prevention framework used in the Community Youth Development Study (CYDS) to ensure high-fidelity prevention program implementation. This system was created based on research that community-based implementation of evidence-based prevention programs often includes adaptations in program design, content, or manner of delivery (Gottfredson and Gottfredson, Journal of research in crime and delinquency, 39, 3–35, 2002; Hallfors and Godette, Health Education Research, 17, 461–470, 2002; Wandersman and Florin, American Psychologist, 58, 441–448, 2003). A lack of fidelity to the implementation standards delineated by program designers is one indicator of a gap between prevention science and practice which can lessen the likelihood that communities will realize the positive participant effects demonstrated in research trials. By using the CTC model to select and monitor the quality of prevention activities, the 12 CYDS communities replicated 13 prevention programs with high rates of adherence to the programs’ core components and in accordance with dosage requirements regarding the number, length, and frequency of sessions. This success indicates the potential of the CTC program implementation monitoring system to enhance community Prevention Delivery Systems (Wandersman et al. American Journal of Community Psychology, this issue) and improve the likelihood of desired participant changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides the opportunity to consider local challenges to implementing science-based programs. Wandersman et al. (American Journal of Community Psychology 2008) define three systems necessary to effectively implement science-based programming. These systems include the Prevention Support System, which is responsible for assisting communities in implementing effective practices; the Prevention Research System, which is responsible for developing and packaging prevention programming; and the Prevention Delivery System, which is responsible for delivering services. The authors conduct a content analysis related to six county level efforts to implement science-based programs in Ohio. These counties are part of a larger Ohio initiative referred to as Partnerships for Success. The authors suggest that local officials are quite skilled at accessing the Prevention Research System and providers at the local level represent an effective service delivery system. The authors contend that the Prevention Support System in these counties is capable of enhancing several functions related to local infrastructure but is deficient in other important elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing community capacity to improve health is a cornerstone of community-based public health. The concept of community capacity reflects numerous facets and dimensions of community life and can have different meanings in different contexts. This paper explores how members of one community identify and interpret key aspects of their community’s capacity to limit the availability and use of tobacco products. Particular attention is given to examining the interrelationship between various dimensions of community capacity in order to better understand the processes by which communities are able to mobilize for social change. The study is based on qualitative analysis of 19 in-depth interviews with key informants representing a variety of community sectors in Harlem, New York City. Findings indicate that the community is viewed as rich in human and social resources. A strong sense of community identity and connectedness underlies this reserve and serves as a catalyst for action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a conceptual framework for establishing a science of transdisciplinary action research. Lewin's (1951) concept of action research highlights the scientific and societal value of translating psychological research into community problem-solving strategies. Implicit in Lewin's formulation is the importance of achieving effective collaboration among behavioral researchers, community members and policy makers. The present analysis builds on Lewin's analysis by outlining programmatic directions for the scientific study of transdisciplinary research and community action. Three types of collaboration, and the contextual circumstances that facilitate or hinder them, are examined: (1) collaboration among scholars representing different disciplines; (2) collaboration among researchers from multiple fields and community practitioners representing diverse professional and lay perspectives; and (3) collaboration among community organizations across local, state, national, and international levels. In the present analysis, transdisciplinary action research is viewed as a topic of scientific study in its own right to achieve a more complete understanding of prior collaborations and to identify strategies for refining and sustaining future collaborations (and their intended outcomes) among researchers, community members and organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing recognition of the need by funding agencies, universities, and research units for interdisciplinary research to tackle complex societal problems that cannot be adequately addressed by single disciplines alone. Interdisciplinary collaboration capitalizes on a diversity of perspectives and practices that each discipline offers in hopes of providing innovative solutions to multifaceted problems. However, for interdisciplinary work to be effective, members of the collaboration must recognize that cultural differences exist between and within disciplines. This paper conceptualizes disciplines as cultural groups and advocates for culturally competent practices to facilitate interdisciplinary research and practice. Specifically, each participant in interdisciplinary collaborations must value diversity, develop the capacity for self-assessment, work towards understanding one's own disciplinary culture, and be sensitive to the dynamics inherent when cultures interact. Additionally, members of any interdisciplinary endeavor must be cognizant of power dynamics at play and avoid such things as tokenism, informal hierarchies, and disciplinary policing. Through awareness of one's own disciplinary culture and sensitivity to others, interdisciplinary research and practice may provide creative solutions to important problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interdisciplinary partnerships foster innovation to address pressing social problems. This paper describes an interdisciplinary partnership called the Chicago Food System Collaborative (CFSC) composed of a team of partners from four academic institutions and three community-based organizations representing a total of eight disciplines that included: community development and community organizing, community psychology, geography, nursing, nutrition, public health, sociology, and urban planning and policy. Partners came together to address the issue of access to healthy foods and nutrition in a working class African American neighborhood. We analyze and discuss the core principles that guided the partnership and its impact across three dimensions: understanding through interdisciplinary action research, building capacity, and facilitating innovations in practices and policies. Despite the challenges of interdisciplinary partnerships, the potential benefits and impact of such efforts reflect their value as a comprehensive approach to addressing complex social problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mental health practitioners have offered relatively little in response to the pervasive community violence faced by many children living in impoverished neighborhoods. The “neighborhood club” is a school-based, short-term, support group designed to assist children with the psychological impact of exposure to community violence. Ten “neighborhood clubs” were conducted in two public elementary schools in Detroit, Michigan. This paper reviews the implementation of a bilingual “neighborhood club,” undertaken to better serve the Spanish-speaking Latino students in a school community. We discuss many of the rewards and challenges of conducting a bilingual, multicultural support group for children and conclude that a bilingual support group provides all children with a model that validates ethnic and cultural diversity while also building empathic bonds based on mutually-reinforcing, common experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the field of community psychology has given considerable attention to how research and evaluation methods should be designed to support our goals of empowerment and social justice. Yet, as a field, we have given much less attention to whether the use of our methods actually achieves or supports our empowerment agenda. With the primary purpose of beginning to establish the norm of reporting on the impacts of our methods, this paper reports on the findings from interviews of 16 youth and adults who had participated in one participatory evaluation method (Photovoice). Two specific questions were examined: (1) What is the impact of participating in a Photovoice effort; and (2) How does the method of Photovoice foster these impacts? Overall, participants noted that they were significantly affected by their experiences as photographers and through their dialogue with neighbors during Photovoice group sessions. Impacts ranged from an increased sense of control over their own lives to the emergence of the kinds of awareness, relationships, and efficacy supportive of participants becoming community change agents. According to participants, Photovoice fostered these changes by (a) empowering them as experts on their lives and community, (b) fostering deep reflection, and (c) creating a context safe for exploring diverse perspectives. The implications of these findings for the science and practice of community psychology are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community participation can be a potential strategy to increase the degree of the subjective wellbeing of immigrants within receiving societies. This study aims to analyze the relationship between immigrants' community participation and their subjective wellbeing, testing the two dimensions of sense of mattering (feeling valued and adding value) and psychological sense of community as potential mediators of this relationship. A total of 308 first‐generation immigrants living in Northern Italy filled out a questionnaire (45.1% were members of a migrant community‐based organization). We found that immigrants who are members of a migrant organization show a higher level of subjective wellbeing, sense of mattering, and psychological sense of community than those who are not members. We also found that the sense of adding value and the psychological sense of community serve as mediators of the relationship between community participation and subjective wellbeing. The findings suggest that active participation is positively related to immigrants' feeling useful and capable of contributing to society and their feeling of belonging, which, in turn, are positively related to their subjective wellbeing. Practical implications are presented, focusing on the need for generative social policies to move beyond the welfarist perspective in which immigrants only "receive" to embrace an active perspective in which immigrants can also "give." Highlights: Immigrant members in Migrant Community‐Based Organizations have higher subjective wellbeing in comparison to immigrant non‐members.Sense of adding value and sense of community act as mediators between participation and wellbeing.Generative social policies that embrace an active perspective where immigrants can "give" are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies commonly examine resilience as an outcome by way of measuring the degree to which protective factors maintain individuals' well‐being despite the presence of significant risk. In this study, we developed a model of community resilience that centered the voices of Black youth. Using data collected as part of a 3‐year, youth participatory action research project, we developed a model that focuses on what 11 Black youth perceive and believe contributes to community resilience through their investigation of problems and solutions related to community gun violence. Findings from a constructivist grounded theory analysis of multiple data sources (e.g., field notes, transcribed group discussions, youth photovoice activities) revealed our developing model of community resilience: Power through Black Community and Unity. Specifically, Power through Black Community and Unity was a core category that reflected the importance of care, support, and safety as strengths in the community's current response and resilience to gun violence, and future aspects the community could develop to increase community resilience to gun violence. This core category emerged in three subsequent ways: Collective Care, "Seeing Beyond the Bad," and Supportive Teen Spaces. This study illustrates potential pathways that youth service agencies and community practitioners can consider enhancing in their programming to promote resilience in their communities. Highlights: Power through Black Community and Unity (PTBCU) emerged as a developing model of community resilience.Communities expressed PTBCU through Collective Care, "Seeing Beyond the Bad," and Supportive Teen Spaces.Study shows potential pathways that youth programs and initiatives can take to promote resilience to gun violence in their communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has examined the influence of individual‐ and case‐level factors on police decisions in sexual assault cases, with little attention paid to community‐level factors. This study examined the association between community‐level factors and police decisions to found sexual assault cases. Founding is the first decision officers make and determines whether a case is investigated. An archival data set of N = 8015 sexual assaults reported to a Midwestern city police department was used. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression was first used to examine the relationship between six community‐level factors and founding rates within the city's 77 communities. Geographically weighted regression (GWR) was then used to examine whether these relationships varied by space. OLS results revealed communities with a greater proportion of Black residents, Latinx residents, Asian residents, and higher income had significantly higher founding rates. GWR results replicated these findings indicating these relationships varied significantly by space throughout the city. In contrast to the OLS, GWR results indicated communities farther from a rape crisis center had higher founding rates. Findings underscore the importance of analyzing localized effects and examining individual‐, case‐, and community‐level factors on sexual assault case outcomes in the criminal legal system. Highlights: Space is an important aspect of community context related to police response to sexual assault.Community‐level, extralegal factors appear to influence police founding decisions.Scholars are encouraged to analyze localized effects to better understand community context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers have documented that vacant lot greening can reduce community‐level crime and violence. Busy Streets Theory (BST) suggests that residents who are involved in the greening process can help to improve physical environments and build social connections that deter crime and violence. Yet few researchers have explored how community engagement in the greening process may affect crime and violence outcomes. We applied BST to test the effects of community‐engaged vacant lot greening compared to vacant lots that received either professional mowing or no treatment, on the density of violent crime around study lots. Using mixed effects regression models, we analyzed trends in violent crime density over the summer months from 2016 to 2018 at 2102 street segments in Youngstown, OH. These street segments fell within 150 meters of an intervention parcel that was classified as one of three conditions: community‐engaged maintenance, professional mowing, or no treatment (control). We found that street segments in areas receiving community‐engaged maintenance or professional mowing experienced greater declines in violent crime density than street segments in areas receiving no treatment, and more decline occurred in the community‐engaged condition compared to the professional mow condition. Our findings support BST and suggest that community‐engaged greening of vacant lots in postindustrial cities with a concentrated vacancy can reduce crime and violence. Highlights: Greening of vacant lots is associated with decreases in violent crime.Community‐engaged greening is associated with a greater decrease in crime than professional mowing.Community‐engaged greening of vacant lots in cities can reduce violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding and enhancing community resilience is a global priority as societies encounter a rising number of extreme weather events. Given that these events are typically both sudden and unexpected, community resilience is typically examined after the disaster so there can be no before and after comparisons. As such, the extent to which existing community capacities buffer the effects of a traumatic event remains largely unexamined and untested in the literature. Drawing on a longitudinal study of 148 Brisbane suburbs, we examine the key community processes associated with community resilience to the crime before and after the 2011 Brisbane floods. We introduce a novel disaster severity index to simultaneously capture the direct and indirect impacts of the flood and embed this measure within our modeling framework. Results from the models provide important insights for predisaster preparedness and postdisaster rebuilding and recovery. Highlights: Neighborhood adaptive capacities were resistant to the flood.The bespoke flood severity index was strongly associated with lower levels of resilience to property crime postevent.Pre‐event adaptive capacities did not lead to resilience to property crime postevent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reading the article, “Community psychology at the crossroads: Prospects for interdisciplinary research” (), there is a sense that community psychology is at a crossroad with regard to being an interdisciplinary field. This paper aims to offer insight and guidance to proponents of interdisciplinary research in the community psychology field by drawing on experiences in urban studies, which shares similar origins and interdisciplinary claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the American Psychological Association Taskforce on Indigenous Psychology acknowledges, fidelity to the inalienable right to self‐determination is the ethical foundation of Indigenous psychology. The task of decolonizing psychology is not only about divesting from Eurocentric paradigms that have controlled and limited Indigenous wellbeing, but producing new paradigms founded on Indigenous knowledges. The Indigenous paradigm of social and emotional wellbeing is both a new therapeutic practice and theory of wellbeing. As the exploration of the domains of SEWB has shown, findings from the National Empowerment Project indicate that strengthening a connection to culture is identified as of highest importance to the flourishing of Indigenous individuals, families, and communities. Wellbeing in Abya Yala (the Americas) is conceived as Sumak Kawsay or Buen Vivir and Māori constructs of wellbeing as Hauora. These transnational wellbeing conceptualizations can be situated within a larger global health movement, which is centered on strengthening Indigenous cultures of wellbeing, and sustainable planet–people relationships. Indigenous community psychologies are not anthropocentric and are centered on the sacredness of nature, the cultivation of spirituality, and accountability to maintain harmonious ecosystem relationships. Indigenous community psychologies from Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, and Mexico are brought in plurilogue envisioning international solidarity networks that engage communities, activists, and committed student generations. Highlights: Indigenous community psychologies constitute global movements forging transnational solidaritiesIndigenous psychologies are not anthropocentric and promote holistic wellbeing.Embodied examples of Indigenous community psychologies trace hopeful pathways toward decoloniality.Transnational collaborations among Indigenous psychologists create innovative pedagogies.The inalienable right to self‐determination is the ethical foundation of Indigenous psychologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examined whether community readiness, prevention knowledge, coalition functioning, and barriers are linked to perceived effectiveness of community prevention coalitions. Interviews were conducted with 203 key leaders in Communities That Care (CTC) prevention boards in 21 Pennsylvania communities. Community-level means for the reliable self-report measures were utilized separately and in combination with research staff ratings, state technical assistant staff ratings, and other data. The results indicated that the strong link between readiness and perceived effectiveness was mediated by internal coalition functioning. The extent of CTC linkage with outside community entities was not linked to perceived effectiveness. The study concludes that community readiness is an important condition for success of a prevention coalition, and exerts effects mainly through the quality of the coalition's internal functioning. Member turnover and infighting appear to be important factors related to internal functioning. Linkage with outside entities may be more important for coalition models where the coalition is more dependent on local institutions for resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community based participatory research (CBPR) emphasizes democratic knowledge production and joint action between academics and communities to promote health equity through multilevel interventions. While much scholarship has expressed a commitment to collaboration between researchers and communities, effective methods of structural governance between community and academic stakeholders is under explored. We fill this gap by presenting a conceptual and empirical analysis describing multiple dimensions of structural governance in CBPR partnerships. First, we integrate public policy evidence on effective collaborative governance designs with the emerging literature in CBPR to create a conceptual model. Next, we utilize internet surveys of 179 federally funded community engaged research projects to construct and assess a measure of structural governance across multiple dimensions using confirmatory factor analysis. We explore whether antecedent factors such as the stage of the partnership and ethnic composition are associated with these dimensions and we examine associations for each of these components on positive perceptions of community involvement of research and collective empowerment. We develop a robust multidimensional measure of structural governance that is positively associated with perceptions of increased community involvement in research and collective empowerment. Highlights: We propose a conceptual model for structural governance in community based participatory research.The model measures community approvals, co-leadership, joint decision making, and resource sharing.Federally funded CBPR partnerships display moderate levels of structural governance.Structural governance is associated with community involved research and collective empowerment.Structural governance ensures community benefit to be at the forefront of CBPR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To further develop domestic and sexual violence (DSV) prevention strategies at the community level requires an understanding of how community members in towns think about prevention. Using concept mapping, this study sought to better understand community members' perspectives about what DSV prevention strategies would be most feasible, most effective, and generate the greatest community support within their town. Data were collected across four rural Northern England towns. Participants (>90% White) in each town (total sample size = 119) brainstormed, sorted, and rated between 67 and 90 statements per town (x̅ = 75). Based on the results, a 5‐cluster solution of school settings, conversations, individual direct action, community building, and community awareness was identified across all four towns as DSV prevention strategies with one town identifying an additional cluster solution of governance. Despite identifying similar prevention strategies, participants from each town rated these clusters of strategies differently on how feasible, effective, and supported they would be in their community. Overall, our results suggest that there were interesting consistencies across four towns in a similar geographic region in terms of how DSV prevention was described. However, individual communities differed in their views of the feasibility and acceptability of the different strategies. These results suggest that different strategies and higher‐level actions may be required to address and prevent DSV within different towns and communities and that community narratives can clarify which specific strategies may encounter fewer barriers to implementation. Highlights: This study uses concept mapping to gather collective perspectives on DSV prevention strategies.This study focuses on data collected across four rural Northern England towns.Participants across four towns identified similar cluster solutions for prevention strategies.Despite geographical similarities, towns require prevention initiatives tailored to their community.Concept mapping can be used as an effective assessment tool to capture variations within communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various reports published within the issue including how the Norwegian media refer to important aspects of economy, the importance of the concept and practice of participation as a significant tool of community psychology, and how participation is present in the ideas for constructing a politically reflective clinical community psychology.

Community psychology, despite its commitment to social justice, is prone to engage in deficit‐based perspectives that do not appropriately capture the strengths of Latinx communities. Given these limitations, we use a Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) (Yosso, 2005) framework to describe how muxeres, Latina women who identify as promotoras, madres, and mamás, leveraged their political power and culturally informed leadership to improve the health and well‐being of their communities. We highlight instances from our fieldwork, witnessing the agency of muxeres en acción for health equity. We offer three case studies to describe how we approached our collaborations with three groups of muxeres situated in different geographic locations in the state of California. The first case study discusses how immigrant muxeres who identify as promotoras (e.g., health workers) in the Central Valley developed their research skills through a promotora model that allowed them to build the capacity to advocate for the well‐being of their communities. The second example offers reflections from a Community‐Based Participatory Action Research (CBPAR) project with a group of Mexican immigrant madres in a gentrified community in San José. Lastly, the third case study describes how a group of mamás in the East Side of Los Angeles addressed issues of educational inequities. Together, these case studies illustrate muxeres' advocacy for their health and well‐being. Because women in general, and muxeres in particular, are considered gatekeepers of culture and tradition within their families, it is crucial that community psychologists ground their work in ethically and culturally appropriate frameworks that highlight the power of muxeres. Highlights: Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) framework is used to highlight Latinas organizing for health equity.Three CBPR case studies highlight the power of Latinas organizing in their local communities.An ethical and culturally appropriate framework for working with Latinas is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sense of community and well‐being are considered core tenets in the field of community psychology, acting as focal points for theory, research, and action. This integrative review synthesizes the empirical literature on sense of community and well‐being with respect to four research questions focused on the relationships between these variables, the methodologies used to study those relationships, and how future research might expand upon the current literature. A search of the available literature produced 30 articles that met the search criteria, based primarily on conceptualizations and measurement of both sense of community and hedonic and eudaimonic well‐being. This review suggests a general consensus across the literature of a positive relationship between sense of community and well‐being among both youth and adults in a variety of settings, and discusses the strengths and limitations of this area of research, pointing to the need for more nuanced, ecologically valid research that incorporates more qualitative and critical methodologies. We hope that this review can promote a more thorough understanding of how sense of community and individual well‐being relate to each other, and that ongoing research in this area can be a catalyst for action research and interventions that are applied to pressing contemporary issues as well as strengths‐based approaches focused on how to foster and support the well‐being of individuals within their community contexts. Highlights: We synthesize the empirical literature on sense of community and well‐being.Research on the relationships between sense of community and various types of well‐being is included.We use a Community Psychology lens to discuss strengths and limitations of this area of research.We demonstrate trends in the relationship between sense of community and well‐being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supportive housing has been widely used among persons experiencing chronic homelessness and/or mental health conditions. While it has been demonstrated to be effective in addressing homelessness among populations with complex needs, community integration remains a challenge. Community integration is the extent to which individuals live, participate, and socialize in their community and consists of three aspects: physical, social, and psychological. The study utilized data from the Transitions to Housing project that followed formerly homeless individuals (N = 383) throughout their first year of residence in permanent supportive housing (PSH). The study set out to examine which aspects of community integration are associated with mental health symptoms in this population. Five nested multivariate linear regression models were conducted and then compared. The model that accounted for demographics, substance use, neighborhood quality, and all three aspects of community integration simultaneously was the best fit and explained the most variance in mental health symptoms (24%). The complete model suggested higher levels of psychological integration were significantly associated with decreased mental health symptoms in this sample. This finding suggests fostering a sense of belonging among PSH residents could improve mental health outcomes. Implications for practice and future research are discussed. Highlights: Better psychological integration is associated with better mental health among individuals living in PSH.In separate models, physical and social integration had a positive relationship with mental health.Neighborhood quality had a quadratic relationship with mental health in this sample.Substance use had a consistent and significant association with increased mental health symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary draws on personal experience with interdisciplinary collaborations to suggest that may overstate the challenges internal to interdisciplinary work groups. It supports their discussion of external challenges, and comments on the efforts they suggest to further interdisciplinary work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: Collaboration, central to arts projects, took different forms and fostered community resilience.The arts process offered a space for migrant participants to have a critical look at the host society.Commitment was fluctuating, which could be explained by participants' vulnerable position.Sharing personal stories was a way for participants to build bridges across social divides. The worldwide upsurge in social polarizations generates intercommunity tensions that challenge the social fabric of urban neighborhoods and undermine the relationships between their members. Because community arts can foster the creation of connections between people that would not have been in contact otherwise, they are often perceived as being powerful tools to foster community resilience. Through a multiple case study approach, this article describes how three community arts projects, carried out in two socioeconomically deprived neighborhoods of Montreal (Canada), influenced the social relationships between participants from diverse ethnocultural backgrounds and generations. Using participant observation and arts‐based data collection methods (photography, video, and arts productions), the authors examine how the three projects illustrate (a) the interactive processes at play, (b) the transmission and hybridization of stories and images of adversity and resiliency, and (c) the access to a collective voice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]