An analytic review of research in community psychology

Abstract

A content analysis was conducted on all 478 empirical articles published from 1973 through 1978 in the American Journal of Community Psychology and the Journal of Community Psychology. Results indicate a substantial emphasis on policy analysis/research and program evaluation. The delivery of mental health services was extensively researched; however, a wide diversity of other topics such as work, substance abuse, and attitudes toward mental illness were also represented. There was a relatively high degree of participation by authors with nonuniversity affiliations. Also, in 65% of the studies subjects were not identified as having a psychological problem; in one-third of the studies children served as subjects; and in 71% of the studies both males and females served as subjects. A number of problems with the typical research design are noted, including: unrepresentative sampling of subjects, nonequivalent comparison groups, and small sample and cell sizes.

Content and method trends in the Journal of Community Psychology between 2003 and 2007

“…However, there is notably an absence of social issues and concerns in the findings (Lounsbury et al, 1979). Speer et al (1992) used the same major topic areas as Lounsbury et al (1980), which are also some of the most salient categories reported in Lounsbury et al (1979). Speer et al (1992) focused on trends in the JCP and AJCP during the period 1984-1988 and compared these to those found by Lounsbury et al (1980) in the period 1973-1978.…”

“…Speer et al (1992) used the same major topic areas as Lounsbury et al (1980), which are also some of the most salient categories reported in Lounsbury et al (1979). Speer et al (1992) focused on trends in the JCP and AJCP during the period 1984-1988 and compared these to those found by Lounsbury et al (1980) in the period 1973-1978. Speer et al (1992 found that articles on mental health services and programs decreased by 32% compared with results found by Lounsbury et al (1980) the previous decade.…”

“…Speer et al (1992) focused on trends in the JCP and AJCP during the period 1984-1988 and compared these to those found by Lounsbury et al (1980) in the period 1973-1978. Speer et al (1992 found that articles on mental health services and programs decreased by 32% compared with results found by Lounsbury et al (1980) the previous decade. Articles dealing with the provision of human resources also showed a decrease of 7%, and articles focusing on measurement and methodology increased slightly by 4%, in response to some of the methodological criticisms of community psychology.…”

“…Existing trend analysis research in community psychology can be broadly categorized into two subtypes: First, those that review general epistemological and methodological trends during a comparatively shorter time period (5-10 years) such as Lounsbury et al (1979), Lounsbury et al (1980), Martin et al (2004), andSpeer et al (1992); second, those that provide an in-depth review of specific predetermined focal areas such as cultural diversity (Bernal & Enchautegui-de-Jesus, 1994;Loo et al, 1988) or gender issues (Angelique & Culley, 2003), and these typically examine longer time periods (20-30 years). The present study falls into the former category whereby general theory and method trends were identified; but the present study also touches on some of the more specific focal areas related to gender and culture that have been addressed in previous long-term studies.…”

The prospect and purpose of locating community research and action in religious settings

“…This low level of consideration of religious or spiritual variables is also common in the empirical studies of associated fields, psychiatry and nursing (Weaver, Flannelly, Flannelly, Koenig, & Larson, 1998). Finally, previous reviews investigating the emphases in community psychology's publications have considered affiliation of study participants and settings (e.g., school, medical, mental health center, work, university), however, they did not include consideration of religious settings or affiliations (Lounsbury, Leader, Meares, & Cook, 1980;Speer et al, 1992).…”