Community psychology values and the culture of graduate training: A self‐study

Abstract

In this self-study of an AIM. program in community psychology, the authors focused on evaluation of training goals related to the values of collaboration, empowerment, and diversity. Employing quantitative and qualitative methods, the evaluator, a thesis student in the program, cooperated with a stakeholder committee and other student, staff, and faculty members of the program to construct the methods and interpret the findings. Although the converging sources of data showed that the program was meeting its process goals to some extent, several key issues in the culture of training~ such as the status of women, the psychological sense of community, and a supportive learning environment, needed improvement. The authors interpret the findings in terms of the impact of the university system and patriarchal norms on training in community psychology.

Reviewing Diversity Training: Where We Have Been and Where We Should Go

“…Our review further shows that the training approach described as integrated (training is conducted as part of a systematic and planned organizational development effort) has been less prevalent, yet viewed more favorably in the literature than standalone training (e.g., Alcalde & Walsh-Bowers, 1996;Bendick, 2001;Caffrey, 2005;Klak & Martin, 2003;Rynes & Rosen, 1995). Approximately equal attention has been given to both voluntary and mandatory diversity training.…”

“…Evidence from the educational context typically comes from evaluating diversity courses conducted within diversity-infused curricula (supervision, coursework, writing/research, campuswide cultural "celebration" events, cultural immersion-all with an emphasis on diversity; e.g., Alcalde & Walsh-Bowers, 1996;Caffrey, 2005;Klak & Martin, 2003;Manese, Wu, & Nepomuceno, 2001). So, the literature suggests that the impact of diversity training is related to its integration in other organizational initiatives or signals from top management that it is a priority for the organization or college and not just "window-dressing."…”

“Community Psychology is for Poor, Black People”: Pedagogy and Teaching of Community Psychology in South Africa

“…Teaching experiences in community psychology are commonly described in the context of professional training at a postgraduate level (Alcade & Walsh-Bowers, 1997;Gibson, Sandenbergh, & Swartz, 2001;Pillay, 2003). These articles have focused on didactics or teaching method.…”

“…Terms like "group-based" and "problem solving" approaches to learning (Visser & Cleaver, 1996) and "experiential learning" (White & Potgieter, 1996) have been used, but few articles on the teaching of community psychology have made their pedagogical approaches explicit. Earlier authors hinted at pedagogy by focusing on the importance of the process of teaching (Alcade & Walsh-Bowers, 1997).…”

A personal sojourn to spiritualize community psychology

“…Classroom and mentorship relationships would be restructured, and students would have genuine power in the form of student governance in programs (Alcalde & Walsh-Bowers, 1996). Course content would be opened up to recognize the socially constructed nature of scientific psychology, to respect the diversity in different cultures' experiences of subjectivity and objectivity, and to incorporate explicit discussion of the meaning of religion and spirituality not simply for community residents but for students and faculty alike.…”