Health, community and development: towards a social psychology of participation

Abstract

The concept of ‘community participation’ plays a central role in policies and interventions seeking to reduce health inequalities. This paper seeks to contribute to debates about the role of participation in health by suggesting how social psychological concepts can add to the theorisation of participation. It criticises traditional concepts of development and introduces some of the challenged that are present for development and community theorists in conditions of rapid globalisation. The paper proceeds to demarcate the space which a social psychology of participation occupies within the terrain of existing research into the health‐society interface. The concepts of empowerment and social capital are identified as important starting points to address the relative lack of social psychological attention to community‐level determinants of health. It is suggested that social identities, social representations and power are crucial elements for constructing a social psychology of participation. The paper concludes by highlighting the vital link that should exist between the development of theory and practical interventions. Paulo Freire's notion of conscientisation is a guiding notion throughout the paper. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Peer education, gender and the development of critical consciousness: participatory HIV prevention by South African youth

“…The first of these is the development of theoretical underpinnings for the design and evaluation of peer education programs. We have sought to do this in the light of our more general interest in contributing to the development of a "social psychology of participation" (Campbell & Jovchelovitch, 2000), with particular emphasis on the relevance of the work of Paulo Freire (1993aFreire ( , 1993b to this enterprise. Secondly we hope to have contributed to understandings of the way in which community and social contexts may impact on the best-intentioned attempts to promote sexual behaviour change amongst young people.…”

“…In theory, participatory approaches seek to provide the context within which target audiences will generate their own indigenous critical analyses of the causes of the health threat at hand, and will reach their own self-generated solutions on the basis of such critical analyses. Peer education is supposed to be strictly non-directive, aiming to promote the empowerment of target audiences through providing them with contexts in which they can generate their own solutions to the health risk at hand, rather than through prescribing what the content of such discussions should be (Campbell & Jovchelovitch, 2000).…”

“…Ideally, peer educational settings should provide a context within which a group of young people may come together to construct identities that challenge the ways in which traditional gender relations place their sexual health at risk (Campbell & Jovchelovitch, 2000). In such a situation, social identities become potent tools for social change.…”

Re‐presentation and resistance in the context of school exclusion: reasons to be critical

“…While social representations theory is still far away from the critical move within social psychology as a whole, there is growing recognition that the theory can and should develop a serious engagement with critical issuesideology, oppression, resistance, participation and social change (Campbell and Jovchelovitch, 2000;Duveen, 2000;Howarth, Foster and Dorrer, 2004;Imtiaz, 2002;Joffe, 1999;Jovchelovitch, 1996;Oktar, 2001;Scarbrough, 1990). The social basis and critical tool within the theory is its emphasis on re-presentation.…”

An Outline of the Need for Psychology Knowledge in Health Professionals: Implications for Community Development and Breast Cancer Prevention

“…Additionally, there is also a need for giving attention to mechanisms whereby such community level determinants are shaped by broader macro-social relationships, particularly among who often have the poorest health status (Campbell and Jovchelovitch, 2000).…”