Why action research is important in community psychology

The first question asked about the importance of a particular issue "How importance is it for you that The second question asked about the respondent's satisfaction with the issue "How satisfied are you with. Both questions were rated on a 5-point scale, where 1 indicated not important or not satisfied and 5 indicated very important or very satisfied.

Once the survey was finalized, the state government of Jalisco printed the survey. A group of 30 volunteer students canvassed door-to-door to collect the concerns surveys. The students were trained by the two local project coordinators who in turn had been trained by the UIC researcher. The students collected the data as part of their community service required to graduate from the school. The mayor supported the initiative, and facilitated the transportation during the data collection phase.

The data collection was held over a period of 1 month and a half during the weekends. Only residents living in the municipality of Juanacatlan were asked to respond the survey. A total of 1, people responded; the average age of the respondents was 44 years. Table 1 summarizes the list of the top community strengths and concerns identified in Juanacatlan. Strengths were items that had high ratings in both importance and satisfaction, while concerns were rated high in importance but low in satisfaction CTB, These results were the topics targeted for action by community members.

The results of the survey were summarized in a brief report and shared during Sunday masses and at a community public forum held in Juanacatlan's downtown plaza on a Sunday after mass.

This report was also posted in Juanacatlan's Mayoral office. Furthermore, there was a representative from the state government of Jalisco who attended the town hall meeting. During the town hall meeting, the mayor directed the discussion of the strengths and concerns identified by the community. Attendees were asked to provide additional information to explain the problems and how they perceived them. It was obvious that the majority had very strong feelings about the pollution in the river and that became a priority concern.

Promoting the culture of Jalisco through dance and music was of interest to many teachers and parents of children and youth. Community members were asked to join various committees that fit their personal interests e.

Community leaders used the survey results for planning and taking actions. They also proposed to increase community services and to work with the elementary school teachers to identify vulnerable children. Some of the ideas for new services included, preventing violence against children; offering early intervention workshops to improve early child development among low-income families; and handcrafting classes for youth. In reference to activities that build community capacity, participants proposed to distribute environmental information on the status of the river's condition in order to increase awareness among the population about the river's pollution and the health risks that it poses, and the group nominated a leader who would focus on improving the economic conditions in the agricultural fields near town.

Some members also proposed to establish a committee in order to build a multipurpose center where they could hold community meetings and also offer visitation services for families with a death relative who did not have space in their home.

After the CRM results were analyzed and published, community members came together to suggest some ideas to address the main concerns and increase the strengths that were identified. Therefore, the need to create a non-for profit association came out. The main objective of this association was to increase community social services and promote activities that enhance community traditions.

Community leaders decided to create a non-for profit association called "Necahual Mexico A. C" Necahual mission was to help children and family members who live in vulnerable environments and to provide educational, cultural, and recreational activities.

Necahual operates with funds donated by immigrants living in the Chicago area. The unit provides free preventive, legal services, and psychological therapies. In , UAVI provided 27 psychological services to community members; in there were 45 services; in there were 70 services; and in through June there have been 70 thus far. Hence, the initiative general coordinator sought the support from the University of Guadalajara to have clinical psychologists conduct their internship program at Neca-hual.

Currently, the University of Guadalajara is collaborating with 3 clinical psychologists to cover the growing demand for services. Among the social activities performed by Necahual were: annual field trips for children to "Trompo Magico " museum and to Guadalajara's park zoo; soccer tournaments; religious plays in December; Christmas celebrations; mini Olympic games event, family's day celebration, children's day celebration, and handcraft classes.

The handcraft classes failed due to lack of community participation. The general coordinator informed "Club ProObras Juanacatldn" members about a Mexican government program called 3x1, and how the clubs could benefit from it. The 3x1 is a program created by the Mexican federal government to support immigrants' effort to improve the living conditions in their hometowns.

This program involves the participation of the federal, state, and local governments, and hometown associations in the U. The 3x1 program's objectives are to benefit communities with high levels of poverty, to promote social development-community projects, to reinforce civil society and government partnerships and strengthen Mexican immigrants' relationships with their hometowns SEDESOL, The activities performed with the purpose of raising funds by the 'Club Pro-Obras Juanacatldn include: an annual gala dance, a raffle, and a traditional Mexican dance.

The Club also organizes a yearly family picnic free of cost to promote fraternization among members and an annual event called 'Jalisco in Evanston' with traditional music, dance, and food to promote the richness of Mexican culture in Chicago, also free of charge. Before the "Club Pro-Obras Juanacatldn" joined the "Juanacatldn Renace" initiative, the Club only helped the town nursing home for elderly people.

After the unification, the Club started to benefit from the federal government 3x1 program and expanded their mission to meet different community needs. The Club donated to the nursing home a 16 passengers mini-bus accessible for people with disabilities, five home hospital beds, home appliances and furniture, built an elevator inside the nursing home, installed new doors in the rooms, made the bathroom safe and accessible, repaired the kitchen drain and the gas line, and upgraded the nursing home electricity.

Furthermore, the Club supported the nursing home with funds to start a project for growing organic vegetables. The students are helping residents grow the vegetables as part of a school course. The profits generated by the vegetables sales are going to help the nursing home.

The Club donated seven scholarships to students that for lack of economic resources were at risk to abandoning their university studies. Emerging Themes in Epidemiology, Balcazar, F. The need for action when conducting intervention research: The multiple roles of community psychologists.

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American Psychological Association. Leung, M. International Journal of Epidemiology, 33 3 , — Lewin, K. Action Research and Minority Problems. Journal of Social Issues, 2 4 , 34— Lightfoot, E. Social Work Research, 38 1 , 59— PAR has very strong emancipatory leanings developed within movements such as liberation theology.

Guttierez, the Boffs, Sobrino and many others. This movement saw participatory citizenship as a means of challenging subordination and marginalization, and re-interpreted the role of the church in its engagement with the world. Antonio Gramsci is less known for, yet very important in contrtibuting to PAR.

Gramsci, writing in early 20th century Italy, argued that all people are intellectuals and philosophers. The idea that PAR researchers are really co-learners and researchers with the people they meet in the research process promotes the validity that all people are intellectuals who develop intricate philosophies through lived experience. PAR also has its roots in phenomenology and postmodernism.

PAR is part of an important shift in paradigm from the traditional, positivist, science paradigm which arose to bring certainty and verifiability to research questions, to postpositivism which recognizes and tries to address complex human and social problems. PAR has evolved through the s and into the 21st century as it has been applied to various fields within international development. More methods have been developed to add nuance and solidify key processes of "how" to do PAR, such as participatory development communication PDC.

Practitioners have also recently tried to move away from the word "research" because of its extractive connotations and abstract meaning to many community and group members. Thus new names with some new elements are being used, such as "participatory action learning", "participatory learning-action", and "participatory action development".

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Journal of Community Psychology, 26 , Pruitt, A. Housing First and Photovoice: Transforming lives, communities, and systems. American Journal of Community Psychology , 61 , Society for Community Research and Action Smoking and Health US Government Printing Office. The Belmont Report Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

United States Government Printing Office. West, S. Project D. American Journal of Public Health , 94 6 , Wolfe, S. Practice Competencies. A field that goes beyond an individual focus and integrates social, cultural, economic, political, environmental, and international influences to promote positive change, health, and empowerment at individual and systemic levels SCRA Prevention or promotion programs that aim to promote behavioral change in defined community contexts to address social problems.

Understanding the relationships between people and their social environments e. The degree to which a study produces results that prove to be consistent, no matter who is conducting the research. A research ethics principle that states children, prisoners, and pregnant individuals are considered vulnerable populations, and they require special protections when involved in research. A research ethics principle that requires that researchers do no harm and maximize possible benefits, and they can do this by finding less risky methods to achieve research goals.

A research ethics principle that indicates research should have similar benefits, risks and burdens to all populations. The deliberate sharing of research findings to groups and communities that would benefit from said findings. Sequence of actions that goes from the planned on paper to actions in natural community contexts. Good implementation depends on the skills of the community psychologists involved and the degree of community readiness. An approach to intervention based on research that systematically demonstrates its effectiveness.

Research that involves an exchange of resources and ideas between researchers and the community members as a way of understanding that is guided by community needs, also known as "participatory action research. The use of different research methods to understand person-environment interactions and also determine whether community interventions have been successful. Methods involving collecting data in the form of numbers using standardized measures in an attempt to produce generalizable findings.

A design decision that involves the random assignment of participants into either an experimental group or a control group.