AJCP as a Vehicle for Improving Community Life: An Historic–Analytic Review of the Journal's Contents

Abstract

The current article is an analysis of the research represented in American Journal of Community Psychology (AJCP) from 1993 to 1998, including a comparison to two previously published analytic reviews by Lounsbury et al. (J. W. Lounsbury, D. S. Leader, E. P. Meares, & M. P. Cook, 1980) and Speer et al. (P. Speer, A. Dey, P. Griggs, C. Gibson, B. Lubin, & J. Hughey, 1992), respectively. Observed trends are examined with references to major epistemological frameworks and methods used to define community psychology. Four guiding principles were examined to determine the representation of the epistemological frameworks of the articles published in the journal. The frameworks include social action, human diversity and cultural relativity, person-environmental fit, and methodological procedures. The results document the transition of community psychology from its early beginnings to an independent field conducting research consistent with the values articulated at the Swampscott Conference. This paper also comments on how well, after three decades of publication, the journal has served as a vehicle for improving community life.

La Formación Universitaria en la Psicología Comunitaria Chilena de Hoy: ¿Un Lugar Subalterno?

“…En la última década, a nivel internacional, se han identificado y analizado diferentes aspectos: las inconsistencias metodológicas que se producen entre el campo de la práctica y la investigación (Wandersman, 2003), la capacidad de la práctica científica de la disciplina para colaborar al mejoramiento de la calidad de vida de las comunidades (Martin, Lounsbury & Davidson II, 2004), la efectividad de las prácticas de intervención para contribuir al cambio social (Prilletensky, 2003(Prilletensky, , 2008, la relación entre prácticas comunitarias y el sistema neoliberal (Brady, Schoeneman & Sawyer, 2014), el papel que juega la ideología en los fundamentos teóricos y prácticos de la disciplina (Montenegro, 2002) e, incluso, se han reevaluado los propios límites del campo disciplinar (Montero, 2004(Montero, , 2006. En Latinoamérica, la consolidación de los regímenes democráticos y la mayor o menor instalación del sistema neoliberal han afianzado una hegemonía del financiamiento gubernamental en la intervención social, acompañada de un proceso creciente de estructuración burocrática.…”

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

“…For decades, it has been notoriously difficult to distinguish what strictly ''belongs'' within community psychology and the specific components that define the boundaries of the field (Lounsbury, Cook, Leader, Rubeiz, & Meares, 1979;Martin, Lounsbury, & Davidson, 2004). With just over 40 years having passed since community psychology's official inception, a growing imperative has emerged to ''take stock'' of how the field is currently positioned, reflect on its achievements, and evaluate its progress in meeting its initial goals, including its efficacy in promoting social change for maginalized groups, respect for cultural diversity, and ecological understandings of well-being (Martin et al, 2004).…”

“…With just over 40 years having passed since community psychology's official inception, a growing imperative has emerged to ''take stock'' of how the field is currently positioned, reflect on its achievements, and evaluate its progress in meeting its initial goals, including its efficacy in promoting social change for maginalized groups, respect for cultural diversity, and ecological understandings of well-being (Martin et al, 2004).…”

“…Several studies of trends in published research have been conducted on the most established journals in community psychology and community mental health (Angelique & Culley, 2003;Bernal & Enchautegui-de-Jesus, 1994;Loo, Fong, & Iwamasa, 1988;Lounsbury, Cook, Leader, Rubeiz, & Meares, 1979;Lounsbury, Leader, Mears, & Cook, 1980;Martin et al, 2004;Novaco & Monahan, 1980;Speer, Griggs, Gibson, Lubin, & Hughey, 1992). However, studies of this nature have been particularly scarce in the last decade, and no studies examining data sets of articles published in community psychology journals in the 2000s were identified.…”

“…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.…”