This seems another opportunity to articulate another expectation about this list.
 
I expect this to be a list on which discussion takes place about community psychology. I do not expect it to be a discussion list about clinical psychology, a discussion list about health service provision, a discussion list upon which one offers and discloses anguish and receives counselling, a discussion list upon which one ventilates one's anger at life's injustices as one sees them, a discussion lists on which one socialises etc., except insofar as that is unavoidable in discussion community psychology. If I expected to discuss those other matters I would join or start up different lists.
 
Because community psychology is not just a body of knowledge claims but a set of practices underpinned by a set of powerfully held values, I expect a community psychology discussion list to not only be about community psychology but to embody community psychology values and its processes to be consistent with those values.
 
I regard community psychology as, crucially, a critical approach. Much of what gets offered as community psychology seems to me to be as problematic as psychology in general.
 
I do not think critical scrutiny of either psychology in general or critical community psychology in particular can be overdone and I do not see reflexive critical scrutiny of our own ideas, practices etc as a diversion from action but as an essential component of critical psychology action (praxis). I regard it as essential that we constantly question whether what community psychologists are collectively engaged in is making things worse rather than better. Foucault and other writers have given us no excuse to be ignorant or naive as to how problematic and complicit a discipline psychology in its various guises is. 
 
I agree that we have common struggles - one of those common struggles is to be aware of, avoid collusion with or contest an ideologically and practically problematic discipline which promotes the interests of the most powerful and works against the interests of the least powerful, irrespective of the intentions of many of those enacting it.
 
So, whilst I also have other expectations too and I also accept the right of other people posting to this list to have other expectations and I am here just making my own expectations clear, one of my expectations of this list is that it is a forum for discussion about, and embodying, critical community psychology.
 
Regarding time . . . personally, I do not contribute to this list relatively often because I have too much time on my hands but because there is so much injustice and misery and so little time to contest it. Because of that time pressure, another expectation I have of this list is that we do not waste each others' time with matters which are really nothing to do with tackling injustice and misery through critical community psychology
 
David
 
David Fryer
Community Psychology Group
University of Stirling
FK9 4LA
Scotland
+44 (0) 1786 467650 (tel)
+44 (0) 1786 467641 (fax)
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-----Original Message-----
From: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Franks, Wendy - Clinical Psychologist
Sent: 12 July 2006 1:23 pm
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] what do WHICH people want?

Hi all,
 
I've only just had time to skim some of the arguments in this thread, but was aware that Michael's comment below struck me as important, and that it also seemed to get lost in the discussion.
 
As someone who has the privilege of earning a living from working with people, and (for now) seem to have a lot of choice in how I do that, I try to focus my energies to work in ways that at least attend to social inequalities and how they relate to people's health. I'm aware that trying to maintain a critical perspective on many of the dilemmas I encounter in this work (and that are being discussed on this list in a lot more detail than I feel I have time to fully engage in) leave me feeling uncertain and ineffective, as well as sometimes exhausted, anxious and even a little defensive about what I'm doing. I'm aware that I do not often feel as powerful as I am sometimes imagined to be because of my relatively priviliged position, which sometimes adds to my experience of responsibility without much real power.
 
I really appreciated the inclusiveness of Michael's post, and the recognition of our common struggles and needs, as well as our differences.
 
Wendy
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Swindlehurst [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 06 July 2006 19:53
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] what do WHICH people want?

As a service user and carer research participant for many years now, I can appreciate a little of what Sue, Petra and David are debating here and, such sensible considerations have led to great improvements in research methods and attitudes in recent years from the service user participants point of view - enabling much common progress. However, I cannot help but feel you are also dissipating your energies further by trying to achieve the opposite. You are members of the community as vulnerable as the rest of us and it is not so much our uniqueness which matters, but the greater things we all have in common. In this, are the answers to what we all really and unifyingly need and, perhaps, such academic considerations can be over-done and divert us from the objective? 
 
Mike S
----- Original Message -----
From: [log in to unmask] href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">Petra Boynton
To: [log in to unmask] href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]
Sent: Thursday, July 06, 2006 5:45 PM
Subject: Re: what do WHICH people want?

Again I agree in part with David, but I think we also have to be careful not to make too many assumptions about research.  David's account presents research as something led by researchers whose voices are heard and whose study designs/contacts are priviledged.  That is common practice and may well lead to the 'usual suspects' or dominant groups being studied or even over researched, as well as work being completed that isn't necessarily supportive or reflective of communities.

However the study I linked to was developed entirely within a community by community members.  That community does have a very strong network which could easily inform links to others.  So it would be community members rather than researchers/practitioners who would be providing introductions and links.  Whilst I accept that could lead to the 'usual suspects' being studied, in this case I'd say it would expand the range of people being spoken to, and also empowers a community group who were brave enough to challenge research ideas and suggest they had a voice and something to say.  It would be a shame that our belief that research is always entirely dominated by academics and researchers might lead to projects actively organised by communities being excluded or overlooked.

Whilst we rightly should focus on the needs of communities we are working with, being critical also means focusing on who is doing the work within research.  All too often it's junior female staff who're set the task of identifying participants, where lots of time is put in but few contacts are made because the researcher doesn't know the area/community or is unable without help and introductions to respectfully and appropriately liase with a community.  This does lead to wasted time, effort and money - which isn't just a problem for researchers, it's a problem for everyone involved.  And it leads to junior staff feeling disempowered and distressed.  So whilst I agree it's a great idea to look critically at work, if we're not empowering and training our staff to do this (and most staff aren't given this opportunity) then we will continue to see research that isn't empowering anyone.



At 16:56 06/07/2006, you wrote:
I agree with Sue here.
 
I believe that 'saving time' and avoiding 'cash' being 'wasted' by identifying 'participants', 'community leads' and 'existing networks' by going via existing researchers' and of existing projects often leads to the rounding up of the 'usual suspects' and the privileging of the same old voices (and silencing of others). These concerns were not reduced by reading Phyl's post where a 'wide range of statutory and voluntary bodies' on a steering group are proposed as a filter / access route for proposed research.. I also note, in terms of whose interests are paramount, that prioritising the saving time and money is to privilege the interests of researchers and funders, rather than those of community members. Moreover, I don't see 'focusing on other projects . . . as a diversion' so much as a perversion. It is important, in my view, to see the social world and its problems through the eyes of community members, not through the eyes of those who make their living studying or providing services for community members and it is particularly important to privilege community members' interests in the defining of what is problematic and how it will be tackled rather than those of service providers and other researchers.
 
Admittedly, some communities are over-researched and their members are at risk of research fatigue, sometimes research based on secondary sources is good enough and it is pointless to reinvent the wheel again and again so there are occasionally arguments for refraining from doing more research and for working with what research has already been done. However it is, in my view, extremely rare that one comes across research and projects which are genuinely critical community psychological in values and assumptions and research based on secondary analysis of non critical community psychology work is, hopefully, flawed as far as members of this list are concerned. On the other hand, secondary research (carried out from a critical community psychology perspective) into pre-existing research (carried out from a non critical community psychology perspective) could be of great interest in exposing the role of much community based research in serving the interests of the powerful or, more precisely, enacting the micropolitics which accomplish the macropolitical agenda of the status quo.
 
David

David Fryer
Community Psychology Group
University of Stirling
FK9 4LA
Scotland
+44 (0) 1786 467650 (tel)
+44 (0) 1786 467641 (fax)
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-----Original Message-----
From: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sue McPherson
Sent: 06 July 2006 12:54 pm
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] what do WHICH people want?
I find Petra's views a bit problematic, likewise the comment given by Michelle Lee, about a project she was involved in, to "empower the Bangladeshi Community to reach their people in an appropriate manner."

 
Obviously, there are different levels at which one can intervene, and while already existing networks can be useful, there's a difference between using them to identify key members in the community (see above and below)  and seeking out members of the community who wouldn't otherwise have a voice.  Of course talking to community representatives would be important, but I don't see it "wasting time" to seek out untapped resources - people living in the community who are not already biased in their views. Most people are only too glad to volunteer to talk if notices are put up requesting their assistance.  I guess the funding referred to below can quickly be used up in the time taken (and having to be paid for) for putting up such notices, making contact, setting up interviews, and seeking permission from ethics committees), but I imagine the purpose of the study would indicate which way to go - getting in at ground level or midway up. and of course, whether divisions between different cultures will be emphasised or only dealt with when necessary.

 
Sue McPherson

 

----- Original Message -----
From: Petra Boynton
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wednesday, July 05, 2006 1:24 PM
Subject: Re: what do WHICH people want?

I agree with David up to a point.  Whilst focusing on other projects could act as a diversion, given the diverse needs of the community in Tower Hamlets and that existing researchers have worked effectively and respectfully within that community networking with them could at least identify ways of effective working and save time trying to identify participants and key community leads.  Whilst the PCT's funded you cash can often be wasted trying to find people to be involved in programmes where networks already exist (and you can always step outside those if you need to).


At 12:43 05/07/2006, you wrote:
Dear Deborah,

 
If I were you I would not start by seeing what other researchers have done and, especially, I would not start by looking for another study done elsewhere which could act as a guide or template as to what you should do and how you should do it. If you came across such a study I would put it on one side until you have done your own work so it does not affect how you work.

 
I note that in your account the impetus for the research comes not from the community but from health visitors and district nurses rather than from residents in Tower Hamlets. In whose interests is the proposed research being done, really? Who is powerful in deciding who is studied, what questions are asked etc?

 
If I were you I would find ways to be useful in very practical ways to people in Tower hamlets and gradually earn the right to be trusted. I would find out the questions that people in Tower Hamlets want answered and I would seek for ways to support them in getting answers.

 
In so far as you do read in advance I would suggest this should be to problemetise the project in which you are engaged: I would suggest the following reading as priority reading in that regard:

 
Ian Parker (2005) Qualitative Psychology: Introducing Radical Research,  Buckingham: Open University Press. isbn: 0-335-21349-9

 
Linda Tuhiwai Smith (1999) Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples  Zed Books isbn 1856496244

Derek Hook (ed.), with Mkhize, N. Kiguwa, P. and Collins, A. (section eds) and Burman, E. and Parker, I. (consulting eds) Critical Psychology2004,  Cape Town: UCT Press. isbn: 1-91971-388-3

David
David Fryer
Community Psychology Group
University of Stirling
FK9 4LA
Scotland
+44 (0) 1786 467650 (tel)
+44 (0) 1786 467641 (fax)
[log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Deborah Chinn
Sent: 04 July 2006 10:44 pm
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] what do people want?
Dear All
 
We (some PCT psychologists) have got some funding to find out from people in Tower Hamlets in the East End of London what they think are the important things that impact on their health and wellbeing, and conversely, what might get in the way of good physical and mental health.  The starting point for this study were worries from primary health staff, mainly health visitors and district nurses, that there were quite a few people who didn't find seem to find health professionals' current approaches or interventions very helpful.  We are going to have to think carefully about issues of race/culture in the design and focus of the study, as Tower Hamlets is a very ethnically diverse borough with 30% of the population identified as Bangladeshi.
 
Does anyone know of any similar work, or maybe someone has conducted a similar study?  Any ideas or suggestions would be gratefully received.
 
Many thanks
Deborah Chinn

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Petra M Boynton, PhD
Lecturer in Health Services Research
Department Primary Care and Population Sciences, UCL.
Open Learning Unit, Archway Campus
4th Floor, Holborn Union Building, Highgate Hill
London, N19 5LW.

Tel: 0207 288 3325      Mob: 07967 212925

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The University of Stirling is a university established in Scotland by charter at Stirling, FK9 4LA. Privileged/Confidential Information may be contained in this message. If you are not the addressee indicated in this message (or responsible for delivery of the message to such person), you may not disclose, copy or deliver this message to anyone and any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on it, is prohibited and may be unlawful. In such case, you should destroy this message and kindly notify the sender by reply email. Please advise immediately if you or your employer do not consent to Internet email for messages of this kind.
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Petra M Boynton, PhD
Lecturer in Health Services Research
Department Primary Care and Population Sciences, UCL.
Open Learning Unit, Archway Campus
4th Floor, Holborn Union Building, Highgate Hill
London, N19 5LW.

Tel: 0207 288 3325      Mob: 07967 212925

The Research Companion Messageboard - share your experiences and get support here! www.psypress.co.uk/boynton




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