Blog :

Pedagogy of the Logic Model

Pedagogy of the Logic Model

June 27, 2013 – Miami, FL

I am presenting my approach to teaching undergraduates to work together to change their communities in a presentation entitled, “Pedagogy of the Logic Model: Teaching Undergraduates to Work Together to Change Their Communities.” I will post resources on this site for other educators who would like to teach students the applied skill of creating a logic model. My presentation and the others at this session are based on our recent articles in the Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community

Session title: Thriving in the Undergraduate Community Psychology Classroom: Experiential Learning

Session overview:
Experiential learning — learning rooted in the direct experience of the student — is highly relevant to community psychology. It aligns with core values of our field, and it can prompt student learning as well as civic engagement, social justice, and community betterment. In the April 2013 issue, the Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community published a collection of papers on experiential learning for undergraduates enrolled in community psychology courses, including (1) individual and group service-learning exercises; (2) other strategies for using community experiences to augment in-class learning; and (3) ways of having students draw upon prior out-of-class or in-class community experiences to increase student understanding. The authors of the papers in this special issue will gather at this session to discuss their teaching strategies. Following brief introductory remarks by the guest editors, the authors will have posters outlining their experiential teaching methods and techniques set up throughout the room. Attendees will circulate among the posters to discuss their teaching ideas. Copies of teaching exercises and materials will be provided. The session will close with discussion and audience observations.

Please attend! The presentation is on Thursday morning (10:30AM-12noon) at the Society for Community Research and Action Biennial Conference in Miami. It will be held in the Dooley Memorial Classroom Building at the University of Miami.

SBIRT at the SCRA Biennial

SBIRT at the SCRA Biennial

Saturday, June 29th 4:15PM – Miami, FL

Colleagues Dr. Angela Mooss, Dr. Gladys Ibanez and I will present “Implementing a Wellness and Resilience Paradigm within Health Care and Criminal Justice Systems: Innovations to Base Prevention Programs and Policies on Stakeholders’ Strengths”

I will focus on screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment or “SBIRT”

1. SBIRT Background:
a. 40 million Americans have an injury-related emergency department (ED) visit each year.
b. 50% of trauma injury patients used alcohol during their injury.
c. The American College of Surgeons mandated universal alcohol use screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment or “SBIRT” in all level 1 trauma centers.
d. Up to 30% of trauma injury patients have a “significant other,” such as partners, friends and family with them in the ED.

2. SBIRT is in some key ways consistent with a Community Psychology approach:
a. Preventive
b. Systems level: national policy
c. Cost-effective

3. However, there are key ways in which it is inconsistent with a Community Psychology approach:
a. Deficit-focused: Strengths focus is more likely to enhance resilience
c. Ignores social context: Relies solely on professional health care providers
c. High implementation variability

Symposium overview:

As community psychologists working in the field, we have opportunities to oversee or lead projects and shape how strategies and programs are implemented. We naturally strive to incorporate our community psychology values and principles into policy and program implementation, however, there are many barriers to systems change. Each of the proposed sessions in this symposium will present a project from a different U.S. urban community in which community psychologists are implementing projects to create change: one related to trauma and emergency department policies and practices, one related to behavioral health integration within primary care, and one related to community interventions for Latinos in the criminal justice system. For each of these projects, we plan to describe our challenges and successes in implementing our project strategies using a community psychology framework. The strengths and weaknesses of existing systems and our desire to add innovative processes will be discussed. We seek to engage our audiences to participate in this community psychology critique, by including a walk-through demonstration of key aspects of each program to help us to better consider the multiple perspectives of key community stakeholders. Some of the issues we plan to discuss during the sessions include stigma and a focus on deficits as opposed to strengths, disease models rather than health promotion models, cultural gaps between stakeholders and community members, and lack of buy-in from staff currently employed by such systems.

Please attend and bring your expertise to share with us and the other attendees!

Social Ecology of Youth

Social Ecology of Youth

Families are uniquely positioned to protect youth from sexual and violence risks.

Youth Relationships

Youth Relationships

This word cloud displays the most common household relationships of Black South African youth ages 10-14 who participated in Imbadu Ekhaya.

Caregiver Relationships

Caregiver Relationships

Social relationships are the most proximal influence on behavior.

This word cloud displays the most common household relationships of Black South African caregivers of youth ages 10-14 who participated in Imbadu Ekhaya.