Tu/Th,
9:35 - 10:50 a.m.
Instructor: Douglas
D. Perkins Phone:
322-3386, Fax: 322-1769
Dept. of Human & Organizational Development Email:
Douglas.D.Perkins@Vanderbilt.Edu
Office: 107 Mayborn Office Hours: Tu 11-12, Wed 3-4, or by app’t
_____________________________________________________________________________
Course
Description: This course provides an
overview of theory, research and action in community psychology (CP). CP is the study and application of
psychological solutions to community-based social, mental health, and
environmental problems. It also explores
the relationships between stressful environments, supportive social systems,
and individual and family well‑being.
It emphasizes values, applied research, and action all focused on
promoting the welfare of the whole community, especially under-served
populations. It focuses on prevention,
self-help, empowerment, cultural diversity, and organizational, community, and
societal-level action.
How do
friends and family help you cope with life's major traumas and daily hassles?
How
did the kids, teachers and parents of Project Head Start change the nation's
mind about what makes people poor and
underachieving?
Why
have so many mentally ill and criminally convicted people been
"deinstitutionalized," what does that mean, and why have so many
become homeless?
How
can people organize, work collectively to improve their neighborhoods,
workplaces, services, and other community settings, and develop a greater sense
of community?
Community
psychology answers these and many other questions.
Course
Objectives: To introduce students to the basic values,
historical influences, theories, and levels and methods of intervention in
community psychology. To allow students to relate these to other approaches in
psychology and other social sciences and helping professions and to a brief
community project or service experience.
Course
Format:
Class meetings will be run as a seminar in which the required readings
and student projects will be discussed in groups and as a class, along with
student presentations and instructor lectures.
The graduate section (3470) will meet at both the scheduled time and an
additional meeting at least biweekly. The exact schedule of topics and
reading assignments may change. Be
aware of any changes, be prepared for class, and try to obtain a classmate's
notes on any class you miss. Please do
all of the reading on time, and participate in class. Class attendance is important and may be taken at any time; it
will be used to round final grades up or down.
Required
text (AVAILABLE ON PROMETHEUS ONLY): DRAFT
of Levine, M., Perkins, D.V., & Perkins, D.D. (forthcoming). Principles
of community psychology. (3rd edition) (I will put a copy of the 2nd edition on Ed. Library
reserve, but read the draft chapters on Prometheus. A few brief
supplemental readings or handouts may be handed out in class or put on
Prometheus or reserve.
Class
lectures, outlines and, especially, draft text chapters are
the intellectual property of the instructor and may not be sold,
published, or posted on the internet in any form, including notes,
without the instructor's permission.
Students may share class notes with other students enrolled in the class
as a courtesy, but not for pay.
Grading
System: All of your grades for
this course are based on a 20‑point scale as follows: 18-20=A+, 16-17=A,
15=A-, 14=B+, 13=B, 12=B-, 11=C+,10=C, 9=C-, 8=D+, 7=D, 6=D-, 0-5=F. This system is designed to recognize that
A's range from "very good" (16) to "extraordinary" (20) and
F's range from "very poor effort" (5) to "no effort" (0). It rewards (or punishes) those gradations
accordingly. Most important, it allows
students who do poorly on one grade to still get a high course grade by scoring
higher than 16 on other work. In general, there are no make‑up
opportunities. Late work will lose
points. Any missing units of work will be graded 0. Please talk to the
instructor if you're having problems.
Course
schedule: The following schedule is flexible with respect to timing of
topics. Assignment due dates in bold are not expected to change. Students are responsible for any changes
announced in class.
Tu Th Reading/Topic
1/10 Overview
of course, syllabus, requirements
Discussion: What is my
community and what is my biggest concern for it?
1/15 L&P: "Introduction: An
Overview of Community Psychology";
Handout: "An
Introduction to Community Psychology"
ORIGINS OF COMMUNITY
PSYCHOLOGY
1/17 L&P:
Chapter 1. Life is a soap opera
1/22 L&P:
2. Origins of Community Psychology in Community Mental Health; Homelessness
1/24 Limitations
of traditional psych: behavioral, social, & testing psychology
(Prometheus)
seminar
paper topic due & scheduling presentation
PERSPECTIVES
IN COMMUNTY PSYCHOLOGY
1/29 L&P: 3. Conceptual Road Map
of Community Psychology
1/31 L&P: 4.
The Ecological Analogy
2/5 L&P: 4, continued
2/7 L&P:
5. Three Psychological Conceptions of the Environment
2/12 Psychological Conceptions of
Community (check Prometheus)
2/14 Analyzing
community environments (check Prometheus)
2/19 L&P: 6. Labeling Theory: An
Alternative to the Illness Model
2/21 L&P: 7. Adaptation, Crisis (Stress),
Coping, and Support
2/26 Community analyses due;
discussed in class.
APPLICATIONS OF COMMUNITY
PSYCHOLOGY
2/28 L&P:
8. Prevention
3/2-3/10 ***Spring Break***
3/12 L&P: 8, continued
3/14 L&P:
9. Self Help & Advocacy Groups
3/19 L&P: 9, cont.; Journals due
3/21 ***No
class; work on seminar paper and/or community analysis & proposal***
3/26 L&P: 10. The Problem of
Change
3/28 Reforming
Human Service Organizations and Institutions
4/2 L&P: 11. School
Desegregation: A Societal-level Intervention
4/4 L&P:
12. Social Action in Communty Psychology
4/9 Community Development; Urban
Growth & Planning
4/11 Citizen
Participation and Empowerment (Prometheus)
4/16 L&P: 13. Science, Politics,
and the Ethics of Community Intervention
4/18 Community
Research Methods (Prometheus)
4/23 Last class: Community
intervention experiences presented
Fri.
4/26 3:00 pm: Final Exam
Graded
Course Requirements (& % of course grade):
1. Seminar Paper (20%; 3-page
single-spaced; DUE 1 WEEK AFTER PRESENTATION IN CLASS) on a topic that you think ought to be in a
text on community psychology but is not in this one (see index of 2nd
edition on Ed. Library reserve) or that needs substantial updating or
revision. Identify a topic that
interests you and the chapter it is most relevant to (which will determine when
it will be presented in class). You
must have the instructor's approval on a topic by the 3rd week of class. Do a thorough search, especially of the
recent (since 1994) scholarly literature on the topic. PsychInfo may be the best database, unless
you think the topic is relevant to CP but is better represented in another
database (e.g., Sociological Abstracts, ERIC, etc.). Write a paper, summarizing and critically reviewing and analyzing
the literature on that topic, relating it to the text chapter. Email your draft paper to the entire
class and instructor at least 24 hours before the topic is scheduled. Co-lead class discussion of the chapter and
paper on the day it is scheduled. Every
student in the class will be expected to read and comment on each seminar
paper. Papers may be revised based
on comments and class discussion before being turned in for a grade. I encourage students, both in this paper and
informally, to include some critique of the text, e.g., how clear and engaging is
the writing? How interesting are the topics?
Is it too focused on community psychology theory and research and not
enough on practice? Too focused on mental health and not enough on social,
political, and economic problems? How has the field of community psychology
changed over time? What are its strengths and weaknesses? What direction is it
taking? What direction should it take?
How well does the text represent these ideas? Be specific and for
however much you suggest adding, try to identify what material in the text you
would cut.
2. Community Analysis (20%; 3 single-spaced pages): Using at least 2
major principles or concepts from community psychology (more than 2 if
possible), analyze a community you know from your own experience (current or
past; place-based or relational) or one that interests you but that you do not
belong to. Try to analyze both strengths and weaknesses of the
community. You may consider any aspect
of the social, political, economic, or physical environment of the community, but
be sure to include an analysis of the psychological—i.e., behavioral,
cognitive, or emotional—aspects of the strength or problem. Conclude with 1 paragraph proposing a
possible intervention program or policy, organized at the community,
organizational, or societal systems (i.e., not individual or family) level,
to address the community’s problems or develop its strengths. These papers will also be discussed in
class.
3.
Brief Community Intervention Experience (20%; approximately 10 hours in the
community, at an agency, or on a project). This may be a class group project. If not,
you will need to identify, and have approved by the instructor, an appropriate
independent community service experience.
If the latter, you can find service opportunities at the VU Office of
Volunteer Activities (Community Partnership House, 401 24th Av. South,
343-7878, www.vanderbilt.edu/insideVU/student.html)
or Community Network Office (Office of University Relations, 850 Baker
Building, 110 21st Avenue South, 322-8337), projects at the Vanderbilt
Institute for Public Policy Studies (VIPPS) or the JFK Center for Research on
Education and Human Development, or from your own experience. HOD majors may be able to use this project to check out possible
internship sites (as long as the agency is public or nonprofit)—check with the
internship office. Let the instructor know if you
are having any difficulty at, or finding, your community service
experience. Keep a log of your hours on
this project, including date, time, activity, and any reflections on the
experience. How to report on the
project will be discussed in class, but will likely be just a brief class
presentation at the end of the semester.
4.
Comprehensive Final Exam on Text & Class Discussion (40%). You will be given possible questions as a study guide in
advance. Prometheus discussion postings may count toward the final exam.
ADA. Students who may need disability-related
accommodations should make an appointment to see me as soon as possible. Also,
please contact the Opportunity Development Center: 322-4705.