Caterina Arcidiacono

Italian families living with relatives with alcohol or drugs problems

Purpose: To examine the overall impact of alcohol and drug problems on a sample of Italian family members. Sample: 113 family members affected by and concerned about the problem drinking or drug-taking of close relatives recruited from the North (N = 37), the Centre (N = 26) and the South (N = 50) of Italy. Measurements: Family Member Impact scale (FMI), Symptom Rating Test (SRT), Coping Questionnaire (CQ) and Hopefulness–Hopelessness scale (HOPE). Findings: There is a high level of impact on family members; the greater the impact, the higher the symptom levels; and the greater both the impact and symptoms are, the more types of coping behaviour are used. Multiple regression showed that the most important variables relating to overall symptom levels reported by family members were total coping, gender and impact. These data lend further support to the Stress-Strain-Coping-Support model (Orford et al., 2005a, b).

Qualitative and Quantitative Research: An Ecological Approach

Abstract The current article describes an investigation among young people with an ecological perspective, using a sequential mixed methods design in accordance with the Tashakkori typology (Tashakkori & Teddlie 2003). Firstly, the qualitative research considered the orientation of young people towards action in their local communities, focusing on the way they plan so as to promote personal and collective empowering actions in their local contexts. Then a quantitative investigation collected data on specific factors concerning the local context and the future planning of young people. The primary concern of the ecological approach – the theoretical perspective of this research – is to determine the possible benefits obtained by the beneficiaries of the research (Rappaport 1990). In a two-phase design (Creswell 1994), the study availed itself of qualitative methods to explore the phenomenon and understand the participants’ different constructions of their life experiences, followed by a quantitative method for the measurement and generalization of the findings based on the collection of data on large samples. The shift from one research method to the next is underlined so as to reveal its advantages in generating new ideas and the generalization of the results.

Professionals’ evaluation of the ‘5-step method’ for helping family members of substance misusers in the context of the Italian Health Services

Background: A feasibility study of an intervention aimed at helping and supporting family members, affected by a relatives alcohol or drug problems, was undertaken in an Italian health services context. Aims: To assess professionals’ (Italian general practitioners and community addiction staff) views about the usefulness and applicability of a 5-step intervention for helping family members affected by someone elses substance-misuse problems. Method: Analysis of professionals’ written reports following each of 52 interventions, plus analysis of focus-group discussions with these professionals. Findings: Forty-one professionals within southern Italy (18 Italian GPs and 23 community addiction staff) were trained and 23 of them (10 and 13 respectively) went on to recruit at least one affected family member and undertake an intervention with them. These 23 staff worked with 52 affected family members (mean, 2.3 treatments/professional). Analysis of the staff-completed intervention reports following each intervention, and of focus-group discussions with the professionals, showed that professionals rated the interventions as being effective and helpful, especially the giving of space to individual family members to discuss their problems in relation to their relatives alcohol or drug dependence. Many positive changes were noticed in families being helped, as well as some difficulties being reported by the professionals related to them using this method. A number of differences between staff from different settings were found, with community addiction service staff being more likely to consider that this intervention would be easy to incorporate into routine practice, and with Italian GPs finding the focus on the family members (as opposed to the substance misusing relative) to be more problematic. Conclusions: The large majority (79%) of professionals from both services stated that they were planning on utilizing the 5-step intervention again. It may be feasible to implement this intervention more widely within Italy.

Participatory Planning and Community Development: An E-Learning Training Program

The main goal of this article is to provide guidelines for all community actors on the acquisition of participatory planning tools. There is a growing need for experts capable of participatory interventions to act as social catalysts to promote local well-being and empowerment. Thus, under an ecological approach, 21 young graduates from different fields (architecture, psychology, environmental planning), public administration officers and social organization managers, all residing in Southern Italy, were offered individual and group empowerment training modules through a multidisciplinary training experience with e-learning features. These consisted of 1,500 hours of didactic activities including online cooperative experiences and field interactions directed toward acquiring participatory planning and community mediation tools. Our experience indicates that it is possible to promote participation and acquire skills through online training. Online training has shown itself to be a useful and successful tool for promoting skills in the field of social planning.

Migration-related detention centers: the challenges of an ecological perspective with a focus on justice

BackgroundIn recent years, border control and migration-related detention have become increasingly widespread practices affecting the lives of undocumented migrants, their families, and communities at large. In spite of the concern within academia, few studies have directly witnessed the life and experiences of people confined to migration-related detention centers. In the medical and psychological fields, a considerable body of research has demonstrated the pathogenic nature of detention in terms of mental health, showing an association between length of detention and severity of distress. Nevertheless, it was limited to the assessment of individuals’ clinical consequences, mainly focusing on asylum seekers. There currently exists a need to adopt an ecological perspective from which to study detained migrants’ experiences as context-dependent, and influenced by power inequalities. This paper addresses this gap.DiscussionDrawing upon advances in community psychology, we illustrate an ecological framework for the study of migration-related detention contexts, and their effects on the lives of detained migrants and all people exposed to them. Making use of existing literature, Kelly’s four principles (interdependence, cycling of resources, adaptation, succession) are analyzed at multiple ecological levels (personal, interpersonal, organizational, communal), highlighting implications for future research in this field. A focus on justice, as a key-dimension of analysis, is also discussed. Wellbeing is acknowledged as a multilevel, dynamic, and value-dependent phenomenon.SummaryIn presenting this alternative framework, the potential for studying migration-related detention through an ecological lens is highlighted, pointing the way for future fields of study. We argue that ecological multilevel analyses, conceptualized in terms of interdependent systems and with a focus on justice, can enhance the comprehension of the dynamics at play in migration-related detention centers, providing an effective tool to address the multi-level challenges of doing research within them. Furthermore, they can contribute to the development of policies and practices concerned with health, equality, and human rights of all people exposed to migration-related detention. Consistent with these assumptions, empirical studies adopting such a framework are strongly encouraged. These studies should use mixed and multi-method culturally situated designs, based on the development of collaborative and empowering relationships with participants. Ethnographic approaches are recommended.

Participatory visual methods in the ‘Psychology loves Porta Capuana’ project:

This article describes the use of participatory visual and multimedia methods as part of a participatory action research carried out in a highly degraded urban area of a metropolis. The project was developed by the ‘I love Portacapuana’ committee in collaboration with community psychology lab and 180 undergraduate psychology students of the University of Naples Federico II. The joint use of visual tools such as photographs and videos with Internet-based collaborative work groups – through social networks such as Facebook – has proved effective in interpreting the needs of local citizens. This process has also involved a thorough analysis in terms of strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities and threats in the local context. Indeed, the integration of visual tools into the broader framework of community diagnosis has fostered an interactive dialogue between the local community, researchers and local authorities. This, in turn, has lead to the outlining of a series of intervention strategies for local urban regeneration.

Community Psychology’s Contributions on Happiness and Well-being: Including the Role of Context, Social Justice, and Values in Our Understanding of the Good Life.

Cite as: Di Martino, S., Eiroa-Orosa, F. J., & Arcidiacono, C. (2017). Community Psychology’s Contributions on Happiness and Well-being: Including the Role of Context, Social Justice, and Values in Our Understanding of the Good Life. In N. J. L. Brown, T. Lomas, & F. J. Eiroa-Orosa (Eds.), The Routledge International Handbook of Critical Positive Psychology (pp. 99–118). London, UK: Routledge.

Psicologia della liberazione e psicologia critica di comunità come conquista di felicita, libertà ed equità

Il testo parte dai temi della psicologia della liberazione, individuandone la continuita degli scopi e della metodologia nella psicologia critica di comunita. Tale percorso apre la stra- da a una critica di quei modelli psicologici che centrano l’attenzione unicamente sul singolo, trascurando aspetti sociali, politici, culturali che con quest’ultimo sono interrelati. Da tale critica nasce una nuova declinazione del tema del benessere e della felicita che si apre al confronto con le nuove scienze economiche, e relazionali conducendo alla costruzione di nuovi indicatori sociali di benessere attenti ai temi della partecipazione, e della giustizia sociale. Nello specifico vengono esplorati i temi della equita e della liberta in relazione alla felicita evidenziandone i reciproci rapporti.

Modello ecologico e migranti : benessere, giustizia e potere nella vita degli immigrati

Il contributo descrive anzitutto il modello ecologico multidimensionale di Prilleltensky e come esso si declina a livello individuale, relazionale,organizzativo, comunitario e ambientale in relazione all’oppressione, al benessere e al processo di liberazione. Vengono in particolare esaminati gli elementi che agiscono nella trasformazione e che permettono il potenziamento delle risorse e dei punti di forza. Attenzione e data infine alla definizione ed esplicitazione dei valori e dei diritti del singolo e della comunita al fine di definire quale sia la validita epistemica e trasformativa della ricerca e dell’intervento in psicologia di comunita alla luce di tale modello. Lo scopo precipuo dell’articolo consiste nell’esplicitare le variabili in gioco nella condizioni di vita dei migranti, enucleando i fattori di protezione e di rischio da considerare per valutarne il benessere e le modalita d’inserimento nei contesti di accoglienza.

Beyond disciplinary boundaries: speaking back to critical knowledges, liberation, and community

This article explores critical directions for forging new disciplinary traditions within community psychology, as discussed by a panel at the conclusion of the 6th International Conference on Community Psychology (ICCP 2016). The conference itself was constructed as an enactment of a decolonizing approach, looking at the entire globalized system from the African continent and centring knowledges produced by Africans and the diaspora. Several panellists were invited to offer their reflections on the emerging discussions, and absences or silences they observed at the conference, as well as how community research and action can develop a research and teaching programme that is liberatory. Panellists’ comments pointed to the importance of the decolonization project globally and the implications of decoloniality for community research and action. The challenge for community research and action is to build alliances and networks across space and time, and with various social movements. The discipline needs to centre and draw out the voices of those who have been excluded, to retrieve and reclaim ways of knowing, being, and doing because these are key to tackling the coloniality of power and to forging new ways of doing ethical and just community research and action.