Colleen Loomis
Biographic Data
| ID | 103594 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Colleen Loomis |
| GIVEN NAMES | Colleen |
| FAMILY NAME | Loomis |
| SIGNATURE | LOOMIS C |
| AFFILIATIONS | Wilfrid Laurier University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1595-3376 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 48 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2003 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Positivity amid unfulfilled aspirations: Educational reflections ten years after high school
Locating longitudinal study participants 10 years after last contact: Contemporary approaches to sample retention
AIMS: Despite their advantages, longitudinal studies often face high rates of attrition. This study documents the extensive efforts associated with retaining a longitudinal cohort last contacted 10 years earlier. METHOD: We examine the processes and outcomes of attempts to reach 1736 individuals who have been part of a multiwave study about growing up in Ontario, Canada. Contact methods include email, phone, text, social media, postal mail, annou…
Projective Technique Reveals Unconscious Attitudes about Poverty in Canada
Canada has been challenged in attempts to reduce and eliminate poverty. In this study, the authors used a projective technique to assess attitudes about people living in poverty (113 young adults, average age 21) living in southwestern Ontario. Five themes emerged from Thematic Apperception Test responses: (1) negative assumptions about people in poverty, (2) simplified beliefs about various pathways into poverty, (3) conditional compassion for t…
Shifting Societal Attitudes: Examining the Effects of Perspective Taking on Attitudes toward and Derogation of the Poor
Jessica Louise Wiesea http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3740-3607, Colleen Loomis*bc http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1595-3376 & Terry Mitchellbc http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5506-9641a Centre for Urban Health Solutions, St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canadab Balsillie School of International Affairs, Waterloo, Ontario, Canadac Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
How many factors does the sense of community index assess
Studies of university students’ sense of community (SOC) use various scales, one of which is the widely used Sense of Community Index (SCI), conceptualized as a 4‐factor model: membership, influence, needs fulfillment, and shared emotional connection. Research has been unable to show a reliable 4‐factor solution. One possible explanation may be that negatively worded items contribute to lack of model fit, which would be consistent with the claim …
Longitudinal analysis of virtual community perceptions of cohesion: The role of cooperation, communication, and competition
Online, virtual group interactions may help adherence to health promotion programs. The purpose of this study was to explore longitudinal relationships among dimensions of group cohesion and group-interaction variables to inform and improve group-based strategies within programs aimed at promoting physical activity in virtual communities. In all, 56 online virtual users completed a group dynamics-based physical activity promotion intervention and…
Social Change: Toward an Informed and Critical Understanding of Social Justice and the Capabilities Approach in Community Psychology
Community psychology has long been concerned with social justice. However, deployments of this term are often vague and undertheorized. To address this weakness in the field's knowledge body we explored John Rawls's theory of social justice and Amartya Sen's economic theory of the capabilities approach and evaluated each for its applicability to community psychology theory, research, and action. Our unpacking of the philosophical and political un…
Youth Narratives on Community Experiences and Sense of Community and Their Relation to Participation in an Early Childhood Development Program
This comparative study examined how participation in an early childhood development (ECD) program, Better Beginnings, Better Futures, for children (ages 4-8) relates to sense of community (SOC) in later adolescence (ages 18-19). Youths' stories ( N = 96) about community experiences, collected by semistructured, open-ended interviews, were quantitatively coded for several narrative dimensions (specificity, positivity, prosocial content, and meanin…
Better Beginnings, Better Futures: Theory, research, and knowledge transfer of a community-based initiative for children and families
Better Beginnings, Better Futures is an early childhood initiative focused on promoting healthy development of children and families in economically disadvantaged communities. The Better Beginnings approach is ecological and holistic, community-driven, integrated with existing community services and supports, and universally available to children aged 4-8 within communities in which it is offered. The Better Beginnings initiative effectively illu…
Intercultural immigrant youth identities in contexts of family, friends, and school
Much of the research on cultural identity development does not capture experiences of individuals with parents from two or more cultural backgrounds or those living in multicultural contexts. Our study explores how immigrant youth in a multicultural city view and use identities to negotiate at school, with peers, and with family. Participants (N = 20) were adolescents (12–18 years) living in Geneva, Switzerland. Findings show that youths' peer ne…
The Better Beginnings, Better Futures Project: Long‐term Parent, Family, and Community Outcomes of a Universal, Comprehensive, Community‐Based Prevention Approach for Primary School Children and their…
Better Beginnings, Better Futures is a large‐scale, multi‐year, longitudinal research‐demonstration project designed to reduce children's problems, promote healthy child development, and enhance family and community environments in three economically disadvantaged communities in the province of Ontario, Canada. The initial intervention was implemented from 1993 to 1997 and focused on families with children from 4 to 8 years of age in their first …
Exploring Outcomes through Narrative: The Long‐term Impacts of Better Beginnings, Better Futures on the Turning Point Stories of Youth at Ages 18–19
This study examined the long‐term effects of the Better Beginnings, Better Futures project, a community‐based early childhood development program, on 18–19 year‐old youths’ narratives about turning points in their lives. The sample consisted of youth who participated in Better Beginnings from ages 4–8 ( n = 62) and youth from a comparison community who did not participate in Better Beginnings ( n = 34). Controlling for covariates, significant dif…
Keeping the spirit alive: Using feminist methodology to address silencing
This article describes a feminist intervention to raise awareness about, and problematize, the pervasive experience of silencing, as reported by women, people of color, students, people identifying as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer (GLBTQ), people with national origins outside of North America, and people with disabilities, within the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA). A theater‐based intervention was designed and s…
Evaluating community participation as prevention: Life narratives of youth
Community‐based prevention programs strive to foster the composition of positive life stories, in part, by promoting active participation in community settings. This article used life narratives of youth to explore the experience of community participation and showed how such participation influenced their lives. Youth aged 18–19 years who participated in Better Beginning, Better Futures ( n =62), a community‐based prevention program, when they w…
When One Plus One Equals Three: The Role of Relationships and Context in Community Research
This paper explores the role of relationships within and between the community of the researchers and the community of the research participants, as they relate to qualitative, community psychology research. Although relationships are salient to all research, their role is particularly prominent in qualitative research, in which a closer rapport is established between researcher and research participant than in quantitative research, and the impa…
Change in sense of community: An empirical finding
This study investigated changes in students' psychological sense of community (SOC) under two conditions of external threat against their urban, historically Black, public nonresidential university in a U.S. mid‐Atlantic city. Two independent stratified random samples (N = 801 and N = 241) consisting of undergraduate and graduate women (61%) and men (39%)—predominantly of color—averaging 29 years of age completed the Sense of Community Index (SCI…
What Works in Adult Educational and Employment Training? Case Study of a Community-Based Program for Women
The controversial state level block grant system Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) increased our need to understand what works in adult educational and employment training. Critical considerations for the design and implementation of an effective program were identified through a case study of a career and learning resource center for women: fostering relationships; an appropriate physical environment; a career-focused curriculum; psy…
Social Change: Toward an Informed and Critical Understanding of Social Justice and the Capabilities Approach in Community Psychology
Community psychology has long been concerned with social justice. However, deployments of this term are often vague and undertheorized. To address this weakness in the field's knowledge body we explored John Rawls's theory of social justice and Amartya Sen's economic theory of the capabilities approach and evaluated each for its applicability to community psychology theory, research, and action. Our unpacking of the philosophical and political un…
When One Plus One Equals Three: The Role of Relationships and Context in Community Research
This paper explores the role of relationships within and between the community of the researchers and the community of the research participants, as they relate to qualitative, community psychology research. Although relationships are salient to all research, their role is particularly prominent in qualitative research, in which a closer rapport is established between researcher and research participant than in quantitative research, and the impa…
Exploring Outcomes through Narrative: The Long‐term Impacts of Better Beginnings, Better Futures on the Turning Point Stories of Youth at Ages 18–19
This study examined the long‐term effects of the Better Beginnings, Better Futures project, a community‐based early childhood development program, on 18–19 year‐old youths’ narratives about turning points in their lives. The sample consisted of youth who participated in Better Beginnings from ages 4–8 ( n = 62) and youth from a comparison community who did not participate in Better Beginnings ( n = 34). Controlling for covariates, significant dif…
Keeping the spirit alive: Using feminist methodology to address silencing
This article describes a feminist intervention to raise awareness about, and problematize, the pervasive experience of silencing, as reported by women, people of color, students, people identifying as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer (GLBTQ), people with national origins outside of North America, and people with disabilities, within the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA). A theater‐based intervention was designed and s…
Change in sense of community: An empirical finding
This study investigated changes in students' psychological sense of community (SOC) under two conditions of external threat against their urban, historically Black, public nonresidential university in a U.S. mid‐Atlantic city. Two independent stratified random samples (N = 801 and N = 241) consisting of undergraduate and graduate women (61%) and men (39%)—predominantly of color—averaging 29 years of age completed the Sense of Community Index (SCI…
Evaluating community participation as prevention: Life narratives of youth
Community‐based prevention programs strive to foster the composition of positive life stories, in part, by promoting active participation in community settings. This article used life narratives of youth to explore the experience of community participation and showed how such participation influenced their lives. Youth aged 18–19 years who participated in Better Beginning, Better Futures ( n =62), a community‐based prevention program, when they w…
What Works in Adult Educational and Employment Training? Case Study of a Community-Based Program for Women
The controversial state level block grant system Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) increased our need to understand what works in adult educational and employment training. Critical considerations for the design and implementation of an effective program were identified through a case study of a career and learning resource center for women: fostering relationships; an appropriate physical environment; a career-focused curriculum; psy…
How many factors does the sense of community index assess
Studies of university students’ sense of community (SOC) use various scales, one of which is the widely used Sense of Community Index (SCI), conceptualized as a 4‐factor model: membership, influence, needs fulfillment, and shared emotional connection. Research has been unable to show a reliable 4‐factor solution. One possible explanation may be that negatively worded items contribute to lack of model fit, which would be consistent with the claim …
Youth Narratives on Community Experiences and Sense of Community and Their Relation to Participation in an Early Childhood Development Program
This comparative study examined how participation in an early childhood development (ECD) program, Better Beginnings, Better Futures, for children (ages 4-8) relates to sense of community (SOC) in later adolescence (ages 18-19). Youths' stories ( N = 96) about community experiences, collected by semistructured, open-ended interviews, were quantitatively coded for several narrative dimensions (specificity, positivity, prosocial content, and meanin…
Intercultural immigrant youth identities in contexts of family, friends, and school
Much of the research on cultural identity development does not capture experiences of individuals with parents from two or more cultural backgrounds or those living in multicultural contexts. Our study explores how immigrant youth in a multicultural city view and use identities to negotiate at school, with peers, and with family. Participants (N = 20) were adolescents (12–18 years) living in Geneva, Switzerland. Findings show that youths' peer ne…
The Better Beginnings, Better Futures Project: Long‐term Parent, Family, and Community Outcomes of a Universal, Comprehensive, Community‐Based Prevention Approach for Primary School Children and their…
Better Beginnings, Better Futures is a large‐scale, multi‐year, longitudinal research‐demonstration project designed to reduce children's problems, promote healthy child development, and enhance family and community environments in three economically disadvantaged communities in the province of Ontario, Canada. The initial intervention was implemented from 1993 to 1997 and focused on families with children from 4 to 8 years of age in their first …
What Works in Adult Educational and Employment Training? Case Study of a Community-Based Program for Women
The controversial state level block grant system Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) increased our need to understand what works in adult educational and employment training. Critical considerations for the design and implementation of an effective program were identified through a case study of a career and learning resource center for women: fostering relationships; an appropriate physical environment; a career-focused curriculum; psy…
When One Plus One Equals Three: The Role of Relationships and Context in Community Research
This paper explores the role of relationships within and between the community of the researchers and the community of the research participants, as they relate to qualitative, community psychology research. Although relationships are salient to all research, their role is particularly prominent in qualitative research, in which a closer rapport is established between researcher and research participant than in quantitative research, and the impa…
Change in sense of community: An empirical finding
This study investigated changes in students' psychological sense of community (SOC) under two conditions of external threat against their urban, historically Black, public nonresidential university in a U.S. mid‐Atlantic city. Two independent stratified random samples (N = 801 and N = 241) consisting of undergraduate and graduate women (61%) and men (39%)—predominantly of color—averaging 29 years of age completed the Sense of Community Index (SCI…
Evaluating community participation as prevention: Life narratives of youth
Community‐based prevention programs strive to foster the composition of positive life stories, in part, by promoting active participation in community settings. This article used life narratives of youth to explore the experience of community participation and showed how such participation influenced their lives. Youth aged 18–19 years who participated in Better Beginning, Better Futures ( n =62), a community‐based prevention program, when they w…
Intercultural immigrant youth identities in contexts of family, friends, and school
Much of the research on cultural identity development does not capture experiences of individuals with parents from two or more cultural backgrounds or those living in multicultural contexts. Our study explores how immigrant youth in a multicultural city view and use identities to negotiate at school, with peers, and with family. Participants (N = 20) were adolescents (12–18 years) living in Geneva, Switzerland. Findings show that youths' peer ne…
The Better Beginnings, Better Futures Project: Long‐term Parent, Family, and Community Outcomes of a Universal, Comprehensive, Community‐Based Prevention Approach for Primary School Children and their…
Better Beginnings, Better Futures is a large‐scale, multi‐year, longitudinal research‐demonstration project designed to reduce children's problems, promote healthy child development, and enhance family and community environments in three economically disadvantaged communities in the province of Ontario, Canada. The initial intervention was implemented from 1993 to 1997 and focused on families with children from 4 to 8 years of age in their first …
Exploring Outcomes through Narrative: The Long‐term Impacts of Better Beginnings, Better Futures on the Turning Point Stories of Youth at Ages 18–19
This study examined the long‐term effects of the Better Beginnings, Better Futures project, a community‐based early childhood development program, on 18–19 year‐old youths’ narratives about turning points in their lives. The sample consisted of youth who participated in Better Beginnings from ages 4–8 ( n = 62) and youth from a comparison community who did not participate in Better Beginnings ( n = 34). Controlling for covariates, significant dif…
Keeping the spirit alive: Using feminist methodology to address silencing
This article describes a feminist intervention to raise awareness about, and problematize, the pervasive experience of silencing, as reported by women, people of color, students, people identifying as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer (GLBTQ), people with national origins outside of North America, and people with disabilities, within the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA). A theater‐based intervention was designed and s…
Better Beginnings, Better Futures: Theory, research, and knowledge transfer of a community-based initiative for children and families
Better Beginnings, Better Futures is an early childhood initiative focused on promoting healthy development of children and families in economically disadvantaged communities. The Better Beginnings approach is ecological and holistic, community-driven, integrated with existing community services and supports, and universally available to children aged 4-8 within communities in which it is offered. The Better Beginnings initiative effectively illu…
Social Change: Toward an Informed and Critical Understanding of Social Justice and the Capabilities Approach in Community Psychology
Community psychology has long been concerned with social justice. However, deployments of this term are often vague and undertheorized. To address this weakness in the field's knowledge body we explored John Rawls's theory of social justice and Amartya Sen's economic theory of the capabilities approach and evaluated each for its applicability to community psychology theory, research, and action. Our unpacking of the philosophical and political un…
Youth Narratives on Community Experiences and Sense of Community and Their Relation to Participation in an Early Childhood Development Program
This comparative study examined how participation in an early childhood development (ECD) program, Better Beginnings, Better Futures, for children (ages 4-8) relates to sense of community (SOC) in later adolescence (ages 18-19). Youths' stories ( N = 96) about community experiences, collected by semistructured, open-ended interviews, were quantitatively coded for several narrative dimensions (specificity, positivity, prosocial content, and meanin…
Projective Technique Reveals Unconscious Attitudes about Poverty in Canada
Canada has been challenged in attempts to reduce and eliminate poverty. In this study, the authors used a projective technique to assess attitudes about people living in poverty (113 young adults, average age 21) living in southwestern Ontario. Five themes emerged from Thematic Apperception Test responses: (1) negative assumptions about people in poverty, (2) simplified beliefs about various pathways into poverty, (3) conditional compassion for t…
Shifting Societal Attitudes: Examining the Effects of Perspective Taking on Attitudes toward and Derogation of the Poor
Jessica Louise Wiesea http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3740-3607, Colleen Loomis*bc http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1595-3376 & Terry Mitchellbc http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5506-9641a Centre for Urban Health Solutions, St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canadab Balsillie School of International Affairs, Waterloo, Ontario, Canadac Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
How many factors does the sense of community index assess
Studies of university students’ sense of community (SOC) use various scales, one of which is the widely used Sense of Community Index (SCI), conceptualized as a 4‐factor model: membership, influence, needs fulfillment, and shared emotional connection. Research has been unable to show a reliable 4‐factor solution. One possible explanation may be that negatively worded items contribute to lack of model fit, which would be consistent with the claim …
Longitudinal analysis of virtual community perceptions of cohesion: The role of cooperation, communication, and competition
Online, virtual group interactions may help adherence to health promotion programs. The purpose of this study was to explore longitudinal relationships among dimensions of group cohesion and group-interaction variables to inform and improve group-based strategies within programs aimed at promoting physical activity in virtual communities. In all, 56 online virtual users completed a group dynamics-based physical activity promotion intervention and…
Locating longitudinal study participants 10 years after last contact: Contemporary approaches to sample retention
AIMS: Despite their advantages, longitudinal studies often face high rates of attrition. This study documents the extensive efforts associated with retaining a longitudinal cohort last contacted 10 years earlier. METHOD: We examine the processes and outcomes of attempts to reach 1736 individuals who have been part of a multiwave study about growing up in Ontario, Canada. Contact methods include email, phone, text, social media, postal mail, annou…
Positivity amid unfulfilled aspirations: Educational reflections ten years after high school
Psychology (14 works) · Political science (12 works) · Community Health and Development (11 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Medicine (9 works) · Social Psychology (8 works) · Developmental psychology (5 works) · Early Childhood Education and Development (5 works) · Futures contract (5 works) · Health Policy Implementation Science (4 works)