Brenda Bishop
Biographic Data
| ID | 685585 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Brenda Bishop |
| GIVEN NAMES | Brenda |
| FAMILY NAME | Bishop |
| SIGNATURE | BISHOP B |
| AFFILIATIONS | Curtin University |
| ORCID | 0009-0007-2214-8523 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 39 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 202 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 39 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1975 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Australian Value or Political Rhetoric? The Media's Use of the Fair Go in Australia
Deceivingly simple and often colloquial, the Fair Go is pervasive to the Australian lexicon and a feature of the projected national identity. The Fair Go has historically been used as a plea for fairness in contexts where there is perceived injustice. The Australian media hold significant power to shape public perceptions and debate, including those around fairness; however, there is a limited understanding as to how the Australian media use the …
Colonial mechanisms for repudiating indigenous sovereignties in Australia: A Foucauldian-genealogical exploration of Australia day
A Foucauldian genealogical approach was used to explore the historical context surrounding Australia Day social tensions. Historic Indigenous-settler relations appear central to Australia Day events. Australia Day social contestation suggests unsettlement surrounding the ways in which Australian nationhood is predicated on colonial-settler privilege and exploitation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sovereignties. While modalities of colon…
Directions for research practice in decolonising methodologies: Contending with paradox
The complex nature of colonisation presents with the potential for paradoxes in decolonising approaches, hence, fixed conventions and methods are discouraged. In this way, decolonising methodologies concerns interrogating dominant conventions in research that have typically excluded alternative ways of knowing from academia. This raises concern about the issue of breaking conventions, when it is potentially difficult to realise that one is depend…
Green-Tinted Glasses: How Do Pro-Environmental Citizens Conceptualize Environmental Sustainability
Recent research has shown that many Australians see pro-environmental behaviour as desirable and identify as being green. However when compared to other countries, Australians score poorly on pro-environmental behaviour measures, engaging mostly in tokenistic pro-environmental actions, and demonstrate low levels of concern for the environment. In this article, we examine this tension through exploring the meaning of the term sustainability to Aus…
How Do Our Values Inform Ethical Research? A Narrative of Recognizing Colonizing Practices
How do you reconcile tensions between ethical research practice, personal values, and disciplinary values? This article focuses on an ethical challenge involving the engagement of rural Indigenous community members that emerged during my PhD fieldwork. The narrative illustrates the necessity to engage in critical reflexive research practice, a process which saw me respond to my own feelings of “wrong” and “right,” contemplate a distinction betwee…
The identities and social roles of people with an intellectual disability: Challenging dominant cultural worldviews, values and mythologies
Intellectual disability is commonly conceptualised as stigmatised identity with which one has to live. However, within the literature the notion of a damaged identity is contested. The aim of this research was to explore the social construction of intellectual disability, with an emphasis on the identities and social roles of people with an intellectual disability. Informed by a contextualist perspective, this research was conducted within a part…
Development of the Australian Dominant Drug Discourses Scale
There are a limited number of dominant discourses available to frame drug use within Australia. These dominant discourses play an important role in policy debate and development, and also drug use behaviour. We describe the development of a psychometric instrument that is hypothesised to measure the degree to which individuals internalise dominant drug discourses. Sixty items were developed to reflect six dominant discourses of drug use. A substa…
The use of photovoice with people with intellectual disabilities: Reflections, challenges and opportunities
Photovoice is part of the growing use of participatory research approaches with people with intellectual disabilities. In this paper we explore the process, opportunities and challenges associated with the use of photovoice with people with intellectual disabilities, illustrated through a research project entitled ‘This Is Me’. Photovoice requires researchers to share power and control in the research process and to tolerate uncertainty. Large in…
Dealing with Wicked Problems: Conducting a Causal Layered Analysis of Complex Social Psychological Issues
Causal layered analysis (CLA) is an emerging qualitative methodology adopted in the discipline of planning as an approach to deconstruct complex social issues. With psychologists increasingly confronted with complex, and “wicked” social and community issues, we argue that the discipline of psychology would benefit from adopting CLA as an analytical method. Until now, the application of CLA for data interpretation has generally been poorly defined…
Imagining climate change: The role of implicit associations and affective psychological distancing in climate change responses
Negative climate change imagery is often criticised on the grounds that it provokes and promotes disempowering responses and psychological distancing. We investigated people's associations with climate change, and their affective content on multiple dimensions, through two studies. In Study 1, we administered an image‐elicitation task to 2502 people across Australia to examine the mental images most commonly associated with climate change. We use…
Kronic hysteria: Exploring the intersection between Australian synthetic cannabis legislation, the media, and drug-related harm
Psychometric Properties of the Locus of Control of Behaviour Scale (LCBS) among Australians Seeking Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Treatment
Despite a paucity of studies evaluating the psychometric properties of the Locus of Control of Behaviour Scale (LCBS), it continues to be widely used in behavioural research. The present study sought to redress this gap in the literature. The 17‐item LCBS was administered to 373 Australians attending Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) treatment agencies in the northern metropolitan region of Perth. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted in order t…
Social cultural influences on current and future coastal governance
Chasing Our Tails: Psychological, Institutional and Societal Paradoxes in Natural Resource Management, Sustainability, and Climate Change in Australia
Natural Resource Management (NRM) and Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) have been guiding frameworks in Australia for a number of decades. Recently, NRM and ESD have become central to climate change mitigation. In this paper, we explore the psychological paradoxes that function within climate change settings, with particular attention devoted to the way that research and development reinforces these paradoxes by advocating for participat…
Community Sustainability and Social Justice: Whose Vision
Public Policy, Participation and the Third Position: The Implication of Engaging Communities on their Own Terms
Policy development and implementation should be fundamental for community psychologists in their endeavors to create social change. Policy necessarily is engaged at broad social and political levels, but it is mediated through communities and individuals, and thus appealing for our discipline. We argue that there are increasing opportunities for social input in liberal democracies with the growing awareness of the need to consider social factors …
Capturing Dynamic Processes of Change in GROW Mutual Help Groups for Mental Health
The need for a model that can portray dynamic processes of change in mutual help groups for mental health (MHGMHs) is emphasized. A dynamic process model has the potential to capture a more comprehensive understanding of how MHGMHs may assist their members. An investigation into GROW, a mutual help organization for mental health, employed ethnographic, phenomenological and collaborative research methods. The study examined how GROW impacts on psy…
What can we say about substance use? Dominant discourses and narratives emergent from Australian media
Discourses are conceptualised as context-specific frameworks that constrain what can be presented as rational when considering psychoactive substances. Given the implications of this for Australian policy debate and development, research and health promotion, an integrative analysis explored the nature of the dominant discourses as they pertain to substance use. Newspaper articles spanning a 12-month period (April 2005–2006) were analysed with th…
Community psychology in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand
Community psychology in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand reflect interesting parallels and convergences. While both have a strong educational basis influenced by North American publications, they have developed foci and forms of practice reflecting the cultural, political, and historic underpinnings of these two countries. In New Zealand, community psychology developed from academic researchers and teachers moulding and adapting approaches to s…
Development of community psychology in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand
Although the formal history of community psychology in both Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand has clear links with its history elsewhere, particularly in the United States, the subdiscipline has developed localised foci and forms of practice reflecting the cultural, political and historical underpinnings of these two countries. The climates within which community psychology emerged in the 1970s were distinctly local, resonating with debates arou…
Psychological sense of community: An Australian aboriginal experience
Sense of community (SOC) is central to an individual's psychological wellbeing (Sarason, 1974). Eleven participants, mainly from the North West of Western Australia, took part in semistructured interviews investigating Australian Aboriginal notions of community and SOC. Five key themes emerged from the data. These included: kinship structure, language groups, skin groups, education, and knowledge. It is argued that the themes of kinship structure…
Nonresidential Parents: Nonresidential Mothers, Schools, and the Reform Process
The Australian Commonwealth Government is about to initiate widespread changes to family law. Central to the reform proposals is the introduction of Family Relationship Centres (FRCs), as alternatives to current adversarial approaches to settling family separation. This discussion paper raises two issues in relation to the forthcoming reforms. Firstly, within community debates, nonresidential (noncustodial) mothers are typically subsumed under no…
Western psychotherapeutic practice: Engaging Aboriginal people in culturally appropriate and respectful ways
Until recently the majority of psychologists in Australia have been confronted by the lack of information relating to culturally appropriate methods of engagement and therapy with Aboriginal clients. Findings from a qualitative study undertaken in Western Australia indicated that Aboriginal conceptualisations of mental health appear more holistic and contain elements that are both cultural and spiritual. The extent of these differences in concept…
Psychological Sense of Community: Theory, Research, and Application
The Evolution of Epistemology and Concepts in an Iterative‐Generative Reflective Practice: The Importance of Small Differences
Using a contextualist epistemology, it would be expected that regional differences in community psychology would develop over time. It is argued that the epistemology and theory of Western Australian community psychology, while largely based on North American approaches, has developed its own idiosyncracies. These developed through the integration of practice and theory in an “iterative‐generative” fashion. The process of development is conceptua…
Attitudes toward Aboriginal Australians in city and country settings
The reasons behind the attitudes of non-Aboriginal Australians toward Aboriginal Australians have not been examined empirically. Neither has the relationship between such attitudes and false beliefs about Aboriginal people and entitlements, and “political correctness”. Two random surveys were conducted in 1997 in a city location (Perth, Western Australia) and a country mining town (Kalgoorlie, Western Australia). Three major findings emerged. Fir…
The use of photovoice with people with intellectual disabilities: Reflections, challenges and opportunities
Photovoice is part of the growing use of participatory research approaches with people with intellectual disabilities. In this paper we explore the process, opportunities and challenges associated with the use of photovoice with people with intellectual disabilities, illustrated through a research project entitled ‘This Is Me’. Photovoice requires researchers to share power and control in the research process and to tolerate uncertainty. Large in…
Encounters with the dominant culture: Voices of indigenous students in mainstream higher education
Students from minority and nondominant backgrounds often have negative experiences when dealing with higher education systems. In this study we explored Indigenous student's experiences in mainstream higher education. Interviews were conducted with 34 participants, systematically selected from a listing of 110 past and present students, about their experiences in mainstream higher education. Participants included people who had successfully compl…
Western psychotherapeutic practice: Engaging Aboriginal people in culturally appropriate and respectful ways
Until recently the majority of psychologists in Australia have been confronted by the lack of information relating to culturally appropriate methods of engagement and therapy with Aboriginal clients. Findings from a qualitative study undertaken in Western Australia indicated that Aboriginal conceptualisations of mental health appear more holistic and contain elements that are both cultural and spiritual. The extent of these differences in concept…
The Evolution of Epistemology and Concepts in an Iterative‐Generative Reflective Practice: The Importance of Small Differences
Using a contextualist epistemology, it would be expected that regional differences in community psychology would develop over time. It is argued that the epistemology and theory of Western Australian community psychology, while largely based on North American approaches, has developed its own idiosyncracies. These developed through the integration of practice and theory in an “iterative‐generative” fashion. The process of development is conceptua…
Sense of community: Issues and considerations from a cross-cultural perspective
Behaviour settings such as work, family, church and community are primary settings in which we participate, they provide us with meaningful roles, relationships, and social identities. In fact, these are settings that provide us with a sense of community (SOC). SOC has been heralded as the guiding value for community research and action. It reflects the integration of people into networks and structures that provide feelings of belonging, identif…
Directions for research practice in decolonising methodologies: Contending with paradox
The complex nature of colonisation presents with the potential for paradoxes in decolonising approaches, hence, fixed conventions and methods are discouraged. In this way, decolonising methodologies concerns interrogating dominant conventions in research that have typically excluded alternative ways of knowing from academia. This raises concern about the issue of breaking conventions, when it is potentially difficult to realise that one is depend…
Public Policy, Participation and the Third Position: The Implication of Engaging Communities on their Own Terms
Policy development and implementation should be fundamental for community psychologists in their endeavors to create social change. Policy necessarily is engaged at broad social and political levels, but it is mediated through communities and individuals, and thus appealing for our discipline. We argue that there are increasing opportunities for social input in liberal democracies with the growing awareness of the need to consider social factors …
Dealing with Wicked Problems: Conducting a Causal Layered Analysis of Complex Social Psychological Issues
Causal layered analysis (CLA) is an emerging qualitative methodology adopted in the discipline of planning as an approach to deconstruct complex social issues. With psychologists increasingly confronted with complex, and “wicked” social and community issues, we argue that the discipline of psychology would benefit from adopting CLA as an analytical method. Until now, the application of CLA for data interpretation has generally been poorly defined…
Public psychology: Planning a role for psychology
The concept of public psychology has been mooted for some time as a vehicle by which psychologists may involve themselves in creating or managing social change. Nevertheless there has been disappointment expressed by several authors that the discipline has been ineffective in dealing with matters of public policy. This paper suggests that Australian psychology can benefit by studying the philosophical, ethical and professional role issues which h…
The identities and social roles of people with an intellectual disability: Challenging dominant cultural worldviews, values and mythologies
Intellectual disability is commonly conceptualised as stigmatised identity with which one has to live. However, within the literature the notion of a damaged identity is contested. The aim of this research was to explore the social construction of intellectual disability, with an emphasis on the identities and social roles of people with an intellectual disability. Informed by a contextualist perspective, this research was conducted within a part…
Imagining climate change: The role of implicit associations and affective psychological distancing in climate change responses
Negative climate change imagery is often criticised on the grounds that it provokes and promotes disempowering responses and psychological distancing. We investigated people's associations with climate change, and their affective content on multiple dimensions, through two studies. In Study 1, we administered an image‐elicitation task to 2502 people across Australia to examine the mental images most commonly associated with climate change. We use…
Psychological sense of community: An Australian aboriginal experience
Sense of community (SOC) is central to an individual's psychological wellbeing (Sarason, 1974). Eleven participants, mainly from the North West of Western Australia, took part in semistructured interviews investigating Australian Aboriginal notions of community and SOC. Five key themes emerged from the data. These included: kinship structure, language groups, skin groups, education, and knowledge. It is argued that the themes of kinship structure…
Incorporating indigenous and crosscultural issues into an undergraduate psychology course: Experience at curtin university of technology
There has been a clear expression of the need to incorporate Indigenous and crosscultural issues into psychology curricula and to develop models to guide the process. This paper outlines the process of developing an Indigenous and crosscultural psychology unit at Curtin University of Technology. A conceptual framework that includes foundational, professional, and socially responsive knowledge, which has guided the development and implementation o…
Justice and local community change: Towards a substantive theory of justice
Justice is a core principle in community psychology, yet has been the subject of relatively little systematic research. In the social psychological literature on the other hand there is a long tradition of research on justice in social life. In this article the potential benefits of integrating the social justice aspirations of community psychology and the conceptualizations of procedural and distributive justice from social psychology are discus…
Chasing Our Tails: Psychological, Institutional and Societal Paradoxes in Natural Resource Management, Sustainability, and Climate Change in Australia
Natural Resource Management (NRM) and Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) have been guiding frameworks in Australia for a number of decades. Recently, NRM and ESD have become central to climate change mitigation. In this paper, we explore the psychological paradoxes that function within climate change settings, with particular attention devoted to the way that research and development reinforces these paradoxes by advocating for participat…
How Do Our Values Inform Ethical Research? A Narrative of Recognizing Colonizing Practices
How do you reconcile tensions between ethical research practice, personal values, and disciplinary values? This article focuses on an ethical challenge involving the engagement of rural Indigenous community members that emerged during my PhD fieldwork. The narrative illustrates the necessity to engage in critical reflexive research practice, a process which saw me respond to my own feelings of “wrong” and “right,” contemplate a distinction betwee…
Social cultural influences on current and future coastal governance
Capturing Dynamic Processes of Change in GROW Mutual Help Groups for Mental Health
The need for a model that can portray dynamic processes of change in mutual help groups for mental health (MHGMHs) is emphasized. A dynamic process model has the potential to capture a more comprehensive understanding of how MHGMHs may assist their members. An investigation into GROW, a mutual help organization for mental health, employed ethnographic, phenomenological and collaborative research methods. The study examined how GROW impacts on psy…
Community psychology in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand
Community psychology in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand reflect interesting parallels and convergences. While both have a strong educational basis influenced by North American publications, they have developed foci and forms of practice reflecting the cultural, political, and historic underpinnings of these two countries. In New Zealand, community psychology developed from academic researchers and teachers moulding and adapting approaches to s…
Australian Value or Political Rhetoric? The Media's Use of the Fair Go in Australia
Deceivingly simple and often colloquial, the Fair Go is pervasive to the Australian lexicon and a feature of the projected national identity. The Fair Go has historically been used as a plea for fairness in contexts where there is perceived injustice. The Australian media hold significant power to shape public perceptions and debate, including those around fairness; however, there is a limited understanding as to how the Australian media use the …
Development of community psychology in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand
Although the formal history of community psychology in both Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand has clear links with its history elsewhere, particularly in the United States, the subdiscipline has developed localised foci and forms of practice reflecting the cultural, political and historical underpinnings of these two countries. The climates within which community psychology emerged in the 1970s were distinctly local, resonating with debates arou…
Nonresidential Parents: Nonresidential Mothers, Schools, and the Reform Process
The Australian Commonwealth Government is about to initiate widespread changes to family law. Central to the reform proposals is the introduction of Family Relationship Centres (FRCs), as alternatives to current adversarial approaches to settling family separation. This discussion paper raises two issues in relation to the forthcoming reforms. Firstly, within community debates, nonresidential (noncustodial) mothers are typically subsumed under no…
Defining the nature of participation in rural Australian communities: A qualitative approach
Within the literature, theories and analyses of social involvement or participation have focussed primarily on the political and formal role of participation within the community or neighborhood. This study illustrates, through qualitative inquiry, that within small rural communities, individuals find it difficult to separate formal and informal participation, when both have an equally important role to play in community life. Fifty‐five structur…
Reflections on practice: Ethics, race, and worldviews
Two case studies involving Indigenous Australians are described, which pose ethical and conceptual problems. Over two decades ago Sarason (1972) gave the warning that we are socialized into a culture so well that our interventions can be ineffective or misguided unless we attempt to come to grips with history and the broader social context. Understanding worldviews of both the targeted community and ourselves is imperative if we are going to do m…
Study of Beliefs about Aborigines
In June 1973 a proposal for a study of the beliefs of metropolitan (Perth) Caucasian children and adults towards Aborigines was submitted by the Western Australian Institute of Technology to the then Aboriginal Affairs Planning Authority. The proposal was forwarded to D.A.A. in Canberra, was approved, and preliminary work on a pilot study commenced in February 1974. The survey continued through the year and the results were analysed. A final two-…
Persistence and Exchange: A Symposium
A matter of ethics? a comment on pryor (1989)
Public psychology: Planning a role for psychology
The concept of public psychology has been mooted for some time as a vehicle by which psychologists may involve themselves in creating or managing social change. Nevertheless there has been disappointment expressed by several authors that the discipline has been ineffective in dealing with matters of public policy. This paper suggests that Australian psychology can benefit by studying the philosophical, ethical and professional role issues which h…
The experience of moral community in a rural community context
This paper examines the concept of moral community within a rural context. The theory of moral community is discussed in relation to research in the social justice and community psychology literatures, and is related to participation in voluntary community organizations. A total of 388 women, located across six rural shires in the Great Southern Region of Western Australia, participated in the study. Results suggest that individuals participating…
Where do i fit in? factors influencing women's participation in rural communities
Participation in community life has been a topic of interest for many researchers and theorists. In rural areas, in particular, women play a major role in their communities, participating in a voluntary network which contributes countless hours to maintain important community services. However, little research has been undertaken which addresses women's social involvement and the factors which may inhibit or facilitate participation. This is of p…
Sense of community: Issues and considerations from a cross-cultural perspective
Behaviour settings such as work, family, church and community are primary settings in which we participate, they provide us with meaningful roles, relationships, and social identities. In fact, these are settings that provide us with a sense of community (SOC). SOC has been heralded as the guiding value for community research and action. It reflects the integration of people into networks and structures that provide feelings of belonging, identif…
Attitudes toward Aboriginal Australians in city and country settings
The reasons behind the attitudes of non-Aboriginal Australians toward Aboriginal Australians have not been examined empirically. Neither has the relationship between such attitudes and false beliefs about Aboriginal people and entitlements, and “political correctness”. Two random surveys were conducted in 1997 in a city location (Perth, Western Australia) and a country mining town (Kalgoorlie, Western Australia). Three major findings emerged. Fir…
Incorporating indigenous and crosscultural issues into an undergraduate psychology course: Experience at curtin university of technology
There has been a clear expression of the need to incorporate Indigenous and crosscultural issues into psychology curricula and to develop models to guide the process. This paper outlines the process of developing an Indigenous and crosscultural psychology unit at Curtin University of Technology. A conceptual framework that includes foundational, professional, and socially responsive knowledge, which has guided the development and implementation o…
Encounters with the dominant culture: Voices of indigenous students in mainstream higher education
Students from minority and nondominant backgrounds often have negative experiences when dealing with higher education systems. In this study we explored Indigenous student's experiences in mainstream higher education. Interviews were conducted with 34 participants, systematically selected from a listing of 110 past and present students, about their experiences in mainstream higher education. Participants included people who had successfully compl…
Psychological Sense of Community: Theory, Research, and Application
The Evolution of Epistemology and Concepts in an Iterative‐Generative Reflective Practice: The Importance of Small Differences
Using a contextualist epistemology, it would be expected that regional differences in community psychology would develop over time. It is argued that the epistemology and theory of Western Australian community psychology, while largely based on North American approaches, has developed its own idiosyncracies. These developed through the integration of practice and theory in an “iterative‐generative” fashion. The process of development is conceptua…
Defining the nature of participation in rural Australian communities: A qualitative approach
Within the literature, theories and analyses of social involvement or participation have focussed primarily on the political and formal role of participation within the community or neighborhood. This study illustrates, through qualitative inquiry, that within small rural communities, individuals find it difficult to separate formal and informal participation, when both have an equally important role to play in community life. Fifty‐five structur…
Reflections on community psychology in Australia: An introduction
Sarason (2000) argued that we are often surprised by events because of the failure to appreciate ongoing change around us. He called for the need for community psychology to develop “barometers of change,” or ways of recognizing change and its likely impact. Extreme examples of this are the events of September 11th, 2001, and subsequent reactions. This highlighted the need for a nation to be aware of its impacts on other nations and peoples, and …
Justice and local community change: Towards a substantive theory of justice
Justice is a core principle in community psychology, yet has been the subject of relatively little systematic research. In the social psychological literature on the other hand there is a long tradition of research on justice in social life. In this article the potential benefits of integrating the social justice aspirations of community psychology and the conceptualizations of procedural and distributive justice from social psychology are discus…
Reflections on practice: Ethics, race, and worldviews
Two case studies involving Indigenous Australians are described, which pose ethical and conceptual problems. Over two decades ago Sarason (1972) gave the warning that we are socialized into a culture so well that our interventions can be ineffective or misguided unless we attempt to come to grips with history and the broader social context. Understanding worldviews of both the targeted community and ourselves is imperative if we are going to do m…
Western psychotherapeutic practice: Engaging Aboriginal people in culturally appropriate and respectful ways
Until recently the majority of psychologists in Australia have been confronted by the lack of information relating to culturally appropriate methods of engagement and therapy with Aboriginal clients. Findings from a qualitative study undertaken in Western Australia indicated that Aboriginal conceptualisations of mental health appear more holistic and contain elements that are both cultural and spiritual. The extent of these differences in concept…
Nonresidential Parents: Nonresidential Mothers, Schools, and the Reform Process
The Australian Commonwealth Government is about to initiate widespread changes to family law. Central to the reform proposals is the introduction of Family Relationship Centres (FRCs), as alternatives to current adversarial approaches to settling family separation. This discussion paper raises two issues in relation to the forthcoming reforms. Firstly, within community debates, nonresidential (noncustodial) mothers are typically subsumed under no…
Psychological sense of community: An Australian aboriginal experience
Sense of community (SOC) is central to an individual's psychological wellbeing (Sarason, 1974). Eleven participants, mainly from the North West of Western Australia, took part in semistructured interviews investigating Australian Aboriginal notions of community and SOC. Five key themes emerged from the data. These included: kinship structure, language groups, skin groups, education, and knowledge. It is argued that the themes of kinship structure…
Development of community psychology in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand
Although the formal history of community psychology in both Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand has clear links with its history elsewhere, particularly in the United States, the subdiscipline has developed localised foci and forms of practice reflecting the cultural, political and historical underpinnings of these two countries. The climates within which community psychology emerged in the 1970s were distinctly local, resonating with debates arou…
What can we say about substance use? Dominant discourses and narratives emergent from Australian media
Discourses are conceptualised as context-specific frameworks that constrain what can be presented as rational when considering psychoactive substances. Given the implications of this for Australian policy debate and development, research and health promotion, an integrative analysis explored the nature of the dominant discourses as they pertain to substance use. Newspaper articles spanning a 12-month period (April 2005–2006) were analysed with th…
Community psychology in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand
Community psychology in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand reflect interesting parallels and convergences. While both have a strong educational basis influenced by North American publications, they have developed foci and forms of practice reflecting the cultural, political, and historic underpinnings of these two countries. In New Zealand, community psychology developed from academic researchers and teachers moulding and adapting approaches to s…
Community Sustainability and Social Justice: Whose Vision
Public Policy, Participation and the Third Position: The Implication of Engaging Communities on their Own Terms
Policy development and implementation should be fundamental for community psychologists in their endeavors to create social change. Policy necessarily is engaged at broad social and political levels, but it is mediated through communities and individuals, and thus appealing for our discipline. We argue that there are increasing opportunities for social input in liberal democracies with the growing awareness of the need to consider social factors …
Capturing Dynamic Processes of Change in GROW Mutual Help Groups for Mental Health
The need for a model that can portray dynamic processes of change in mutual help groups for mental health (MHGMHs) is emphasized. A dynamic process model has the potential to capture a more comprehensive understanding of how MHGMHs may assist their members. An investigation into GROW, a mutual help organization for mental health, employed ethnographic, phenomenological and collaborative research methods. The study examined how GROW impacts on psy…
Sociology (32 works) · Psychology (28 works) · Political science (24 works) · Community Health and Development (21 works) · Social Psychology (19 works) · Law (15 works) · Social science (12 works) · Computer Science (10 works) · Health Policy Implementation Science (9 works) · Public relations (9 works)