A South African perspective on community psychology practice competencies

Bibliographic Data

ID11044280
AuthorsJacqui Akhurst (0000-0003-1566-9092, Psychology Department Rhodes University Grahamstown South Africa, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume48
Issue6
Pages2108-2123
Publication date2020-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Community Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0090-4392 • E-ISSN: 1520-6629
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/jcop.22410
PMID32667065
OpenAlexW3043608206
LanguageEN
References cited26

The appropriateness of the paradigm underlying competency frameworks and their specific application in the list of definitions developed by a Task Group of Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA) for US community psychologists need further consideration. This paper considers the technicist and behavioural roots of some of these concepts, illustrating tensions when applying them to community psychology. It then proposes a competency perspective from the global South. Drawing from focus group discussions with, and written reflections from, postgraduate Master's students in training as clinical and counselling psychologists, this paper builds inductively from the recorded data. Following a template analysis of the material, four integrating themes were evident. The distinctive nature of community psychology is highlighted through the themes: relational foundations , activity evolution , self‐management and the awareness and influences of processes . Proposals for an alternative framework (“RASP”) are based on its emergence from the applications of learning to practice, emphasising community‐based principles. The importance of reflection as the basis for the learning is highlighted. The imperatives to foreground social justice and to enable reflexive thinking on action are discussed, along with concepts based on Humanist and Social Constructivist paradigms, to lead to more interactive and inclusive processes in work on competencies

Action (physics) · Community psychology · Engineering ethics · Pedagogy · Perspective (graphical) · Reflexivity · Social constructivism · Social science · Sociology · Community Health and Development · Computer Science · Evaluation and Performance Assessment · Health Policy Implementation Science · Psychology · Social Psychology

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