Psychology Commons^™

Interdisciplinary Community-Based Research: A Sum Of Disparate Parts, Nancy Watterson, David Dunbar, Melissa Terlecki, Caroline Nielsen, Lisa Ratmansky, Amy Persichetti, Kristen Travers, Susan Gill

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

For faculty committed to socially responsible community engagement, the process of interdisciplinary course design and assessment can be charged and challenging. At Cabrini College, faculty are involved in precisely this kind of work as part of the College's new core curriculum, Justice Matters. Our study of two connected interdisciplinary courses marks a shift in conceptual models: how we developed from a “community service learning (CSL) approach into a participatory, collective process that embeds community based research (CBR) protocols more intentionally and explicitly. Additionally, the two linked courses illustrate how interdisciplinarity, when combined with CBR best practices, can offer powerful solutions …

Releases Of Liability For Service-Learning Programs: Effective, Innocuous, Or A Waste Of Time?, Franklyn P. Salimbene

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This paper examines the enforceability of releases of liability relating to college and university students engaged in service-learning. It reviews cases where universities were sued for injuries incurred by students and where signed releases were offered in defense. It then examines key guidelines that courts apply in determining whether such releases are adequate. The paper concludes by offering service-learning educators a number of practical suggestions for drafting and utilizing releases with students engaged in service-learning.

Community-Based Learning And Social Capital: Exploring Student Attitudes And Perceptions Of Connectedness To Campus And Diverse Communities, August John Hoffman

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Community service activities, civic engagement, and volunteer services have been identified as key elements in improving how individuals relate and communicate with each other in society. Social capital also has been described as a highly useful form of social networking that empowers community members to collectively use each other as potential resources. The current study explored how participants from non-traditional backgrounds (i.e., ethnicity, culture, and age) completed a variety of interethnic community service activities. We hypothesized that increased exposure with members of diverse ethnic groups through community service activities would show reductions in ethnocentric attitudes and also show increases in …

Issues With Implementing Service Learning Into An Agricultural Sciences Equine Program, Aleta C. Overby, Erin Tucker, Aaron Lusby

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

In the spring of 2007 service learning classes were implemented in an equine science program after being funded for animal evacuation and recovery grants. This program was met with great student enthusiasm and participation; however, the authors raise questions about some of the obstacles they have found while implementing this program. The three major areas of concern include the optimum class size for service learning, transportation, and the depth of responses to student reflective pieces.

How Students Learn In A Service-Learning Course: A Quasi-Experimental Field Study Of Generative Learning, Valerie I. Sessa, Dana K. Natale, Manuel London, Courtney A. Hopkins

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Sessa and London’s (2005, 2006) continuous learning model was used to generate hypotheses suggesting that service-learning courses trigger student engagement in generative learning processes moderated by the students’ prior experience and that engagement in generative learning behaviors impact learning outcomes. 127 students in eight courses participated in a quasi-experimental, non-equivalent control group design with a pre-test and two post-tests. Results partially support hypotheses. Implications for theory development, future research, and service learning pedagogy are discussed.

Consortium, University, And Program Impact On Regional Economy And Community, Sean Creighton, Robert J. Sweeney, Katherine Cauley

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Community engagement in higher education has become increasingly widespread. As a consequence, universities find themselves learning how to integrate community engagement on their own, from each other, and, hopefully, from their community partners. This article discusses three distinct cases–a consortium, university, and program–and their impacts on a regional economy and community. In addition to illustrating intentional macro to micro community engagement practices, the article notes key findings from regional institutional collaborations. Further, the article recommends benchmarks for evaluating the quality and effective practice of community engagement.

Service-Learning Pathologies And Prognoses, Roy Schwartzman

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This essay diagnoses and suggests treatments for several pathologies that afflict service-learning. Structural challenges include geographic isolation and optimization of institutional administration. Student challenges include reinforcing stereotypes, deficiencies in practical skills, elitism regarding suitable service, underdeveloped empathy, and excessive focus on time spent in service. Community partner challenges include appropriately defining student labor and systematically under-reporting negative experiences. The prognosis explores how service-learning projects could instigate student engagement with the systemic nature of social injustice.

Working Outside The Box: Advertising Campaigns, Downtown Revitalization, And Community Engagement, Laura Lindenfeld

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This descriptive analysis of an Advertising Campaigns course demonstrates how measured risk-taking can help establish a “virtuous cycle of improvement” between universities and communities. Student engagement in downtown revitalization efforts was supported by a flexible syllabus, strategic classroom management, and strong partnerships. The essay emphasizes the process of making curricular decisions that align with instructors’ experience, talent, and goals. When teaching outside of the box instructors should choose models that complement their own expertise and talents.

The Day One Leadership Program: Engaging Campus In Community Hunger Issues Through Service-Learning, April K. Heiselt, Chiquita A. Briley

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Hunger issues continue to be a major part of both the United States’ and the global health agenda. The “War on Hunger” is an initiative that engages college students in the solution to fight hunger. Using Mississippi State University’s Day One Leadership Community as a case study, this article details how freshmen students in a first-year, living-learning community participated in a service-learning project with their local food pantries in order to better understand the issues of food insecurity and domestic hunger. Elements of the program as well as challenges and benefits for the students and food pantry community partners are …

Serve At Your Own Risk?: Service-Learning In The Promotion And Tenure Process, Jacquelyn B. Frank, Mark Malaby, Laura Raidonis Bates, Marcie Coulter-Kern, Sheron Fraser-Burgess, J. R. Jamison, Linda Stalker Prokopy, Nathan A. Schaumleffel

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Pre-tenure faculty integrating service-learning into their professional roles are often uncertain about its position in the faculty reward system. This study gathered data from administrators at five institutions of higher education in Indiana to learn if and how service-learning is credited toward tenure and promotion at their institutions. The results point to the need for junior faculty members and administrators to be cautious when implementing and evaluating service-learning initiatives.

Supporting Community Safety Through University-Community Partnerships: Exploring Models Of Engagement, James M. Frabutt

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This paper explores various models of university-community engagement to support youth violence prevention and community safety. A series of case examples from the Center for Youth, Family, and Community Partnerships at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro are highlighted. The case examples-four projects spanning a six-year time period-are the springboard for exploring issues of funding, community collaboration, sustainability, leadership, evaluation, and communication.

Working Across Cultures: Outcomes Of An Initiative To Improve Student Capacity And Institutional Coordination Related To Global Engagement, Karen E. Kun, Suzanne Mason, Jennifer Foster, John E. Mcgowan, Courtney N. Coleman, Cornelia Lindenau, Edward L. Queen Ii

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

The Working Across Cultures Initiative was developed at Emory University to improve undergraduate and graduate student capacity and institution-wide coordination related to global engagement. The Initiative contributed to enhanced student knowledge and skills as well as changes in institutional policies and procedures. It may thus have implications for other institutions of higher education grappling with how best to prepare students for global engagement and how to bring about the changes in the institutional policies and procedures that would best support, enable, and engage students in these activities.

Transformative Opportunities For Community Engagement Within Teacher Education: Creating Opportunities To Prepare Preservice Teachers For Urban Environments In Post-Katrina New Orleans, Margaret-Mary Sulentic Dowell

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Preservice teachers need meaningful opportunities to engage in authentic community activities that expand their cultural horizons and frames of reference, strengthening their preparation for urban teaching. Abramson Science and Technology Magnet in New Orleans East opened the 2007-08 school year without a library or functioning classroom libraries. Providing access to books is a cornerstone of reading development; thus, Louisiana State University education candidates engaged in a project that established classroom libraries in every K-8 classroom.

Welcome From The Editor, Nancy Brattain Rogers

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

No abstract provided.

Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention Project As Community-Engaged Scholarship, Young-Me Lee, Susan Poslusny, Sara Anderson, Howard Rosing

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This article describes the results of a 6 month integrated community service and service learning project aimed at the high prevalence of sexually transmitted infection (STI) in a largely immigrant Latino and African-American community area. A total of 64 participants were screened and six positive cases were identified. Results indicated that the adolescents studied lacked proper knowledge regarding safe sex and healthy behaviors, and most refused treatment despite providing anonymous education, screening and treatment services.

Engaged Citizenship: Public Discourse As A Foundational Communication Course, Leila Brammer, Sarah Wolter

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Public speaking is historically situated at the intersection of public discourse and community engagement, although meeting both tenets can be a challenge. In response, the Communication Studies department at a liberal arts college replaced its traditional Public Speaking course with Public Discourse, a course shaped by an extensive civic engagement project. Analysis of student, project, community, and departmental outcomes demonstrate the effectiveness of this new course in preparing students for lives as engaged citizens.

Design And Implementation Of A Service Learning Course And Project: The File Of Life, Theresa Mccullough

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This article details a service learning course within a pharmacy curriculum. For the service learning project, pharmacy students in their first professional year assisted community members with completion of File of Life medical information cards at various locations in Southern Illinois. Students reached over 750 community members. This project increased students’ level of confidence in delivering health-related programs and also encouraged them to participate in community service in the future. Based on feedback, the experience was beneficial.

Community Partner Perceptions About Community Engagement Experiences For Nursing Students, Judith E. Wattman, Marjorie A. Schaffer, Maureen J. Juarez, Leanne L. Rogstad, Timothy Bredow, Sara E. Traylor

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This study explored community agency staff perceptions about community engagement learning experiences for nursing students. Focus groups with staff from eleven health-related community organizations revealed seven themes that will contribute to effective curriculum development and implementation for community engagement: (a) agency expectations for students, (b) orientation, (c) schedule of student experiences, (d) invested student participation, (e) student match with agencies, (f) projects envisioned, and (g) effective interactions with the population. Practice implications for developing community engagement learning experiences are suggested.

Evaluating The Impact Of Seed Money Grants In Stimulating Growth Of Community-Based Research And Service-Learning At A Major Public Research University, Judith A. Jetson, Mary E. Evans, Wendy Hathaway

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

At a major research university, community engagement must intersect with research productivity and attract external funding to be well-regarded. At USF, community engagement increased its value to the institution by using seed grants for community-based research and service-learning projects. Between 1998 and 2006, 132 projects received $1.65 million in seed money from general revenue and local government funds, bringing over $9 million in grants to USF, a return on investment of approximately 6-to-1.

Providing Counseling Services In An Off-Campus Clinic: A Blueprint For Creating A Successful Partnership, Judith A. Nelson, Mary Nichter

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

We offer a blueprint for creating an off-campus clinic through a university, school district, and community partnership. The facility which is housed in the school district provides university students with direct counseling experiences with clients who have genuine needs, allows the university to expand its goal of providing for the public good, and benefits the school district by enabling it to grow its own school counselors who currently teach in the district.

Associations Between Individual And Structural Level Discrimination And Psychological And Physiological Stress Indicators During Pregnancy, Özlü Aran, Melissa Nevarez-Brewster, Kimberly D'Anna-Hernandez, Julia Dmitrieva, Curt A. Sandman, Laura M. Glynn, Elysia Poggi Davis

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

In the United States (U.S.) pervasive health disparities in prenatal care disproportionately impact marginalized individuals. The present study investigates whether discrimination at the individual and structural levels are associated with indicators of psychological and physiological stress among pregnant Latinx people living in the U.S., including both U.S. and foreign-born individuals. Pregnant participants (n = 109) reported on birthplace, lifetime experiences of racial and ethnic discrimination, perceived levels of stress, acculturation, social support, and provided residential address data and hair samples for cortisol analysis. Regression analysis revealed that individual level discrimination was linked to higher psychological stress during pregnancy ( …

Will Anyone Play With Me? Building Resilience Through Community Play With Transgender And Gender Diverse Young Adults, Lee Lebeda

Expressive Therapies Theses

The recent increase in anti-trans legislature in the United States has negatively impacted the mental health of transgender young adults nationwide. Current research suggests that creative expression in a group setting may be uniquely suited to help transgender people combat the negative mental health effects of internalized anti-trans messaging. Based on this research, a community engagement project was designed for transgender young adult participants to explore resilience building through drama therapy-informed community play. Three play-based support groups, facilitated by a drama therapy graduate student who identified as a peer to the participants, were offered to transgender young adults in their …

Black Somatic Liberatory Practices: The Africanist Aesthetic In Psychotherapeutic Movement Observation, Ebony Nichols

Counseling and Psychology Dissertations

This critical ethnographic qualitative study explored Black body-based healing practices and coping strategies used to resist and titrate the impact of racism and oppression. It also examined how Black individuals use their bodies to regulate their nervous systems to heal and cultivate liberatory practices. Grounded in theoretical frameworks such as Black Psychology, African Indigenous Healing Systems, Liberation Psychology, and Critical Race Theory, this research investigated the intersections of Black Aesthetics, Psychology, and the body through the lens of the Africanist Aesthetic. The study employed interaction analysis and reflexive thematic analysis to analyze non-verbal and verbal data collected from two focus …

At Stake In Each Other’S Company: A Systems View Of Compassion Fatigue In Mental Health Work, Susan S. Standen

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Traditional research on the phenomenon of compassion fatigue (CF) in mental health work tends to include recommendations for workers to build skills in psychological detachment and self-care. This puts the burden of coping with vicarious trauma on the individual caregiver, not on the systems they operate within. Alternatively, a transformative systemic perspective suggests that Western cultural assumptions about care-giving and individual resilience need to be reassessed. By broadening the exploration of CF and comparing it with human reactions to overwhelming crises across fields and disciplines, new questions can be asked, and new solutions can be proposed. This essay details how …

Hmongcentric Niche Charter Schools: The Role Of Social Capital On Students’ Perceived Academic Competence, Zha Blong Xiong, Ting Xu, Kyle Nickodem, Malina Her

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

Using Coleman’s (1988) social capital theory, this study investigated the connection between family and school social capital and the perceived academic competence of students enrolled in Hmongcentric niche charter schools. The study analyzed 124 participants consisting of third, fourth, and fifth-grade students residing in Minnesota, with 93% identifying as Hmong. Results of structural equation modeling showed that school social capital, as measured by school attachment and school connection, is significantly linked to students’ perceived academic competence. Further analyses suggested that school attachment, especially in charter schools that focus on culture and language, plays a more crucial role in shaping students’ …

Leveraging Ai To Democratize The Hidden Curriculum In Medical Education: An Implementation Framework, James Keith Martin Ii, Mercedes Byrd

Libraries Scholarship

The “hidden curriculum” in medical education—comprising unwritten rules, values, and expectations—significantly impacts student success, yet remains inaccessible to students from underrepresented backgrounds. This paper presents a theoretical framework and practical implementation strategy for using artificial intelligence (AI) to democratize access to this hidden curriculum. We analyze how cognitive load theory and the Fast/Slow Thinking paradigm explain inequities in professional integration, then propose a comprehensive implementation approach to guide equitable AI integration. This model demonstrates how AI tools, when thoughtfully implemented, can reduce cognitive burdens on disadvantaged students, accelerate professional acculturation, and contribute to building an inclusive medical workforce.

Examining Student Critical Thinking Dispositions Within The College And Career Readiness Of Students Involved In Ffa And 4-H In Georgia, James D. Scott, Eric Rubenstein, Jason Peake, Nicholas E. Fuhrman Phd, Jori N. Hall

Journal of Youth Development

Preparing youth, primarily as they become high school graduates, to be ready to enter college and careers, has been a primary driving force in primary and secondary education for over 20 years. However, there lacks consistency in the definition and of the true idea of college and career readiness in the twentyfirst century. Additionally, there is a lack of research examining the impacts that student involvement in youth organizations has on the development of college and career-readiness skills. One facet of college and career readiness is the development of critical thinking skills and dispositions, which include enjoying solving problems, respecting …

Full Issue, Volume 20, Issue 3

Journal of Youth Development

No abstract provided.

Early Adult Outcomes Of 4-H Program Alumni: A Propensity-Matched Comparative Study, Steven M. Worker, Roshan K. Nayak, Anne Marie Iaccopucci, Nicole Marshall-Wheeler

Journal of Youth Development

A young person’s engagement in high-quality youth development programs should lead to stronger positive outcomes as a young adult. Theoretical literature advances broad indicators that mark success in young adulthood; however, there is a dearth of empirical publications reporting long-term outcomes to support this assumption. We conducted a cross-sectional survey study to report on three long-term outcomes (economic stability, health and well-being, and community involvement) of young adult (aged 19 to 34) alumni of the University of California 4-H Youth Development Program. We compared 4-H alumni outcomes to matched peers using secondary data sources. The 4-H alumni sample demonstrated more …

Assessing The Psychological Wellbeing And Resilience Of Frontline Health Workers In Uganda: A Cross-Sectional Study, Ahmed Sarki, Joseph Atukwatse, Gideon Mbithi, Sabina Odero, Mary Namuguzi, Bernard Mutwiri, Lestine Bitakwitse, Peninah Wachira, Kevinson Mwangi, Eunice Ndirangu, Amina Abubakar

Institute for Human Development, East Africa

Background: Health workers in the frontline are the major drivers of health systems in low- and middle-income countries. However, these health workers face both chronic and acute shocks and stressors that expose them to mental health problems which are often overlooked. We examined the prevalence of mental health problems, correlates of psychological functioning, and resilience of frontline health workers in Uganda.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study comprising 1800 frontline health workers across all regions of Uganda from August through October 2023. We used tools such as the PC-PTSD-5, PHQ9, PSS, GAD-7, Oldenburg Burnout Inventory, and CD-RISC-10 to assess PTSD, …