Youth experiencing homelessness (YEH) are infrequently included in the development, organization, and provision of homelessness-related services. This lack of youth voice and services tailored for their expressed needs can lead to underutilization of services, dissatisfaction, and poor outcomes. Photovoice, a participatory research method, has been used to empower persons from marginalized populations and to provide a platform for them to share their voices. This photovoice project partnered with six YEH (18-20 years old). Participants worked together, with the support of two group facilitators, to take photographs, identify themes, write narratives that best represented their lived experience, and share their concerns and ideas for the community. Photos and narratives were shared with decisionmakers at community-based showings. Attendees of the showings anecdotally reported having an increased awareness of YEH issues. The showings served as a catalyst in the community to address the challenges of YEH. Recommendations for research and practice are provided.

This study investigates whether systems-level interventions, specifically patient-centered culturally sensitive health care (PC-CSHC) from healthcare providers, office staff, and the clinic environment, moderate the relationship between health self-efficacy and patient engagement among Black American adults. An online survey was completed by 198 Black American adults. PC-CSHC from healthcare providers, office staff, and the clinic environment did not mitigate the adverse effects of low health self-efficacy on patient engagement. However, PC-CSHC from healthcare providers ( b  = 0.38) was as significant as health self-efficacy ( b  = 0.37) in predicting patient engagement, R 2  = 0.47, F (9, 177) = 19.61, p  < 0.001. Provider-delivered PC-CSHC can enhance patient engagement among Black American adults. This systems-level approach has the potential to reach more patients than intrapersonal interventions alone and alleviates the undue burden placed on Black Americans to leverage intrapersonal strengths in the face of health disparities rooted in structural racism.

Racial reckoning is defined as the subjugation of Black, Indigenous, and people of Color (BIPOC) to racial hierarchies and subordinate groups that influence multiple well-being outcomes throughout the developmental lifespan and across generations. With the two pandemics of racial reckoning and COVID-19 amidst a growing controversial political landscape, topics around civic engagement have been brought to the forefront of community conversation. Discussions surrounding civic engagement must go beyond addressing issues of public concern and examine the vehicle in which civic engagement may be delivered. This is becoming increasingly important as civic engagement is one of the main avenues of social change through individual and collective action, particularly regarding racial reckoning and healthcare disparities highlighted by COVID-19. The paper focuses on civic engagement among ethnic minority youth and young adults. An integrated model of civic engagement was created based off what was learned through this review. This proposed model of civic engagement is meant to be the first step to addressing the gap in civic engagement literature for ethnic minority youth. Weaknesses and future considerations regarding the model will also be discussed, as well as any implications for ethnic minority youth and young adults.

With the increased frequency of highly publicized racism in the United States, the engagement of racial socialization among Black emerging adults and their peers is critical for navigating their racial experiences and organizing for change as evident in social movements led by young adults (e.g., Black Lives Matter). However, little is known about the process of peer racial socialization and its relation to sociopolitical development. In this study, we qualitatively explored these processes with 35 Black undergraduates attending a predominantly white institution. Two peer racial socialization themes associated with sociopolitical development emerged: Political Division and Media. An additional theme, Culture as a Form of Resistance, highlighted the relationship between peer racial socialization and coping with racism. Implications for further exploration of non-traditional forms of activism and the creation of safe spaces for Black college students are discussed.

The Attitudes toward Homelessness Inventory (ATHI) was developed due to a lack of psychometrically sound instruments to measure the nature and change in attitudes toward homelessness. Given inconsistencies in its use and internal reliability, this study evaluates the psychometric properties of the ATHI. Participants (n = 899) were selected using a random-digit-dial telephone survey to complete the ATHI. Results demonstrated that the four-factor solution suggested by the ATHI developers was the best fit for the data, but factor loadings and reliability coefficients were not sufficient for ensuring adequate measurement of attitudes toward homelessness. The poor psychometrics found in this study were likely the result of now outdated items. While the ATHI was developed using well-regarded and rigorous methods, results from this study suggest that it may be necessary to either make edits to the ATHI or to develop a new conceptually and psychometrically-sound measure.

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.

As we near the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of a community psychology division of the American Psychological Association, there are reasons to be concerned about the sustainability of the field. This commentary proposes a need for deliberate, systematic efforts to cultivate settings that can sustain the field. A framework for outreach to build symbiotic relationships and synergistic collaborations with persons who do not identify as community psychologists is proposed. Simultaneously, a strategy of separation from other disciplines may be needed in some circumstances to conserve settings that sustain the field. Finding a balance in these strategies is necessary to cultivate community psychology for future generations.

As we near the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of a community psychology division of the American Psychological Association, there are reasons to be concerned about the sustainability of the field. This commentary proposes a need for deliberate, systematic efforts to cultivate settings that can sustain the field. A framework for outreach to build symbiotic relationships and synergistic collaborations with persons who do not identify as community psychologists is proposed. Simultaneously, a strategy of separation from other disciplines may be needed in some circumstances to conserve settings that sustain the field. Finding a balance in these strategies is necessary to cultivate community psychology for future generations.

Given the increased access to mental health services that schools provide, there has been a growing consensus among mental health professionals for the delivery of services for youth in schools. Building the capacity of schools to provide evidence-based socio-emotional supports across a continuum of care has been prioritized in recent decades. However, despite policy changes to implement more mental health services in schools, these services still remain widely underutilized by adolescents experiencing mental health problems. Understanding the factors impacting students' decisions to seek help or use resources provided in a school setting is crucial for actually increasing utilization of care. Yet, little is known about the role of stigma in students' underutilization of school mental health services. The current study examined stigma about mental health and services in schools through a qualitative analysis of 15 school personnel and student interviews at three high schools in South Carolina. Thematic analysis of interviews indicated that students have a negative outlook of mental health services because of fear of being stereotyped or embarrassed as a result of receiving school counseling. Data from this exploratory study directly contribute to the field of education by providing a model for professionals to implement strategies to eliminate the stigma that causes underutilization of school mental health services.

Research suggests that the effectiveness of religious belief as a coping strategy may depend on whether an individual adopts a positive or negative view of the association between life events and their religious belief. Many individuals with psychiatric disabilities consider their faith an important aspect of their lives, especially in times of increased distress. As with other populations, they often rely on their religious beliefs to help them improve their daily functioning. Positive religious coping consistently predicts improved psychosocial adjustment, such as lower reports of depression, anxiety, and self-esteem, whereas negative religious coping predicts the opposite effects. It is possible that religious coping influences psychosocial adjustment through optimism, which is a strong predictor of positive psychological outcomes for those with psychiatric disabilities. We proposed a model in which optimism mediated the effect of religious coping on life satisfaction and psychological adjustment for individuals with psychiatric disabilities. We found that optimism mediated the effect of religious coping on both life satisfaction and psychological distress. Negative religious coping was associated with direct and indirect reductions in life satisfaction and increases in psychological distress. Although positive religious coping was associated with direct and indirect increases in life satisfaction, psychological distress was only indirectly reduced. These results bring attention to the ways that religious coping can improve quality of life, as well as negatively affect outcomes for those diagnosed with psychiatric disabilities.

This paper argues that the experience of homelessness is inherently traumatic and thus has the potential to affect the manifestation of mental illness. The experiences related to being homeless might act as specific and unique sources of vulnerability. This study included 424 people diagnosed with serious mental illnesses living in supported housing programs in South Carolina. Three hierarchical regression analyses measuring the impact of homelessness on three types of outcomes revealed the following: (1) ever experiencing homelessness as well as the amount of time spent homeless were related to higher levels of psychiatric distress, (2) ever experiencing homelessness was related to higher levels of reported alcohol use, and (3) total amount of time spent homeless was related to lower perceived recovery from mental illness. These findings suggest that experiencing homelessness might contribute to psychosocial vulnerability to negative mental health outcomes. Future investigations examining this concept of risk and vulnerability as a result of homelessness are in order.

This chapter presents community psychology history and theory as resources for transformative change in community mental health (CMH). It reviews the historical relationship between community psychology and CMH in different national contexts. As part of this review, it provides several examples of innovations that illustrate the promise of using community psychology principles to advance transformative change. In a section on community psychology theory as a resource, the theories and concepts are organized into two sections: (a) those that can change how we view our work and (b) those that can change how we do our work. The chapter closes with a comparison of four historical examples in different national contexts while drawing lessons from these comparisons to guide new efforts.

There is a disagreement in place-based research regarding whether objective indicators or individual perceptions of environments are better predictors of well-being. This study assessed environmental influences on well-being for 373 individuals with psychiatric disabilities living independently in 66 neighborhoods in the southeastern United States. Three questions were examined utilizing random effects models: (1) How much variance in personal and neighborhood well-being can be explained by neighborhood membership? (2) What is the relationship between participant perceptions of neighborhood quality and researcher ratings of neighborhood quality? and (3) What is the relative influence of individual perceptions, perceptions aggregated by neighborhood, and researcher ratings of neighborhood quality in predicting personal and neighborhood well-being? Results indicate that individual perceptions of neighborhood quality were more closely related to well-being than either aggregated perceptions or researcher ratings. Thus, participants' perceptions of their neighborhoods were more important indicators of their well-being than objective ratings made by researchers. Findings have implications for measurement approaches and intervention design in placed-based research.