Critically compare and contrast the community psychology and public health approaches to social problems

by ode12 (student)

Introduction

Community Psychology and Public Health share many of the same methods theories, topics and values. According to Mark Zimmerman (http://www.answers.com)

The central focus of both is focusing more on prevention rather than cure. Lets first look at both separately and get a better understanding of the origins and historical developments, thereafter we will move on to discuss how they compliment and differ from each other looking at their strengths and weaknesses. Community psychology originates from mental reform movements in the United States of America, with all these movements focus primarily being on treating mental illness as a social rather than individual problem according to the Tutorial Letter 102 for PYC4811 (2011)

Community Psychology was labelled a separate discipline in Boston at the 1965 Swampscott Conference, with the focus on social behaviour and mental health. Community Psychology moved on to being a discipline that examines ecological issues beyond the individual level and explores the value of diversity, as well as seeing psychologists as valid agents of social change. According to Mark Zimmerman (http://www.answers.com)

In South Africa Community Psychology first gained currency in 1980s, this was primarily due to the need to find help in alleviating the powerlessness that psychologists felt during times of political upheaval. Community Psychology has four models, of which only two will be of concern in this essay. The Mental Health Model and the Social Action Model represent the opposing views of Community psychology. According to Tutorial Letter 102 for PYC4811 (2011)

Public Health which is used in industrialised countries is based on western or a biomedical model of illness. This means that disease and distress are caused by ...

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Public Health which is used in industrialised countries is based on western or a biomedical model of illness. This means that disease and distress are caused by lesions in the body or mind and are caused by the interaction with the characteristics of someone who is sick (age, health) the disease causing agents (example: drugs) and external social and environmental context (example: pollution). According to Tutorial Letter 102 for PYC4811 (2011)

Just as Community psychology focuses on prevention rather than cure, so does Public Health. Most of the illnesses and diseases people are dying from today are long term chronic ones and therefore the need for continuously seeing different doctors to make sure that it can be controlled so that people can live a longer, normal life is of high demand. (Example HIV/AIDS once a person is infected there is no overnight cure they can be given treatment and can control the disease so to live longer but will never be cured. Public Health deals with four regimes that we will look into more closely, we will also look at the similarities as well as differences between Public Health and Community Psychology. Each ones approach and their relative strengths and weaknesses.

Community Psychology vs Public Health

Community psychology and Public health both share similar theories and conceptual models, including empowerment theory, social change theories, dissemination of innovation, and ecological theory. According to Mark Zimmerman (http://www.answers.com)

Community Psychology is concerned about cultural issues and differences through the application of theory and research and in intervention programmes. Which is similar to Public Health approaches because these programs are designed to match the values, norms, and beliefs of the people, whether the focus is on ethnic, behavioural, gender, or cultural differences. Community Psychology and Public Health consider social relationships and they involve the community, and take into account outside factors when looking at the individual’s problems, so that the individuals cannot solely be blamed for the problems.

Both community Psychology as well as Public Health use Quantitative and qualitative methods of reaching an outcome. The aims of public health are more pragmatic and its goals are always measurable in terms of tangible objectives. According to Tutorial Letter 102 for PYC4811 (2011)

The results speak for themselves as they have prevented so many socially harmful behaviours and diseases. Example; smoking, and how by just changing social norms have lead to the change in perception of smoking, as it is now seen as a health risk which in turn has lead to an overall reduction in smoking in developed nations. According to Tutorial Letter 102 for PYC4811 (2011)

Community Psychology and public health have their differences too, where a lot of the focus of community psychology is on mental health issues public health focuses on more traditional health issues. E.g.: cancer, cardiovascular diseases etc. Community psychology on the other hand looks at behavioural aspects of health. E.g.: Sex, drugs and alcohol Community psychology also touches on another area of concern which is called fringe public health topics. These are issues such as homelessness and unemployment. According to Mark Zimmerman (http://www.answers.com)

CONCLUSION

Community Psychology and Public Health have different conceptualisations for similar issues. Both focus on prevention and empowerment and trying to introduce healthy behaviours and creating settings for community involvement and improvement, although there are some differences. Public health seems to be a lot more advanced or have a broader thinking than community psychology, dealing with many disciplines while community psychology focuses on other disciplines. If community psychology could use some of public health’s initiatives then I think it would be able to translate the rhetoric into action. In saying that both fields are doing extremely well in creating new prevention techniques and helping the community at large to live in a more health conscious state of mind.

References