facilitating social support among community psychologists

Journal of Community Psychology Volume 13. January, 1985

Facilitating Social Support Among Community Psychologists

Leonard A. Jason John N. Moritsugu Judith Albino DePaul University Pacific Lutheran State University of

New York at Buffalo

Max Abbott Jeffrey Anderson Linda Cameron

of New Zealand Psychiatric Center

James Dalton Donald Davis Joseph Durlak Bloomberg State College Old Dominion University Loyola University

Terris Gilius Janet Gillespie Leonard Haas Austin Families Inc. Auburn University University of Utah

Steven Heyman Stevan Hobfoll Christopher Keys University of Wyoming Tel Aviv University University of Illinois

Pierre L. J. Ritchie Irma Serrano-Garcia Bruce Tefft

Mental Health Foundation The University of Texas South Beach

Chicago Circle

University of Ottawa University of Puerto Rico University of Manitoba

University of Waikato Bogazici University Yale University David Thomas Gunduz Vassaf Roger Weissberg

Herbert Wong Richmond Maxi Center

Judith Zarit Didi Hirsch CMHC

Over the past few years, a network of regional coordinators has promoted a variety of community psychology activities in the United States and other countries, creating a base of social support for community psychologists in academic and field settings. This paper describes key organizing principles for creating viable support networks such as this one and presents specific examples of their use by the regional coordinators. The grassroots efforts of regional coordinators in stimulating social support, educational opportunities, resource exchanges, and a variety of other activities represent one of the more crucial and important functions undertaken by community psychologists and their organizations.

The topic of social support has attracted considerable attention from clinical and community psychologists in recent years (Bloom, 1980). Community-oriented psychologists have studied support systems within a variety of organizations and have been

It is possible to think of the support network described in this paper as more of a communication network, since one of the primary, if not the most important, goals was facilitation of communications. This manuscript is a descriptive effort and should not be construed as attempting to clarify the broader research efforts in the area of social networks.

The authors appreciate the help of former Division 27 regional coordinators including, in alphabetical order, LaRue Allen, Richard Cohen, Steven Danish, Linda Davis, David DeRita, Robert Felner, Howard N. Higginbotham, William Hodges, Lewis Katoff, Wynne Korr, Carol Lindquist, Robert Mattson, Rodney Nurse, Caren Phelan, Judith Primavera, Stephanie Riger, Irwin Sandler, Robert Silver, Wade Silverman, Karl Slaikeu, Lona Spencer, Arzelia Walker, Edwin Zolik.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Leonard A. Jason, Psychology Department, DePaul University, Chicago, IL 60614.

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active in evaluating and collaborating with groups attempting to enhance mutual help and social support (Felner, Jason, Moritsugu, & Farber, 1983). In addition to gaining greater understanding of social support structures in diverse settings and groups, a need has arisen to focus some professional time and effort on building and maintaining support systems for community psychologists.

Many academic and applied settings have no more than one or two professionals whose values, interests, and orientation represent a community approach. The fact that there are so few psychologists with similar beliefs can predispose community-oriented psychologists to feelings of isolation and vulnerability. Advocating theoretical and prac- tical positions of outreach, prevention, and social change can lead to ostracism and ridicule, particularly in conservative settings where administrators are grappling with issues of survival brought on by federal and state financial cutbacks. Without some type of social support from peers and supervisors, the activities of community psychologists could gradually become restricted and ultimately reoriented toward more traditional functions.

More than a decade ago, Kelly (1971) identified the need for professional support systems for community psychologists. Social support was felt to serve as an effective agent in mitigating the sometimes stressful roles adopted by community psychologists. In the mid-l970s, at the Austin Conference on Training in Community Psychology, participants struggled with the issue of how to provide a nurturant support network for community psychologists (Iscoe, Bloom, & Spielberger, 1977). While many agreed that there was a patent need to create more supportive social networks, it was somewhat unclear as to what mechanism could be used to achieve this aim (Lubin & Newbrough, 1977).

From these discussions at the Austin Conference, a decision was made to begin the regional coordination system for the Division of Community Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 27). Regional coordinators were assigned to each of six regions in the United States and were given the responsibility to sponsor community psychology events at regional and local meetings. This paper will describe this network of coordinators and illustrate the kinds of support that have been made available to community psychologists. Strategies that were successful in strengthening and expanding the support network will be delineated.

Structure and Responsibilities The regional coordination system is headed by a national coordinator who

recommends appointments of regional coordinators and communicates with the executive committee of Division 27. Edison Trickett was the first coordinator of coordinators, serving in this capacity in 1976-1977. From 1978 to 1980, Judith Albino, assisted by Murray Levine in 1978, assumed the role of national coordinator. Leonard Jason served as interim coordinator toward the end of 1980 and then served a two-year term from 1981 to 1983. John Moritsugu assumed responsibilities for coordinating the network in 1983.

There are currently at least two regional coordinators within each of the United States APA regions (Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, Rocky Mountain, and West). In addition, there are now coordinators in Canada, Latin America, the South Pacific, and Europe and the Middle East, bringing the total number of regional coordinators to 20.

Over the years, a list of responsibilities was compiled for regional coordinators who serve in 2-year, renewable terms. Regional coordinators are expected to mail to region

FACILITATING SOCIAL SUPPORT 85

members a letter requesting them to vote for Division 27 for the APA Council Appoint- ment Ballot. In addition, coordinators are asked to launch membership drives for Divi- sion 27 by sending letters and application forms to potential members. Regional coordinators are also asked to work with student regional coordinators so that students have maximal input into regional convention activities. Some coordinators publish newsletters to disseminate information within their regions.

At a broader level, coordinators at times attempt to influence activities within their profession. For example, when the editors of the Canadian Psychologist were planning a special issue on various disciplines, the regional coordinators worked to insure that the area of community psychology would be included in the publication. They have also sponsored informal discussion groups, poster sessions, symposia, workshops, meetings of directors of training programs, training fairs (several of which were jointly sponsored), student meetings (where elections for student regional coordinators sometimes occur), and social hours in the name of Division 27 at regional and state conventions. This wide variety of activities underlines the flexibility and imagination used in the regional coordination efforts.

Several coordinators have collected program evaluation data at regional conventions. For example, at one series of Division 27 activities, 124 people filled out questionnaires. Of this group, 38% held doctorates, 35% had master’s degrees, and 27% either had or were working on bachelor’s degrees. Ninety-eight percent of these individuals responded favorably to the fact that both professionals and students were active participants in all sessions. At another convention, 120 individuals rated their perceptions of the Division 27 informal discussion groups on a 5-point scale (5 = verypositive, 1 = very negative). The average rating was 4.2. At another convention, over 100 attendants were asked whether they preferred the informal sessions; 83% indicated that they liked the informal format best, 5% preferred the formal sessions, and 12% liked both formats equally.

Principles Used in Facilitating Networks Underlying the many activities of the coordinators are some basic principles of par-

ticipation, definitions of goals and objectives, ideas about resource exchange, awareness of informal and formal power structures and emphasis on the importance of social support. These are elaborated below.

Active Involvement of Members As more members of the Division of Community Psychology are actively involved

in meaningful roles, there is a greater chance that participants will feel responsible for and committed to the Division. In addition, as members work jointly on tasks such as organizing a paper session or workshop, new friendship patterns can be formed and ideas exchanged. Of most importance, by working with colleagues from different institutions within a region, members can receive the kinds of social support that might be lacking in their own settings.

Rather than passively waiting for members to approach them, regional coordinators are constantly initiating efforts to elicit participation. They frequently assess member interest in various topics related to community psychology with mail questionnaires. When one coordinator found that members in his region were very interested in issues about deinstitutionalization, he organized a workshop on that topic at the regional convention. Another coordinator worked with a member in his region in organizing a successful

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writing campaign to alert convention officials to the needs of community psychologists. Others regularly use mailings to ask directly for help in organizing convention activities. One of the most successful efforts involved sending a request for participation along with a stamped, addressed postcard to all members in a region. Members had only to write on the postcards their names, addresses, and topics they would like to present, from which several panels were subsequently organized by the regional coordinator. One Division 27 member who participated on such a panel later became a regional coordinator himself, starting the first region outside of the United States (in Canada).

The network of regional coordinators has served as an excellent medium for providing grass-roots-level involvement in the Division of Community Psychology. Through its contact with the Division’s executive committee and task force chairpersons, it has been provided with names of individuals seeking to become regional coordinators or desiring greater involvement in local or regional activities. The network has also been able to recommend members for administrative and committee positions.

Defining Success The enthusiasm and motivation of the regional coordinators have probably been

strongly influenced by their definitions of success and its criteria. Exaggerated expectations for what should be accomplished might have predisposed coordinators to burn- out, but by setting limited objectives and feeling gratified when they were met or ap- proximated, the coordinators could be more satisfied and content with their roles.

In some regions, for example, only five to eight individuals attended informal discussion groups. This could have been interpreted by coordinators as a failure, leading to discouragement and demoralization. But to the contrary, regional coordinators focused on the quality of work in these sessions and have reported that some of the most successful events occurred in sparsely attended meetings; precisely because each member of the group had ample time to participate in the discussions, more networking could occur and more lively conversation and dialogue was possible.

The informal networking that occurs during meals, at evening socials, during trips to local tourist attractions, and in the halls of the hotel is perhaps of greatest importance at regional meetings. Perceiving these informal behavior settings as key sites for social support, regional coordinators can construe regional-level meetings as successful, even when attendance at formal sessions is sparse. Such a definition of success is not strict but is meaningful and positive for the regional coordination system.

Resource Exchanges Given the limited budgets available (coordinators were typically provided only $50

to $100 from Division 27), there has been a critical need to create and find resources in imaginative ways. For example, regional coordinators have frequently attempted to find colleagues at universities or mental health centers who would assume financial responsibilities for one mailing. One coordinator located a vocational counselor who was willing to have his clients at a mental health program fold and stuff envelopes for one project. Another innovative effort to garner resources involved a coordinator who was given $200 by his university to cosponsor a university-Division 27 party at the regional convention. Other resource exchanges have involved a coordinator obtaining meeting rooms at conventions by agreeing to take charge of volunteers and being provided a room for Division 27 from a convention manager, who was “paid” with a bottle of Chablis. Insuring that regional coordinators attended the annual meeting at the American Psychological


Association was once a difficult task, when in most cases their host settings could not afford to send them to this meeting. However, when they were all given credit for a poster session at APA, where the past year’s regional coordination efforts were publicized, many were able to secure some funding from their agencies for the trip.

Swapping resources among region members has been a central mission of the coordinators. This exchange was facilitated in several countries outside of the United States by compiling directories of community psychologists and their interests. One of the most ambitious attempts to foster resource and information exchange among community psychologists involved the publication of the “Do-It-Yourself Free Press.” Three types of contributions were listed in the newsletter: scales, papers, and handbooks that authors were willing to make available; literature reviews, scales, and syllabi which Division 27 members might need; and reports of research programs and work with legislators. Readers liked the newsletter, found it useful, and requested many of the available materials. Some psychologists who listed resources received 10 to 20 requests for ad- ditional information.

Being Politically Sensitive Intimate familiarity with their organizations’ structure and operating rules helps

regional coordinators appreciably in accomplishing their goals. In one region, the coordinators’ submission of symposia and informal discussion groups to the program committee of the regional convention was rejected in toto for two successive years. Informal discussions with executive officers administering the convention revealed that the Divi- sion 27 programs were being negatively evaluated at least partially because of a bias against applied research. Upon inspecting the by-laws of the association, the regional coordinators learned that affiliated groups could offer programs at the convention and be listed in the convention program. Quickly filling out all the paperwork necessary to become an affiliated group, they formed “the Division 27 interest group,” which was able to include its entire program at the convention in the succeeding years.

In other regions, where regional coordinators have more cordial relationships with convention officials, they have expressed a willingness to review “community” papers and as a result were placed on the program committees in three regions. In this capacity they have been able to insure that quality community papers are included in the programs. In another region, an association president provided program time and a room for the coordinator to sponsor Division 27 activities in exchange for reviewing papers. Another regional coordinator was used as an informal consultant to the program committee and influenced convention officials to insure that a community psychologist was placed on the program committee, that community psychologists would be asked to present invited addresses, and that an entire regular poster session would be devoted to community-psychology-related research.

In addition, several regional coordinators have exerted influence by creating administrative roles or being elected to positions within organizations. In one country, the coordinators created a community section within the national psychological association. Another regional coordinator was elected president of his province’s psychological association. The existence of these new structures and election to official roles provided the regional coordinators with unique opportunities to insure that community-related activities were at the forefront during professional meetings.

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Fostering the Emergence of Alternative Support Structures In addition to the usual sponsorship of community-oriented activities at conven-

tions, facilitation of resource exchange, and dissemination of information, coordinators are strategically located to support the development of other social support networks. Within every region one finds small gatherings of community psychologists in regularly scheduled rap-groups, research meetings, and informal luncheons. Regional coordinators inform others of the existence of these meetings as well as participate in establishing them. In one region, a coordinator invited all area Division 27 members to a dinner at a university, at which those in attendance decided to continue every few months in order to get to know each other better, exchange information, and build a base of social support. The group has sponsored dinners and informal parties for new and de- parting members, as well as many presentations on topics of ongoing research. It recently invited eight community activists to a meeting to begin a dialogue with Division 27 members. This informal support group has been in existence for over three years.

Two other alternative support structures that have emerged out of regional conventions are the Eco-Community Psychology interest groups, one in the Midwest (Davis & Jason, 1982) and the other in the Southeast. These groups have succeeded in facilitating the exchange of support, resources, and information. Their creation and development indicate that community-oriented students and professionals can work together in promoting and enhancing a viable social support system. The success of these alternative settings might be due, at least in part, to the fact that regional coordinators initially es- tablished connections and relationships among community psychologists.

Discussion As the many activities described above indicate, regional coordinators fulfill a

critical role in Division 27. It is through their efforts that the true collaborative spirit of community psychologists is manifested. By introducing training programs at meeetings, by connecting somewhat isolated community practitioners, by developing support groups, and by promoting interaction among community psychologists in general, the regional coordinators are striving to make the ideals of community psychology work at a basic level.

It is important to mention that many regional coordinators felt somewhat overwhelmed when assuming their roles. With a limited budget, members scattered over several states, and the nebulous charge of organizing Division 27 activities, it is un- derstandable that they experienced at least a modicum of anxiety. Only by adopting several of the strategies described in this paper was it possible to be constructive with a seemingly quixotic mission. By initially limiting their goals to sponsoring small-scale activities at conventions, by lowering expectations to realistic levels, by seeking opportunities for resource exchange, and by being politically astute, regional coordinators were able to begin the process of establishing meaningful support structures for community psychologists.

It would be inaccurate, however, to leave readers with an idea that the regional coordinators are always satisfied in trying to overcome insurmountable barriers or that all Division 27 members happily participate in regional activities. In reality, regional coordinators are sometimes frustrated with mild responses to requests for input, insensitive convention officials, and inadequate resources. In addition, only a small percentage of


Division 27 members within any region have actually participated in coordinator- sponsored events. But once again, a realistic appraisal of the coordinator network, which focuses on manageable and limited objectives, can validate the experiences, efforts, and accomplishments of the regional coordinators. By having fun in bringing members together and providing them an opportunity to participate in activities, coordinators have actively reached out and created new behavior settings for communication, support, and collaboration.

There are many organizational issues that need to be examined, especially given the recent expansion of the Division 27 coordinator network. For example, what resources will be needed in order to coordinate so many diverse areas? Since some regions are geographically quite large, personal contact is difficult. Because of limited funds, communications are often conducted through the mail; however, generating enthusiasm and motivation in writing can be a difficult task to accomplish. Are there alternative strategies available to generate, sustain, and increase member participation? Will the roles of regions within the Division be broadened or maintained? Will the ideas and structure from a United States-dominated organization (Division 27 of APA) pose ideological problems for third-world countries? How can the regional coordinators work more closely with Division executive committee members and chairpersons so that com- mon goals are reached? These and other organizational questions must be addressed in the future.

The regional coordinator network represents a model, imperfect as it is, for creating support systems for community psychologists. In its short history, a dedicated group of over 40 coordinators has generously given time to nurturing an international network of. community psychologists. The existence of a live and energetic network of community psychologists is strong testimony to the continued viability of the community approach.

References Bloom, B. L. (1980). Social and community interventions. Annual Review of Psychology, 31, 1 1 1-143. Davis, D. D., & Jason, L. A. (1982). Developing a support network for community psychologists. Journal of

Community Psychology. 10, 15-22. Felner, R. D., Jason, L. A., Moritsugu J. , & Farber, S. (1983). Preventivepsychology: Theory, research and

practice. N.Y.: Pergamon. Iscoe, I. , Bloom, B. L., & Spielberger, C. D. (Eds.). (1977). Community psychofogy in transition:

Proceedings of the National Conference on Training Community Psychology. Washington: Hemisphere. Kelly, J. G . (1971). Qualities for the community psychologist. American Psychologist, 26, 897-903. Lubin, B., & Newbrough, J. R. (1977). Unresolved conference issues and future plans. In I . Iscoe, B. L.

Bloom, & C. D. Spielberger (eds.), Community psychology in transition: Report on the National Conference on Training in Community Psychology. Washington: Hemisphere.

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