Community-Based Risk Prevention with Urban Youth

Abstract

Examples of three major approaches to community-based prevention programming with urban young people based on ongoing prevention research at the Institute for Community Research (ICR) are provided and reviewed. The psychological model is based on psychological principles addressing change at the individual level. The ecological model emphasizes the importance of simultaneous interventions at multiple levels. The social action or action research model targets structural changes in policy and social context as the route to influencing broad-based changes in individual behaviors. Such models offer opportunities for school psychologists to experience the interface of theory, practice, and research in out-of-school settings. Descriptions of the models address actual or potential contributions of school psychologists. To work effectively in community-based prevention, school psychologists should have expertise in ecological approaches to intervention, anthropological research methods such as ethnography, consultation that promotes long-term involvement, and advocacy.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jean J. Schensul

Jean J. Schensul, PhD, is an anthropologist involved in community-based prevention research in urban areas of the United States, Latin America, and Asia. Her prevention research has focused on theory-driven interdisciplinary approaches to substance abuse and AIDS prevention with adolescents and young adults of diverse ethnic backgrounds in schools and communities. She has published on research methods, health and mental health of children, and gender-based prevention models. She is the Immediate Past President of the Society for Applied Anthropology.