The present study involves an evaluation of the effect of the American Psychological Association's ACT Raising Safe Kids (RSK) program on parenting outcomes for families served by Community Health Centers. The ACT-RSK program is a primary family violence and child physical abuse prevention program for parents of young children. Parents were trained in effective parenting including nonviolent discipline, child development, anger management, social problem-solving skills, effects of violent media on children, and methods to protect children from exposure to violence. Results indicate improved nurturing and positive parenting behaviors and lower rates of psychologically and physically aggressive behavior toward children. These improvements occurred independent of children's age and prior levels of aggression. Use of this model within healthcare settings has the potential to more effectively address parents’ needs for parenting guidance while reducing the likelihood of child maltreatment.

Recruitment of community-based youth into studies is challenging. We examined access issues, minority status, and personal costs of participation for a study of children with aggressive behaviors, designed to identify which ones are at risk for future violent behaviors, to identify protective factors, and to test interventions to reduce aggression. Of 1,038 contacts, 112 declined, 239 could not be re-contacted, and 124 were ineligible. Three hundred and fifty of 563 scheduled child-parent dyads completed intake assessment. Most were recruited through targeted mailings (33%) and community flyers (22%), 12% through regional news advertisement, 8% by Craigslist, and 5% through healthcare providers/clinics. Factors contributing to enrollment rates by zip code showed the percentage of Black residents per zip code and targeted mailings positively contributed (Beta = .200 & .419, respectively) and estimated transit travel time negatively contributed (Beta =.299) to enrollment rates (R² = 0.562). Targeted mailings proved to be the most efficient strategy in successful recruitment.

Men who have sex with men (MSM) experience greater mental health problems as compared with heterosexual populations. Informal social support plays a critical role in emotional well-being. The primary goal of this article is to examine the relationship between depressive symptoms and received social support from family, friends, and sex partners within the social network from a sample of 188 African American MSM in Baltimore, Maryland. We found that receiving emotional support from a family member or a sex partner was associated with reduced odds of having depressive symptoms. Receiving financial support from a family member or a friend was associated with increased odds of having depressive symptoms. The results suggest the importance of emotional support provided by family and sex partner in mental health and the potential value of training African American MSM in skills to enhance the quality of the relationships.

“Without an understanding of religion in American life, an understanding of community in American life remains incomplete” (Pargament & Maton, 2000, p. 515). In America, however, religion intertwines with politics, often creating ideological controversy and political deadlock. We investigated one of the underlying contributors to America's current ideological controversy, namely, values as manifest in the politico-religious narratives people construct to help give meaning to their lives. The first author spent several months as a participant-observer in a rural southeastern community, intensely experiencing community life, and keeping extensive field notes. Semistructured in-depth and group interviews, analyzed using grounded theory and supplemented by theoretical accounts of morality/religion and politics, provided data for developing a theoretical model of narrative construction. We found (a) beliefs, (b) moral and religious values, and (c) emotional sentiments to be the major politico-religious narrative elements and discussed implications for community psychology intervention in pursuit of human development and community.

Alcohol merchants (N = 331) completed a cross-sectional survey assessing their attitudes and beliefs about underage drinking, its likely consequences, requirements for responsible beverage service (RBS) training, and performance of RBS practices and checking IDs. Merchants requiring more rigorous RBS training (i.e., state-approved vs. in-house or none) have stronger beliefs that outlets who sell to minors will get cited and that their employees know RBS practices. Also, merchants who engage in more RBS practices require more rigorous RBS training, and believe more strongly that outlets who sell to minors are more likely to face, and deserve, stricter sanctions. Merchants who check IDs more strictly conduct more RBS practices and believe more strongly that underage drinking is serious and will result in stronger consequences if caught selling to minors. These findings about the attitudes, practices, and enforcement of alcohol merchants suggests ways communities can better target their limited resources to prevent underage drinking.

A multi-method evaluation was conducted to assess the TextToday pilot program, the nation's first crisis line with the capacity to accept text messages. Objectives of the evaluation included how successful the system was in meeting the needs of underserved youth and how effectively the social marketing campaign reached the target population with information about the texting crisis service. The service was found to increase youth help-seeking behaviors among our pilot study population. Implications for replication, integrating texting into community crisis services, and future research are discussed.

Rapidly placing homeless Veterans with severe mental illness into permanent housing is one important goal of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program; however, no research has tested whether an explicit organizational alignment of this goal with revised practices could improve outcomes. A demonstration project initiated in 2010 to reform housing placement practices in a metropolitan area enabled researchers to compare an explicit “Housing First” program—offering immediate permanent housing without requiring treatment compliance, abstinence, or “housing readiness”—with a treatment-first program for 177 homeless Veterans. The Housing First initiative successfully reduced time to housing placement, from 223 to 35 days, housing retention rates were significantly higher among Housing First tenants, and emergency room use declined significantly among the Housing First cohort. The results suggest that a national Housing First model for the VA would be associated with improved outcomes for Veterans experiencing homelessness.

This pilot study examined a brief psychological intervention using horses as a therapeutic tool to improve levels of self-esteem, self-efficacy, and facilitate the development of life skills in a group of disengaged youths (n = 16). Participants and their case managers were interviewed after completion of the program to explore their responses to the intervention. Interview transcripts were coded to identify participants’ experiences and outcomes. Five themes emerged from these interviews, namely, (a) enjoyment, (b) psychological and social benefits, (c) engagement, (d) transferrable skills, and (e) mechanisms of change. The findings of this study indicate that this type of intervention may provide a viable option for youths who are disengaged from school and/or the community and who have not responded to traditional interventions.

This research evaluated whether exposure to “Know Your Power” posters promotes willingness to help others at risk, alone or in interaction with social self-identification. At the start of the academic year, posters were hung in two randomly selected residence halls. No posters were hung in a control hall. After 6 weeks, first-year undergraduate students (N = 95) reported their willingness to help others and their perceptions of the posters via an anonymous online survey. More students from the experimental than control halls noticed the posters; there were no other differences between students who did and did not notice the posters. Willingness to help others at risk was elevated among students exposed to posters at least once. This effect was marginally enhanced among students who perceived the posters as depicting familiar people and situations. Overall, results suggest that bystander-themed educational posters help promote community safety by encouraging bystander intervention.