Loading...
68 results
Search Results
Now showing 1 - 10 of 68
- Using a modified version of photovoice in a European cross‐national study on homelessnessPublication . Gaboardi, Marta; Santinello, Massimo; Lenzi, Michela; Disperati, Francesca; Ornelas, José; Shinn, MarybethThis study proposes an innovative use of a modified version of photovoice for cross‐national qualitative research that allows participants to express their ideas, experiences, and emotions about a topic through photographic language. We examine factors affecting social service providers' work on people experiencing homelessness in Europe. We highlight five advantages of using photovoice in cross‐national research: visual language, methodological flexibility, participatory data analysis, the bottom‐up process, and the promotion of social change. Moreover, we identify key stages of the process: writing a detailed protocol for the implementation and fidelity of the projects, using two levels of data analysis, and disseminating the results. This study provides lessons learned for others who may want to use photovoice in cross‐national research.
- Factors associated with providers’ work engagement and burnout in homeless services: A cross‐national studyPublication . Lenzi, Michela; Santinello, Massimo; Gaboardi, Marta; Disperati, Francesca; Vieno, Alessio; Calcagnì, Antonio; Greenwood, Ronni; Rogowska, Aleksandra; Wolf, Judith; Loubiere, Sandrine; Beijer, Ulla; Bernad, Roberto; Vargas-Moniz, Maria; Ornelas, José; Spinnewijn, Freek; Shinn, MarybethThe complexity of homeless service users' characteristics and the contextual challenges faced by services can make the experience of working with people in homelessness stressful and can put providers' well-being at risk. In the current study, we investigated the association between service characteristics (i.e., the availability of training and supervision and the capability-fostering approach) and social service providers' work engagement and burnout. The study involved 497 social service providers working in homeless services in eight different European countries (62% women; mean age = 40.73, SD = 10.45) and was part of the Horizon 2020 European study "Homelessness as Unfairness (HOME_EU)." Using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), findings showed that the availability of training and supervision were positively associated with providers' work engagement and negatively associated with burnout. However, results varied based on the perceived usefulness of the training and supervision provided within the service and the specific outcome considered. The most consistent finding was the association between the degree to which a service promotes users' capabilities and all the aspects of providers' well-being analyzed. Results are discussed in relation to their implications for how configuration of homeless services can promote social service providers' well-being and high-quality care.
- Community psychology and social change: A story from the field of mental health in PortugalPublication . Ornelas, José; Moniz, Maria João Vargas; Duarte, TeresaA contextual and ecological intervention approach for people experiencing mental illness was developed with a primary focus on the mobilization of natural resources, the expansion of social networks and supports, and to systematically promote opportunities for activity within the community. The mutual help movement provided a major contribution to enhance and strengthen the social role of those experiencing mental illness. This social change process was inspired by empowerment theory and the goal of recovery through social and community participation. Therefore we present a community-based intervention, based on the principles and values of Community Psychology, a program implemented during the last twenty years in the field of mental health that contributed to changes in the mental health system in Portugal. A community-based support system has been organized to provide social supports in terms of housing, education and employment by enhancing the use of natural contexts, such as schools and businesses, and the diverse social resources available to the general public.
- Using a modified version of photovoice in a European cross‐national study on homelessnessPublication . Gaboardi, Marta; Santinello, Massimo; Lenzi, Michela; Disperati, Francesca; Ornelas, José; Shinn, MarybethThis study proposes an innovative use of a modified version of photovoice for cross‐national qualitative research that allows participants to express their ideas, experiences, and emotions about a topic through photographic language. We examine factors affecting social service providers' work on people experiencing homelessness in Europe. We highlight five advantages of using photovoice in cross‐national research: visual language, methodological flexibility, participatory data analysis, the bottom‐up process, and the promotion of social change. Moreover, we identify key stages of the process: writing a detailed protocol for the implementation and fidelity of the projects, using two levels of data analysis, and disseminating the results. This study provides lessons learned for others who may want to use photovoice in cross‐national research.
- Women’s experiences of immigration detention in Italy: Examining immigration procedural fairness, human dignity, and healthPublication . Esposito, Francesca; Di Martino, Salvatore; Briozzo, Erica; Arcidiacono, Caterina; Ornelas, JoséRecent decades have witnessed a growing number of states around the world relying on border control measures, such as immigration detention, to govern human mobility and control the movements of those classified as “unauthorised non-citizens.” In response to this, an increasing number of scholars from several disciplines, including psychologists, have begun to examine this phenomenon. In spite of the widespread concerns raised, few studies have been conducted inside immigration detention sites, primarily due to difficulties in gaining access. This body of research becomes even scanter when it comes to the experiences of detained women. This study is the first of its kind to have surveyed 93 women confined in an Italian immigration detention facility. A partial mediation model with latent variables was tested through partial least structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The findings revealed the negative impact that unfair immigration procedures have on detained women’s human dignity, which in turn negatively affects their self-rated physical and mental health. Overall, our study sheds light on the dehumanisation and damage to human dignity that immigration detention entails, as well as its negative impact on the health of those affected. This evidence reinforces the image of these institutions as sites of persistent injustice, while stressing the need to envision alternative justice-oriented forms to address human mobility
- Recovery assessment scale : Testing validity with portuguese community-based mental health organization usersPublication . Monteiro, Maria Fátima Jorge; Ornelas, JoséThe aim of the present study was to develop the Portuguese version of the Recovery Assessment Scale (RAS-P), and to assess the validity of the findings using the revised test, with 213 users from 5 nonprofit community-based mental health organizations. Participants in the assessment completed a self-reported survey investigating their sense of personal recovery, personal empowerment, capabilities achievement, psychiatric symptoms’ frequency, and demographic data. Evidence from exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses using the 24-item version of the test, validated a 4-factor structure for the RAS-P model based on the dimensions of Personal Goals and Hope, Managing Help Needs, Supportive Interpersonal Relationships, and Life Beyond Symptoms, consistent with components of the recovery process. Convergent and discriminant validity was also achieved using bivariate correlation coefficients among the 4 subscales’ scores, between the overall scale and the subscales, and in relation to external variables. Findings allowed for the interpretation that the RAS-P is measuring a particular psychological construct, which is different from symptoms of the mental illness. A hypothesized significant association with personal empowerment and with capabilities achievement was demonstrated. Positive association was also found between participants’ use of recovery-oriented services such as independent housing or supported employment programs. The RAS-P scores also revealed excellent internal consistency for the overall scale ( .90), and good consistency for the subscales ( .75), which attest to its precision in measurement. In conclusion, the study proved the RAS-P a reliable and useful tool in the context of the community mental health practice.
- Contributos da psicologia comunitária para a inovação em políticas públicasPublication . Ornelas, José; Moniz, Maria João VargasA Psicologia Comunitária integra na sua tradição a aspiração de ser fonte inspiradora de movimentos de mudança social; nesta esteira procura documentar-se como desde o final dos anos 80, esforços de implementação de iniciativas na comunidade, têm vindo a ser desenvolvidos em Portugal com base nos seus princípios e valores. As iniciativas abordadas foram organizadas pela sociedade civil. Através do seu percurso de desenvolvimento e dos seus contributos para a formulação de políticas públicas no contexto sociopolítico português, apresentam-se a AEIPS (Associação para o Estudo e Integração Psicossocial), criada em 1987 e a AMCV (Associação de Mulheres Contra a Violência), fundada em 1992. A primeira intervém na área da criação de um sistema comunitário de apoio à desinstitucionalização da população com doença mental e a segunda, igualmente na criação de um sistema comunitário de apoio, mas direccionado para mulheres e crianças sobreviventes de violência doméstica. As principais influências documentadas estão relacionadas, por um lado, com os contributos para a visibilidade dos fenómenos associados ao isolamento e vulnerabilidade dos grupos abrangidos e, por outro, na participação efectiva em eventos ou na produção de documentos e regulamentos de implementação de políticas públicas nas duas áreas em análise.
- Voices from the inside: lived experiences of women confined in a detention centerPublication . Esposito, Francesca; Ornelas, José; Scirocchi, Silvia; Arcidiacono, CaterinaDrawing on two years of fieldwork, this article focuses on the lived experiences of women detained inside Rome’s Identification and Expulsion Center, the main migration-related detention facility in Italy. We employed a thematic narrative analysis to examine the narratives of five women with different life trajectories in order to identify continuities and discontinuities within and across their stories. This analysis reveals that women’s experiences of oppression and agency—in their countries of origin, transit, and settlement—are deeply intertwined and strongly influenced by structural forces. Gender and sexuality, in relation to other hierarchies of power such as class, race, and nationality, profoundly shape such experiences, becoming crucial in the production of women as excludable and deportable subjects. Further, as the accounts of our participants lay bare, the immigration control system appears to play a key role in the (re)production of a dominant normative order. However, women are not passive spectators of the violence to which they are forcibly exposed. Rather, they struggle to cope with and resist the regimes of power that oppress their everyday lives. Through a feminist stance, this contribution seeks to enrich the body of scholarship on the lived experiences of women subject to practices of immigration and border control, particularly those confined in detention centers. Moreover, it highlights the need for a feminist project based on the creation of political and affective alliances across borders and axes of difference, particularly those related to legally produced statuses.
- Migration-related detention centers : The challenges of an ecological perspective with a focus on justicePublication . Esposito, Francesca; Ornelas, José; Arcidiacono, CaterinaBackground: In recent years, border control and migration-related detention have become increasingly widespread practices affecting the lives of undocumented migrants, their families, and communities at large. In spite of the concern within academia, few studies have directly witnessed the life and experiences of people confined to migration-related detention centers. In the medical and psychological fields, a considerable body of research has demonstrated the pathogenic nature of detention in terms of mental health, showing an association between length of detention and severity of distress. Nevertheless, it was limited to the assessment of individuals’ clinical consequences, mainly focusing on asylum seekers. There currently exists a need to adopt an ecological perspective from which to study detained migrants’ experiences as context-dependent, and influenced by power inequalities. This paper addresses this gap. Discussion: Drawing upon advances in community psychology, we illustrate an ecological framework for the study of migration-related detention contexts, and their effects on the lives of detained migrants and all people exposed to them. Making use of existing literature, Kelly’s four principles (interdependence, cycling of resources, adaptation, succession) are analyzed at multiple ecological levels (personal, interpersonal, organizational, communal), highlighting implications for future research in this field. A focus on justice, as a key-dimension of analysis, is also discussed. Wellbeing is acknowledged as a multilevel, dynamic, and value-dependent phenomenon. Summary: In presenting this alternative framework, the potential for studying migration-related detention through an ecological lens is highlighted, pointing the way for future fields of study. We argue that ecological multilevel analyses, conceptualized in terms of interdependent systems and with a focus on justice, can enhance the comprehension of the dynamics at play in migration-related detention centers, providing an effective tool to address the multi-level challenges of doing research within them. Furthermore, they can contribute to the development of policies and practices concerned with health, equality, and human rights of all people exposed to migration-related detention. Consistent with these assumptions, empirical studies adopting such a framework are strongly encouraged. These studies should use mixed and multi-method culturally situated designs, based on the development of collaborative and empowering relationships with participants. Ethnographic approaches are recommended.
- The Capabilities Questionnaire for the Community Mental Health context (CQ-CMH) : A measure inspired by the capabilities approach and constructed through consumer–researcher collaborationPublication . Sacchetto, Beatrice; Aguiar, Rita; Monteiro, Maria Fátima Jorge; Neves, Maria João; Cruz, Maria Adelaide; Coimbra, José António; Ornelas, JoséThe involvement of people with psychiatric disabilities in research and service evaluation has traditionally been rare, especially in the construction of outcome measures. This study documents a collaborative process with consumers from 2 Portuguese community mental health services in the construction of the Capabilities Questionnaire for the Community Mental Health context (CQ-CMH). The measure is inspired by Nussbaum's capabilities approach and aims to measure consumers' capabilities when supported by the community mental health services.