Prof Catherine Campbell, STC. S387

Available to MSc Health, Community and Development students and MSc International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies students only.

Application of the principles of community social psychology to public health, public health promotion and collective action for social change, with particular attention to the psycho-social and community-level determinants of health-related behaviour and of participation in collective action for community development.

This course examines the psycho-social determinants of community development for health, and more particularly the role of participation, partnerships and collective action in the promotion of health and the management of disease. This material is contextualised within a multi-level framework of health spanning the individual, community and social levels of analysis, and driven by an interest in the challenge of building social environments that enable and support the possibility of health. Viewing communities as mediators between the individual and social dimensions of health, the bulk of the course focuses on the social psychology of grassroots participation, collective action, partnerships and community development for health - relating health and community development to social identities, social representations and local knowledge, dialogue, empowerment, critical thinking and the public sphere. Particular attention is given to the mechanisms underlying individual/social change in building health-enabling social environments, and implications for the design and evaluation of practical community health strategies. All this material is contextualised within wider debates and controversies about the global nature of public health, mainstream vs. alternative development policy, the respective roles of local and global social movements, and the potential for participation to alleviate the negative health impacts of social inequalities (especially relating to poverty and gender). The course concludes with a focus on the incorporation of social psychological perspectives into the design and evaluation of community development for health programmes.

Lectures/Seminars (two hours) x 20 MT; Class (one hour) x five MT.

1) an individual book review and 2) a written assignment.

P Freire, Education for Critical Consciousness, New York: Continuum (1973); M Seedat, (Ed), Community Psychology: Theory, Method and Practice, Cape Town: Oxford University Press (2001); S. Hickey and G. Mohan (Eds) (2004) Participation: from tyranny to transformation? London: Zed; M. Murray and C. Campbell (Guest Editors) (2004) Special Edition on Community Health Psychology. Journal of Health Psychology, 9 (2); R Chambers, Whose Reality Counts? Putting the First Last. London: ITDG (2003); J Pottier, A Bicker & P Sillitoe (Eds), Negotiating Local Knowledge: Power and Identity in Development. London: Pluto; J Habermas, 'The public sphere: an encyclopedia article'. In S Bronner & M Douglas (Eds), Critical Theory and Society: a Reader, London: Routledge. Pp. 136-142; M Foucault, Power/Knowledge. Selected Interviews and other Writings 1972-1977, London: Harvester Wheatsheaf (1980); D Hook (Ed) Critical Psychology. University of Cape Town Press (2004); S Jovchelovitch & C Campbell (Guest Editors) Special edition on Health, Community and Development. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology and Applied social Psychology, 10; P Reason and H Bradbury, Handbook of Action Research: Concise Paperback Edition. London: Sage (2001). C Stephens, Health Promotion: A Psycho-social approach. Maidenhead: Open University Press (2008); C Campbell, Letting them Die: why HIV Prevention Programmes Fail, Oxford: James Currey.

A formal three-hour examination in the ST: three questions from a choice of 10 (100%).