Compare and Contrast Community Pschology and Public Health

Community psychology vs. the public health approach

Social problems: community psychology vs. the public health model Magdalena F. Kruger Community and Health Psychology24 April 2009

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Abstract The purpose of this paper is to critically compare and contrast two approaches to social problems: community psychology and the public health approach. The similarity lies in their focus on prevention of social problems through targeting communities or populations of people instead of individuals. These two approaches find health in understanding and challenging the impact of environmental factors on healthy living. They differ much in their history, approaches and successes. This paper examines these differences and ends with possibilities where these approaches can learn from and build on each other.

Community psychology vs. the public health approach

Social problems: Community psychology vs. the public health approach Social problems is common global phenomena. They range from addiction, substance abuse, violence against woman and children, unemployment, crime, poverty, homelessness and many more. For many generations the focus was only on treating disease and distress and thus only limiting its duration within an individual context. This approach was soon found to be inadequate in dealing with the issue of health. The focus shifted from the curative approach to a preventative one. This shift gave rise to the involvement of different disciplines in the fight for health. This paper compares and contrasts two approaches that focus on the prevention approach and on understanding and incorporating the role of environmental and social factors on the health of the people namely community psychology and the public health approach. Community Psychology, Public Health or both? Compared to public health, community psychology is still a fetus. Tutorial letter 102 for PSY461Q (2009) state that community psychology was formalized as a separate discipline in 1965 resulting from the...