Theoretical and method trends guiding community psychology based HIV research and implications for marginalised groups.
Date
2012-02-09
Authors
Shirley, Amy
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Abstract
This study explores how international and South African community psychology has studied
HIV in the past twenty years, emphasising the methodological and theoretical aspects of
research being produced. Concurrently, this study situates itself within an empowerment
theory framework and has sought to comment upon marginalised groups and their presence in
published community psychology-based HIV research. The research made use of data
generated from a content analysis of selected journal articles from the South African Journal
of Psychology, the American Journal of Community Psychology, the Journal of Community
Psychology, and the Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology over the period
1990-2009. The results reflect a dearth of community psychology research concerning HIV
and a reliance on positivistic methodologies across contexts, as well as a predominant focus
on epistemologies relating to risk and prevention. It was found that whilst interest in
marginalised groups within community psychology based HIV research has increased
particularly in the last decade, the voices of some of the most vulnerable groups remain
relatively silent. It is understood that a move away from more traditional health psychology
methods and understandings of HIV, to a more critical conceptualisation is imperative for the
field of community psychology with regards to this prominent social problem.
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Keywords
Community psychology, HIV research, South Africa, Marginalised groups, Publication trends, Empowerment theory