Help/Mutual Aid that show their dialectical relationship. ⢠Emphasis on local and ... action of promoting 12 step group participation, without intervening inside the ...
Action Research and Participatory Action Research as adequate methodologies for self help support. Examples from Greece. Lainas Sotiris & Georgiou Alexandros
Action Research (A.R.) and Participatory Action Research (P.A.R.) • Our view of A.R. and P.A.R. is consistent with critical aspects of Community Psychology. • Although there are several definitions, we see A.R. and P.A.R. as an orientation to inquiry rather than a particular method. • According to this view: • AR is a participatory, democratic process concerned with developing practical knowing in the pursuit of worth-while human purposes, grounded in a participatory world view which we believe is emerging at this historical moment. It seeks to bring together action and reflection, theory and practice, in participation with others, in the pursuit of practical solutions to issues of pressing concern to people, and more generally the flourishing of individual persons and their communities. (Reason & Bradbury, 2001).
Action Research is: • Based on specific values: Participation, democracy, aiming primarily to the pursuit of well being of those directly involved, emphasis to the practical acquired knowledge • Critical to the positivistic aspects of science • Praxis – oriented • Not only a research methodology but also a methodology of work improvement
Is there a need for developing alternative research and work methodologies in the field of social sciences? • Mainstream scientific paradigm in the field of clinical and community psychology has shown strong weaknesses. • The produced knowledge does not drive to efficient interventions • The main questions to be asked are: • Are there more appropriate methodologies for certain research issues? • Who benefits from research? Or in other words: Research by whom and for whom?
Action Research offers an alternative since: • It is planned in a participatory way (by service users and researchers or practitioners-researchers) • It is oriented on the improvement of the lives of those directly involved • It is guided and evaluated collectively (by service users and researchers) • It reduces the gap between research and practice since the produced knowledge is bound to the reality of those directly involved • It gives the opportunity to both service users and practitioners to become researchers
Action Research offers an alternative since: • It lacks of high intellectualism and complicated notions that make research procedures hostile to those directly involved. • It works with the people rather upon them. • It helps us deepen our understanding about our work and our roles. • It provides the necessary legitimization for our work. (Since our work has specific characteristics that are difficult to be researched through mainstream methodologies).
Action Research and Self Help Support: An old and stable relationship • Action research methodology is suggested for the establishment and function of Self Help Clearinghouses and for Self Help Support in general • Action Research is an adequate methodology for self help support since it shares basic characteristics with self help / mutual aid
Common characteristics of Action Research and Self Help/Mutual Aid that show their dialectical relationship. • • • • • •
Emphasis on local and experiential knowledge Emphasis on the help of the direct involved Collaborative relationships Active role of the direct involved people Democratic and anthropocentric way of functioning Radical philosophy and ideas
Examples from Greece • Our work in Greece is based on this dialectic relationship between Action Research and Self Help Support. • Two examples: • Supporting people participating in AA and NA groups • Supporting ex – users /survivors of Psychiatry in Greece to constitute self help groups and a national association. The example of European conference
Basic components of the creation, the evolution and the current practice in our work are: • Emphasis on the needs of the service users • Respect to the discourse and the experiential knowledge of service users regarding their problems • Mutual, respective and cooperative relationship between service users and practitioners • Participatory action planning and evaluation along with the service users • Flexibility in the formation and in the way that the supportive activities work (abolition of activities that do not meet the needs of the service users, re-planning, creation of new activities) • Emphasis on the formation of communal climate • Abolition of rigid diagnostical categories that result in the objectification of human subjects • Emphasis on collective procedures and self-organizing activities
Main characteristics in the formation and evaluation of supportive activities • Needs assessment (Collectively) • Participatory planning • Main model of activities development: Plan – act – critical reflection – re-plan – act
Supporting people participating in AA and NA groups • Main action of the program. • Situation of 12 step groups in Greece and particularly in Thessaloniki, when we started 10 years ago. • Basic components of the specific action: respect to the autonomy of the groups, deep knowledge of 12 step group philosophy. • Initial questions and aims. How can we establish a supportive action of promoting 12 step group participation, without intervening inside the groups? • Initial steps: Establishing a network with old members, making referrals, organizing a vocational education program. • Initial problems: Understanding the actual reality of the groups, establishing trust with the members, redefining our roles as health practitioners.
Supporting people participating in AA and NA groups • Further developments: Creation through participatory action research methodology of the Open Program of Psychosocial Support of Drug and Alcohol Addicts. • The creation and function of this program is bound to: • The developmental phase of 12 step groups in Greece, the lack of support services regarding addicts in Greece, the lack of knowledge regarding 12 step groups in health professionals and in Greek society in general.
Open Program of Psychosocial Support Drug and Alcohol Addicts and their Family Members General assembly, open meetings
Referrals and 12 step facilitation Support in Medical, Legal, Educational issues
Support Groups Day center for the support of drug and alcohol addicts Individual sessions
PC and foreign languages semninars
Streetworking Providing meeting space to 12 step groups
Support to social and vocational reintegration
Awareness raising on cultural, social, ecological issues
Supporting (ex)Users and Survivors of Psychiatry • The history and the current situation regarding people with psychiatric experience in Greece. • The established network with the existing self help initiatives and self help groups of (ex)Users and Survivors of Psychiatry. • The expressed need for expansion, linking to European peers and for legitimization. • Participatory planning of the conference. Our role: technical support, regarding funding, organizational issues, finding volunteers, helping with the edition of conference minutes. No involvement regarding the philosophy, context and topics discussed in the conference.
