psychologists acting with conscience together

“Our projections show that virtually all the progress made in family economic well-being since 1975 will be wiped out,”

via Recession threatens U.S. progress in child wellbeing | U.S. | Reuters.

Stephen Soldz makes the case for an independent investigation of psychologists’ aid to abusive interrogations. Join the effort to make it happen.

APA Ethics Policy-Maker Endorses Torture « Psychologists for Social Responsibility Blog.

AlterNet has launched its Top Ten Hottest Take Action campaigns for social change — a tool for you to check out what’s bubbling among the most important progressive campaigns in the country, and what you can do to get involved. This week, they’re highlighting Amnesty International’s campaign to save death row inmate Troy Davis’s life, efforts to hold Shell Oil accountable for its environmental and human rights crimes, and CODEPINK’s Mothers for Peace action for Mother’s Day.

Check out AlterNet’s 10 Hottest Activist Campaigns

There are a lot of things that can push people over the edge these days, but we have to worry about prescription of anitdepressants and anti-psychotics combined with easy access to assault weapons.

behind the spate of family homicides is not just the economy, job stress and failing marriages, but a government that approved a cohort of psychoactive drugs with proven homicidal and suicidal side effects. Blockbuster antidepressants and anti-psychotics that are kept on the market despite the blood baths they can cause so drug companies can get their patent’s worth.

And it’s a government that allows unlimited weapon arsenals — including military and assault-style weapons — in the hands of everyone, including the unbalanced on “depression” drugs, only to act surprised when another entire family — everyone who was home — is killed.

via What’s Behind the Epidemic of Family-Killings? Could it Be Anti-Depressants? | Health and Wellness | AlterNet.

From the Washington Post: Appalled by instances of what federal prosecutors have described as slavery, executives of one of the nation’s largest food service companies promise to boycott Florida tomatoes if growers do not agree to improve conditions and increase pay for farmworkers.

via Putting the Squeeze on Tomato Growers to Improve Conditions for Farm Workers – washingtonpost.com.

- NYTimes.com. A job that has not been all that alluring to college graduates is in resurgence, according to leading community organizers and educators. Once thought of as a destination for lefty radicals committed to living lives of low pay, frustration and bitter burnout, community organizing is now seen by many young people an exciting career.

via A Career in Community Organizing Becomes an Enviable Option – NYTimes.com.

We have set up a system that lavishly rewards individuals and impoverishes society. Where the richest percentile see their incomes grow by $863,000 and the poorest 20 percent see gains of $1,600. And given what we know about innovation, it’s not clear that that’s a wise — or fair — distribution.

via The Argument Over Inequality | The American Prospect.

FROM PsySR: The previously classified memos that the U.S. Justice Department released last week provide further details on the disturbing role that psychologists and other health professionals played in the systematic torture and abuse of prisoners detained by the U.S. You can read the four memos HERE

We quote below from a letter that President Barack Obama sent to the CIA, about the release of the memos:

“In releasing these memos, the men and women of the CIA have assurances from both myself, and from Attorney General Holder, that we will protect all who acted reasonably and relied upon legal advice from the Department of Justice that their actions were lawful. The Attorney General has assured me that these individuals will not be prosecuted and that the Government will stand by them.”

We urge our U.S. members to contact your representatives in Congress (Capitol Switchboard is 202-225-3121), the White House (202-456-1111), and the American Psychological Association Ethics Office (202-336-5930 or 800-374-2721), to share your concerns about the need for full investigation and disclosure, including the role played by psychologists and other health professionals, and for appropriate accountability.

The Washington Post- Psychologists Helped Guide Interrogations

From Huffington Post: While the Fox News-fueled coverage of the “tea parties” has hoodwinked major media outlets into believing it’s just a spontaneous protest against high taxes, it’s actually been a well-orchestrated campaign driven by lobbyists and right-wing corporate front groups that are seeking to keep taxes low and preserve loopholes for wealthy CEOs and corporations. Both sets of tax breaks for the ultra-rich are targeted in President Obama’s budget and tax reform plans, while the “Tea Party” activists ignored the real threats posed by a tax system geared to benefiting the rich. Energy would be better focused here: http://tiny.cc/4aZIO

Art Levine: Faux-Populist “Tea Parties” Ignore Tax Breaks for Overpaid CEOs.

• methods in social research

  This page lists FREE resources for program evaluation and social research methods. The focus is on “how-to” do evaluation research and the methods used: surveys, focus groups, sampling, interviews, and other methods. Most of these links are to resources that can be read over the web. A few, like the GAO books, are for books that can be sent away for, for free (if you live in the US), as well as read over the web.

  Tags: research methods, Methodology, evaluation, resources

• Effective Strategies to Support Positive Parenting in Community Health Centers

  Tags: children, abuse, child maltreatment, prevention, violence, parenting, health equity

• OutcomesBlog.Org » Evaluation Advisory Committees – getting it right at the start

  Recently I attended the first meeting of an Evaluation Advisory Committee and I was reminded once again of the importance of setting up evaluations properly at the start. I have set out below the issues which need to be dealt with when such committees are set up. This list is drawn from my experience on a number of these types of committees. The issues you need to deal with include:

  Tags: methods, evaluation

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Society for Community Research and Action group favorite links are here.