viii, 292 pages : 24 cm "Community psychology is a comparatively new area within psychology. Its perspective is that people and their problems can only be understood by considering the social settings and systems of which they are part and with which they interact continuously over time. These include not only micro-systems of family, work and leisure groups, but also higher-order systems from neighbourhood to socio-cultural groups. Community psychology is also about using this understanding to improve people's well-being. It is an applied, practical subject as well as a theoretical one.. [this work] deals at length with topics such as power and powerlessness, qualitative and case-study research methods, and offers background theory ... together with reports of research on many practical aspects in community psychology"--Back cover Includes bibliographical references (pages 262-283) and index What is community psychology? -- Theories of person-in-context -- Psychological problems in the community -- Social resources I : social support -- Social resources II : power and control -- Research methods -- Sharing psychology with workers in human services -- Prevention -- Understanding and changing organisations -- Self-help and non-professional help -- Empowering the community