Appropriate Community Psychology in Papua New Guinea

Abstract

Community psychology involves the application of psychology to community situations. To do this effectively community psychology must develop technologies which can be defined as “replicable methods for solving community problems and developing the capacities of communities to achieve their own goals” (Fawcett, Mathews & Fletcher, 1980, p.505). These authors propose that seven dimensions of a technology must be considered to ensure the ‘appropriateness’ of the technology. Table I shows these seven dimensions and they will be discussed here in terms of a Papua New Guinean context before we turn to a consideration of problems in urban communities in Papua New Guinea and then some discussion of the appropriateness of the role of skills-trainer for psychologists working in urban communities in Papua New Guinea.