Community psychology and research: The example of the EMILIA project

The development Of Community psychology has also had significant implications in the area of evaluation and research methodology. The empowerment principle, that is, giving users the means to control their health and to make their own health decisions, has important implications for the choice of evaluation strategies for both individual therapeutic acts as well as for public health programmes. If the user's potential expertise in the health area is to he fully acknowledged, how is this to be done with regard to research ? How can users become not only actors of their own health, but also play an active role in research and health evaluation ? The article gives an overview of research strategies based on community psychology principles, with a particular emphasis on action research and participative-action research. The example of a multisite European project on empowering mental-health service users to access life-long learning and employment, Currently underway in Paris, is presented to illustrate these community research methods. (C) 2008 Societe francaise de psychologie. Publie par Elsevier Masson SAS. Tous droits reserves.