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Blind men and elephants: A case study of consultation with police
Author(s) -
Burkhart Barry R.,
King Glen D.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.585
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1520-6629
pISSN - 0090-4392
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6629(198104)9:2<133::aid-jcop2290090205>3.0.co;2-i
Subject(s) - intervention (counseling) , psychology , applied psychology , process (computing) , social psychology , psychiatry , computer science , operating system
Abstract Although consultation has become an important vehicle for purveying psychological services to social systems, few well‐defined conceptual or empirical guidelines sensitive to the multidimensional nature of complex social systems exist to structure intervention efforts. A case study of a consultative intervention with an internally conflicted police department is presented. The process of the intervention clearly illustrated the multidimensional factors sustaining the difficulties. A particular consultative intervention, the consultant‐trainee model, was utilized and seemed to have several features useful in such cases. A pre‐post evaluation supported the effectiveness of the intervention and several recommendations for the conduct of effective, ecologically sensitive social system consultation were presented.