WHEN: Thursday, February 16, 2017, 6 - 8 PM

WHERE: Knox Hall, 606 W. 122nd Street, Room 509

The Community Research Group of Mailman School of Public Health and NYS Psychiatric Institute, carried out research on epidemics affecting poor communities. We used a variety of methods, but "situation analysis" emerged as a preferred tactic for understanding new patterns of disease and social pathology. 

We originally encountered the concept of "situation" as part of studying the psychology of place. In collaboration with students in Mindy Fullilove's Qualitative Research Methods course, we elaborated a method of studying situations which focused on establishing multiple perspectives on a problem as well as its setting. We came to call this "studying the interpersonal episode in its embedding context."  

Situation analysis uses a wide variety of qualitative and quantitative methods, including qualitative interviews, life histories, observations, collection of artifacts, and analysis of quantitative data. Once articulated, we used this method to study women and AIDS, fatal school shootings, and forced displacement.  

Dr. Mindy Thompson Fullilove is a board-certified psychiatrist who is interested in the links between the environment and mental health. She started her research career in 1986 with a focus on the AIDS epidemic, and became aware of the close link between AIDS and place of residence. Under the rubric of the psychology of place, Dr. Fullilove began to examine the mental health effects of such environmental processes as violence, rebuilding, segregation, urban renewal, and mismanaged toxins. She has published numerous articles and six books including "Urban Alchemy: Restoring Joy in America's Sorted-Out Cities," "Root Shock: How Tearing Up City Neighborhoods Hurts America and What We Can Do About It," and "House of Joshua: Meditations on Family and Place." She recently joined The New School as a professor of urban policy and health at Milano.

INFORMATION: For more information, please email Amy Starecheski at aas39@columbia.edu.

THIS EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED.

NO REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED, BUT RSVPS ON THE EVENT FACEBOOK PAGE ARE APPRECIATED TO GAUGE ATTENDANCE.