2007 Volume 11 Issue 1 Pages 76-89
The purpose of this action research was to analyze ways of developing a network of supporters for Brazilian-Japanese students living in Japan based on the perspective of community psychology. We have been engaged in support activities as volunteer students and in networking supporters for Brazilian-Japanese students for approximately three years. The sites for these activities were places where only a few Brazilian-Japanese students were living. In the first year, we investigated problems of Brazilian-Japanese students and the surrounding community support systems, and made preparations for carrying out support activities. The second year, we started conducting the support activities, and through these activities, we encouraged supporters to start networking. The third year, we conducted a psychological study of Brazilian-Japanese students and their parents. Through this research and feedback from it, networks of supporters were expanded throughout the community and a formal network with a wider variety of supporters was established. From this experience, we identified five major factors that would make a networking process more effective: (1) clinical practice, (2) key persons, (3) informal relationships, (4) research, and (5) research funds. We discussed limitations of this practice, focusing on the fact that parents of Brazilian-Japanese students did not take part in the networks.
