While contemporary social workers (Johnson, 1998; Schorr, 1997; Weil, 1996) point to a revitalization of community based social work strategies over the past decade that promote the active engagement of residents in poor communities; these efforts have not been accompanied by research that presents clear measurable results (Itzhaky & York, 2002). This project contributes to existing research in community practice by exploring the relationships among citizen participation in neighborhood organizations, perceived organizational characteristics and effectiveness, and participants personal and collective competencies, and sense of community. The current study is guided by prior research that demonstrates the problems and issues faced by residents in poor neighborhoods today, and the importance of citizen participation as a vehicle for community improvement. Furthermore, several theoretical perspectives were used to explain the nature of citizen participation: the ecological perspective, perceived control, collective efficacy, sense of community, and empowerment theory. A cross sectional, self-report survey design was used to examine citizen participation among participants (N = 124) in four neighborhood organizations in poor communities in Pittsburgh. Respondents perceptions of their neighborhood organizations characteristics and effectiveness had a weak effect on their participation. However, the more positive respondents perceptions of their neighborhood organizations characteristics and effectiveness, the greater their perceived effects from participation (i.e., increased personal and collective competencies and sense of community). Furthermore, the more respondents participated in their neighborhood organization, the greater their perceived effects from participation. Finally, the greater respondents motivation for participation, the more involved they were in their neighborhood organization. The current study demonstrates the importance of social work practice interventions that focus on engaging citizens to improve their communities, and social work research that examines citizen participation in a community context. Social work strategies that analyze and understand the motivation of current and potential participants, and help to build community and organizational capacity, are important for facilitating citizen participation. Furthermore, social work researchers must work with practitioners to analyze interventions in ways that present clear measurable results, use more sophisticated research methodologies, and build a knowledge base upon which social work practitioners can guide their work in poor communities.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-08022004-152553 |
| Date | 19 August 2004 |
| Creators | Ohmer, Mary Louise |
| Contributors | Pamela Meadowcroft, Ph.D., Gary Koeske, Ph.D., Morton Coleman, Ph.D., Esther Sales, Ph.D. |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-08022004-152553/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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