Sustained Community Theater Participation as Civil Society Involvement

Community theaters proliferate in every state in the nation, yet they are rarely considered in civil society research. Participation in civil society is capable of producing individual (psychological empowerment) and community-level outcomes, yet less is known about how community theaters might be capable of producing the same. Guided by the empirically tested dimensions of intra-organizational empowerment, this qualitative study interrogates four internal processes of voluntary membership in a community theater (shared beliefs, opportunity role structure, social support, and leadership). Directed content analysis of 14 in-depth interviews support and extend our understanding of existing theory for this less examined population. Implications for policy, practice, and future research are discussed

Social Worker Identity: A Profession in Context

Social work is a broad field encompassing micro, mezzo, and macro areas of practice. Consequently, the field lacks a unifying professional identity due to the expansiveness of the profession. Professional identity is conceptualized as an extension of social identity, vis-à-vis the embodiment of three qualities: connectedness, expansiveness, and effectiveness. This study used 12 in-depth, individual interviews with practicing social workers to explore these qualities. Findings from interviews reveal six primary themes and 21 subthemes pertaining to social worker identity. Themes and subthemes are organized according to three broad families (social work in context, professional trajectories, and external influences). Implications for policy, practice, and future research are presented

A Critical Analysis of Foster Youth Advisory Boards in the United States

Background: The enactment of the John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Act brought welcome attention to young people aging out of foster care, and sought to include them in both case planning and policy dialog. Foster Youth Advisory Boards help to promote such inclusion, though the implementation of those boards has not been formally analyzed. Objective: This critical analysis of foster youth advisory boards in the United States answers the following questions: (1) What/where are each of the Youth Advisory Boards in the United States? (2) How is each board implemented? (3) How would a young person aging out of care (or a practitioner working with this population) access its local board? Methods: A content analysis of public child welfare agency programs was conducted to identify youth advisory boards in each of the United States and the District of Columbia to identify implementing agencies and contact information. Results: While every state and Washington, D.C. had a version of Youth Advisory Board, some boards were implemented exclusively through public child welfare agencies and others through public/nonprofit partnerships. Contact information for each of the 51 boards was identified and is displayed. Conclusions: Youth Advisory Boards have proliferated throughout the United States since the enactment of Chafee programming. They can be useful, pro-social mediums to include foster youth in case planning and policy dialog, while simultaneously promoting a sense of leadership, mentorship, and ecological permanence. Implications for policy, practice, and research are explored

Technology and Opportunity: People with Serious Mental Illness and Social Connection

Objective: Little information exists regarding how individuals with serious mental illness use technology and whether this usage facilitates social connections. This study contributes to filling this knowledge gap by examining ways in which a sample of persons with serious mental illness use cell phones and the Internet. Methods: Interviews with 50 consumers living in supported housing were asked about their use of cell phones and computers and their perceptions of social connections. Results: Cell phones and computers allowed greater linkage with social, medical, mental health, and employment resources. Nearly all obtained phones through publicly funded programs. “Running out of minutes” was common and associated with disrupted communication and safety concerns. Few people owned computers, resulting in restricted access. Conclusion: Policymakers should consider providing free or discounted hardware, subsidizing unlimited plans, and promoting computer literacy

Social exclusion among urban ethnic minority youth in the Northeast United States: A reflective view on community supportive structures

Social exclusion occurs as a combination of challenges (e.g., unemployment, high poverty, family conflict) that limits life opportunities. Social exclusion has been researched within European contexts, among middle-class families, and from quantitative perspectives. However, research on the topic among urban ethnic minority youth and using qualitative methodologies has remained elusive in the U.S. Although collaborative efforts between governmental institutions and community-based coalitions have helped develop intervention efforts to decrease social exclusion among youth in low-income urban areas, it continues to develop within families, communities, and societies. Therefore, this research explored experiences of social exclusion among low-income minority youth in an urban community in the Northeast U.S. Data were collected from nine focus groups (N = 58). The goal was to explore how urban ethnic minority youth understood social exclusion and the community resources they used to navigate its challenges. Findings included economic and societal exclusion in the form of economic deprivation and lack of appropriate safety nets. Although youth expressed a lack of community connection in the form of community exclusion, they applied a reflective view on how inequality shaped their lives, while discussing pathways towards social inclusion. This reflection was emphasized by the importance of developing bridging and bonding relationships (mentoring)

Psychological Empowerment and the Pursuit of Social Change: Outcomes of Foster Youth Engagement

Youth aging out of foster care are assumed to embody a disempowered group, for whom civic engagement opportunities are rare. Utilizing a targeted initiative, this study explores individual- and community-level outcomes derived from foster youth civic engagement. Data were collected via: (a) interview and survey research with foster youth advisory board leaders; (b) interview and survey research with civic youth workers; and, (c) non-participant observation of five foster youth advisory board meetings. Directed content analysis revealed three emergent themes, which transcended the data inductively (Opportunity through Access; Positive Conceptions of New Jersey\u27s Department of Children and Families; and, Participatory Competence). These themes support and extend our current understanding of empowering outcomes for this population. Implications for research, policy, and practice are discussed

Exploring the Affirmative Role of Gay Icons in Coming Out.

Coming out is a process experienced by many sexual minorities that necessitates the individual disclosure of a personal attribute (i.e., sexual orientation) about him or herself that may otherwise go unnoticed. Compounded by myriad stressors of youth, the coming out process can yield a host of negative outcomes (suicide, depression, etc.) for questioning young people. This research utilized sense of community and collective identity frameworks (specifically, the attribute of symbols that is explicated in both literatures) to explore the affirmative role that gay icons can have in individual coming out processes. Retrospective, open-ended interviews were conducted with 10 out and proud gay men in the northeast region of the United States. Interviews were video-recorded, transcribed, and content-analyzed to identify themes. Three themes emerged from the data inductively. Sense of Self refers to the strongest link that participants perceived among all gay icons, Shared Identity refers to the connectedness that participants felt with the icons they mentioned, and Enabler of Coming Out refers to the belief among participants that they received validating messages about their emerging sexualities from the icons with whom they identified. Implications for policy, practice, and future research are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)

Opportunity Role Structure, Social Support, and Leadership: Processes of Foster Youth Advisory Board Participation

Youth aging out of foster care constitute a vulnerable and understudied population. In spite of evidence that suggests civic participation may be an empowering, developmental process for youth in the general population, few community psychology studies have investigated civic participation among youth aging out of state systems. This qualitative study used in-depth interviewing with foster Youth Advisory Board leaders as the primary means to explore this intersection. Triangulated data collection also included (a) descriptive survey research with youth leaders, (b) in-depth interviewing and descriptive research with civic youth workers/adult coordinators, and (c) nonparticipant observation of Youth Advisory Board meetings. Directed content analysis revealed 3 emergent themes (civic literacy, Youth Advisory Board as family, and privileged positions) related to foster youth civic participation. These themes are assumed to support and extend processes allied with intraorganizational empowerment (opportunity role structure, social support, and leadership). Implications for policy, practice, and future research are discussed

Awareness, Analysis, Engagement: Critical Consciousness through Foster Youth Advisory Board Participation

Foster youth advisory boards provide child welfare-involved young people a forum through which to impact the policies, programs, and services that govern their care. In addition to facilitating policy change, these boards may also enable participating youth to cultivate a deeper understanding of themselves and their worlds. The present study utilized a strengths-based, critical consciousness framework to describe the ways in which 15 foster youth advisory board members in a single state reflect on, analyze, and respond to their socio-political worlds. To this end, the author aims to describe youth advisory board processes, while attempting to answer the question, “How does critical consciousness manifest through foster youth advisory board participation?” Emergent themes are organized around the existing dimensions of critical consciousness. Implications for policy, practice, and future research are discussed

Dream Big: Exploring Empowering Processes of DREAM Act Advocacy in a Focal State

This original, qualitative research analyzed in-depth interviews with five undocumented, college-age, Latino DREAM Act advocates in a single state. An organizational empowerment framework was utilized to explore processes allied with such advocacy. Four emergent themes transcended the data inductively: (1) Challenging Social Injustice, which pertains to participant motivations for involvement; (2) Inherent Connection, which pertains to the unique personal experiences among DREAM-ers; (3) Combatting Internalized Stigma, which pertains to overcoming the shame or embarrassment of an undocumented identity; and (4) Civic Literacy, which pertains to political proficiencies that participants acquired throughout their DREAM Act involvement. Implications are discussed