Albert Nylander, thank you for giving the poverty simulation a try despite your hesitations and for being part of the experience – your input and. It is predicted that those who participate in poverty simulations gain a greater understanding of the hardships faced by the poor. Results show that the Community Action Poverty Simulation (CAPS) at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi, is a successful and useful tool for raising awareness of the poverty situation.
I have seen the difference awareness of the conditions of poverty can make in patient care. During my first CAPS, I noticed a need for a better understanding of the poverty situation plaguing our nation and our state.
LITERATURE REVIEW
According to Tischauser, survival in conditions of poverty "requires fortitude and distrust of others".37 A common idea about poverty is the concept of "culture of poverty". According to Leslie V. Danes, this is the most widespread attitude toward the poor in the United States.51 The media provided tangible representations of public perceptions of the poor. 59 "Poverty is perceived as increasing and the condition of the poor as unimproved." New York Times 23 Aug.
These misconceptions stem from personal experiences, societal influences and the media's portrayal of the impoverished. Robert Entman argues that the media influence the distribution of political power.90 In addition, the public perception of the impoverished carries enormous weight in policy making.
RESEARCH DESIGN
This is a mixed methods study of the effectiveness of the University of Mississippi Community Action on Poverty Simulation as a tool to inform participants about the real state of poverty in the United States. A picture showing the layout of the CAPS space is available in the appendix. Qualtrics, a university-licensed survey software, was used in the development of the pre-experience survey.
Such calculations are used to determine the trends of people who have similar experiences and the impact of simulating poverty on their responses. Pre-event planning: suggesting changes to pre-event poverty simulation planning and deployment.
RESULTS
A comparison of descriptive statistics and calculation of parametric statistics for the pre- and post-experience surveys showed a general increase in means for most questions. For each of the questions, there was an increase in the mean between the pre- and post-experience surveys and a decrease in the standard deviation. Most pre- and post-experience surveys show that the increase in question averages was statistically significant.
After t-test analysis of the questions for those who claim no direct experience of poverty. A summary of the findings regarding those who have no direct experience of poverty can be found in Table 5.8 in the appendix. Parametric statistical calculations show that 12 of the questions did not show a statistically significant increase in the means of the answers.
A total of 12 questions did not show a statistically significant increase in the average of the responses. When further comparing this group before and after experience surveys, the majority of questions showed a decrease in the standard deviation. An increase in means from the pre-experience survey to the post-experience survey was observed for the majority of questions.
Overall, the predicted outcome of the poverty simulation was that participants would leave with a greater. Overall comparisons of the pre- and post-experience surveys show that there was an increase in the mean for the majority of the questions. In addition, T-test analysis showed that the increase in means for the majority of the questions was not due to chance.
Regarding the “Attributions of poverty” category, an increase in means from the pre-experience survey to the post-experience survey shows an understanding of the conditions of poverty and those factors that attribute to the poverty situation. Parametric calculations also showed that a majority of the means for the 23 comparison statements had a significant difference between the pre and post.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The results showed that participants felt that the debriefing was not taken seriously and that changes to the debriefing needed to be made. Second, these facilitators need to know that debriefing is part of the simulation and that participants are not allowed to leave before the debriefing. A better understanding of the simulation is gained during the debriefing and participants who do not participate in the entire debriefing session may dilute the results.
Transformation: Through engaged scholarship and reflective community action, the McLean Institute promotes transformation through service by connecting university research, education and service with community partners to serve communities across the state. Respect: The McLean Institute values the strengths and assets of all the people and organizations we work with. Integrity: The McLean Institute believes in listening honestly, processing information accurately and meeting its commitments.
The Community Action Poverty Simulation is a tool that further enables the McLean Institute to embody these core values. According to their website, the McLean Institute for Public Service and Community Engagement promotes transformative service. Our community engagement work seeks to impact low-income families in our state because more than 1 in 5 Mississippians live in poverty, including nearly 1 in 3 children under the age of 18.”128.
In future simulations, questions selected from previous surveys to analyze participants' perceptions should all be tested for reliability and validity. In addition, further studies should evaluate whether the changes made in future simulations are effective or not. In future studies, focus groups may be more effective in gaining a more contextual understanding of the impact that CAPS has had on participants.
Setup of Community Action Poverty Simulation
Pre Experience Survey
INFORMATION SHEET
Post Experience Survey
The purpose of this research project is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Community Action Poverty Simulation as a learning tool that provides students with an understanding of the conditions of poverty. You will be asked to complete an anonymous online pre-experience survey and a post-experience survey following the poverty simulation. However, you can experience satisfaction through participation and participation can result in greater knowledge of the poverty situation.
In addition, you will have the opportunity to learn more about poverty and what you can do to alleviate the problems associated with poverty. All information in the study will be collected from you anonymously: no one, not even the researchers, will be able to link you to your answers. You do not have to volunteer for this study and there is no penalty if you decline.
If you start a study and decide you don't want to finish it, close your web browser. Whether you participate or withdraw will not affect your current or future relationship with the University and will not cause you to lose any benefits to which you are entitled. If you have any questions, concerns, or reports regarding your rights as a research participant, please contact the IRB at or [email protected].
In the following you will be asked about your attitude towards people living in poverty and your attitude. Because of all this, people with a low income do not have to work as hard. What do you think can be done to address poverty and do you have a new desire (inspired by this experience) to be involved in efforts to address poverty?
Recruitment Materials
IRB Approval Email
Tables
A possible explanation for the results is "the influence of social and environmental factors related to being both of minority race and lower social class," but the pattern was not entirely consistent with the double jeopardy account (360). Furthermore, he argues that "people with the least degree of autonomy—the least amount of control over their work conditions or other important life circumstances—have the poorest health" (17). The article concludes that simulation-based training is worth the expense because of the positive impact on the students.
An interesting statistic was presented by the authors: "...the gap between rich and poor in this country is wider than it has been in over 50 years (Moyers, 2004) and wider than in the older class-based societies of Europe and any other developed nation (Johnston, 2005a)" (48). The authors also claim that this program allows employers to take advantage of the poor (65). According to the book, "the resource to which low-income people in this country have the least access to health care” (65).
In addition to providing this useful information, the article argues that simulations "can be counterproductive if students do not have the opportunity to discuss and 'process' post-simulation experiences" (2). Results could not be generated due to the public health background of the participants – a limitation of the study. Overall, the research shows that poverty simulations facilitate 3 key goals in education, which include: "(1) knowledge transfer, (2) skill development, and (3) application of knowledge and skills".
The term 'culture of poverty' has been used to describe the values, principles and lifestyles associated with people living at the lowest economic levels of society.” The culture of poverty has important implications for intergroup relations. Regarding this culture of poverty, anthropologist Oscar Lewis "believed that the values children learn from their parents about how to survive in such desperate circumstances make it harder for children to move out of poverty." He also argued that “the culture the poor have learned works against ever getting out of poverty” and that “things change. According to page 14 of the report, "the number of people in poverty (in millions) is the highest number in the 52 years for which poverty estimates have been published." Many different types of households were measured, including duplicate, elderly, single-parent households.
Information presented in this article is useful because it explains what the poverty line is and the trends associated with poverty in the population of the United States. The article outlines poverty statistics and explains the definition of poverty developed by Mollie Orshansky of Social Security.
