Social Welfare
Year:2015 | Volume:15 | Issue:59|Papers Count:13

Introduction: Civil society organizations as an interface institution between the state and society have an important role in the multidimensional and integrated approaches to the alleviation of poverty. This article, with regard to this issue, discusses the role of civil society organizations in alleviation of poverty.Methods: The methods used in this research are descriptive and analytical in which the identity of the civil society organizations and their necessities in poverty reduction are discussed.Findings: The civil society is crucial for poverty reduction and their partnership with the public sector in poverty alleviation projects can make a significant contribution to its destruction. With regard to the problems faced by civil society organizations, including their identification, effectiveness, influence and eventually financing, the result is that breaking the vicious circle of poverty requires a series of actions at the same time. Civil society organizations should let the poor get involve in society and facilitate the economic, political and social development in different groups and levels of society.Discussion: This paper has been developed to discuss about the role of civil society organizations in adoption of poverty reduction approaches, pointing out that with a strong and active participation of these organizations, the production capacities of the poor will increase, they would be encouraged to participate in decision-making and in total, enables the poor reach to a level that can get rid of poverty.

Introduction: Cognitive structure plays a crucial role in peoples’ interactions and their satisfaction from common life. Standards are among the most important aspects of cognitive structure in individuals. Standards are shaped under influences of culture and life environment. This study is aimed to comparing related standards in the Iranian ethnicities.Method: This study was a survey design whose statistical population was composed of all above 18-year-old and married people from six ethnicities of Fars, Turk, Kord, Lor, Balouch, and Arab who were born, as well as living, in their ethnicity-specific cities. Using convenience sampling, 360 peoples were selected for the study, including 180 men and 180 women, which makes 30 men and 30 women from each ethnicity. Relationship-specific standard questionnaire are instruments of this investigation, the former of which is to analyze standards in four areas of boundaries, control and authority, instrumental investment, and expressive investment. Data was analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), with the exception of men’s control and instrumental investment areas where, due to necessity of controlling effect of academic studies, multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was used.Findings: Findings indicate that there is a significant difference between Turk men and women and other ethnical groups in different standard areas. Turk men and women gained the highest scores in all four areas of standard, which shows that Turk people possess higher musts and criteria in areas of boundaries, control and authority, instrumental investment, and expressive investment. Balouch men obtained the lowest scores in many standard areas (control and authority, instrumental investment, and expressive investment), which may relatively be reasoned out by their marriage patterns, traditional norms, and tribe-style subsistence. Arab women gained significantly higher standards than their men counterparts in many regards (boundaries, control and authority, and expressive investment). Standards of Balouch women were, also, significantly higher than their men counterparts in many regards (control and authority, and both instrumental and expressive investments). Additionally, Fars women obtained significantly higher standards in both instrumental and expressive investments than their men counterparts.Discussion: These differences appear to be rooted in authoritative parenting style, coping lifestyle, or marriage-specific patterns of this ethnicity that had been of influence in formation of their relationship standards. Higher scores gained by women in above-mentioned cases can be justified through differences in women’s cognitive system, evolution of the Iranian society toward modernism, and large-scale roles of women in this community. Overall, findings of the study prove differences in cognitions of the Iranian ethnicities, since individuals of each group have grown up and subsisted in different environments with special subcultures, experiences, and norms whose standards have been formed during years.

Introduction: The concept of development sustainability with creating infrastructures for improving welfare of citizens would be possible that plays improving infrastructure and urban housing, fair and equitable distribution of facilities. The following research was conducted in order to analyze the impact of urban tourism on economic and social issues of slums and suburbs using views of local people and municipal authorities in Islamshahr county of Tehran province.Method: This research is practical in purpose and is based on descriptive-analytical research method. In this research, the statistical population is local people and municipal authorities of Islamshahr county. With the help of Cochran formula the sample size of local people and municipal authorities has been calculated to be 315 and 30 people respectively. Questionnaires and direct interviews were used as data gathering tools in this research.Findings: Results of this research show us that perspectives of local people and municipal authorities show a meaningful difference between the impact of urban tourism in poverty reduction of slums in 3 subjects: increasing tourism-related jobs, developing infrastructures and tourism organizations and increasing the commercial spaces. Also, the results of Mann-Whitney test showed that both groups were studied (local people and municipal authorities) see a meaningful difference in perspective about the impact of urban tourism on social, cultural and environmental issues of slums in two subjects.Discussion: Solving the problem of informal settlements depends on learning different aspects of their issues and their involvement in finding economic and social solutions. Strategies for sustainable tourism development is one of the most important suggestions and improving social and cultural conditions in these area.

Introduction: These settlements are facing a series of problems which are not limited only to the physical dimensions, but also create problems in the social and cultural aspects, leads to isolation from the mainstream of society. This article deals with the relationship between socio-cultural and economic characteristics of the residence and "feeling of social exclusion".Method: Results have been achieved using the survey method and through multi-stage cluster sampling method, through interviews with 300 young people from 15 to 29 years old from the most favorable areas to less favorable localities Pakdasht.Findings: Youth living in Pakdasht neighborhood average evaluation of presence of neighborhood as is relatively inappropriate. These cultural and social values with the greatest determination in a high presence (appropriate evaluation) down presence (bad evaluation) from neighborhoods. More than half of people felt that they are living in neighborhoods stigmatized. An average feeling of social exclusion has been the case in the middle. This means that people living in Pakdasht, social exclusion were relatively feeling.Discussion: What brings a feeling of social exclusion not directly their evaluation of presence of neighborhoods (socio-cultural values of trilogy, the physical and economic); but this evaluation is more effective when be accompanied with a sense of stigma of people to their neighborhoods; this means that until the evaluation is not associated with a feeling of stigma, found that feeling less social exclusion. Thus it can be said probably it is not so important that people evaluate their neighborhoods with high or low is important stigma that people feel from others; that is deeply humiliating.

Introduction: Nowadays due to the importance of nonprofit capitals such as psychological capital in using material capitals based on human, it is possible to consider the psychological capitals management as an important point in organizational studies by forming positivist psychology movement. Positivist psychology movement has had important results for leaders and managers of human resource and has showed that using positivist psychology principles have relation with operation improvement and efficiency, in practice.Method: Present research has analyzed the relationship between psychological capital and organizational obligation and perceived job performance of headquarters staff in education system of Isfahan by descriptive method in correlation type. All 520 employees of education system in Isfahan took part in the statistical universe of this survey. 220 people were chosen by using convenience sampling method and Cochran's sample size formula. To collect data, psychological capital questionnaire of Luthnas and et al. (2007) with 24 questions, Allen and Meyer's organizational commitment questionnaire (1991) with 24 questions and Paterson’s perceived organizational performance questionnaire (1970) with 15 questions based on 5 degree Likert scale have been used. The validity of all three questionnaires were estimated by using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (a) which equals to 0.79 in psychological capital, 0.80 in organizational commitment and 0.90 in perceived organizational performance.Findings: The result has shown that there are significant relationship between psychological capital with its dimensions and organizational commitment (r=0.537, P<0.01), also there are significant relationships between psychological capital and all dimensions and perceived organizational performance (r=0.344, P<0.01), According to indexes of (GFI=0.87, AFGI=0.87, CFI=0.91, CMIN=2.54). The model has had the fitness for variables.Discussion: According to relation of all psychological capital dimensions and perceived organizational performance and organizational commitment and predicting role of psychological capital, it has concluded that to investing on improving psychological capital causes to improve organizational commitment and optimizing perceived organizational performance. Furthermore, positivism of psychological capital is more important due to it is able to predict more.

Introduction: The Community-based participatory evaluation is an applied scientific research that invites and encourages the people to full participation in evaluating their own community health programs with common objectives, in different stages, planning, implementing or concluding the programs. Collaboration of the Stakeholders develops their feeling of belonging to their community. It also gives them a new positive definition of evaluation programs, instead of a source of anxiety for blaming or rejecting. The involved people do the evaluation of their own programs instead of submitting this task to external evaluators. In other words, the main objective of participatory evaluation is empowering the community in planning, implementing and concluding their own lives and career programs.Method: This research was conducted to utilize the “evaluation framework for community health programs”, as a participatory evaluation model for the community health action agencies’ programs, with regards to the “people to people” approach. The evaluation framework was planned and implemented in a community health Action Agency called “Mehr Tehran Pars” located in the East of Tehran, metropolitan region 4, with almost 63703 populations.Findings: Among the six success indicators, pointed out by evaluation participants (financial resources, human resources, service providing, communication, operations management and sustainability), the findings showed the maximum scale for capacity of the community health action agency was in operation management (%4.5) and the minimum scale was in supplying financial resources (%2.5). The scale for people satisfaction in cooperating with the agency was %50 and the scale for people satisfaction in the agency’s service providing was %48.Discussion: The participatory evaluation proved that the agency needs some improvement and empowerment. The method of evaluation also could produces some valuable knowledge in full participatory working. In addition, the strength and weaknesses of the programs were explained to take into account in the future. The lessons were learned in this method by the participants were gathering success stories, using the gathered information’s and supporting the agency’s changes and improvement.

Introduction: We need a different approach for prevention of social problems such as addiction in university students. Medical students need more attention because they are more familiar with some of the drugs. This study aimed to develop a model for this group.Method: Along with an extensive literature review, we developed a preliminary model and used Delphi method to validate it. We collected comments of 30 social problems experts, who have good experiences in the field of prevention of substance abuse in students, by email from April 2014 to August 2015 during three rounds of Delphi study.Finding: For the prevention of addiction and other social problems among the students we must consider these principles: Emphasis on quality of life, active participation of the students in the prevention programs, and considering cultural differences in planning. These are main principles in this approach.Discussion: Using opinions of a wide range of experts on prevention of addiction, using participatory approaches to cover the weaknesses of previous models are the most important strengths of this model.

Introduction: The most important effective indices on Cultural Capital forming is the possibility of having access to Media. Present article is investigating relationship between Cultural Capital and Media Consumption with using Knowledge Gap theory.Method: The present study conducted among 188 students with using Survey method.Findings: There is a relationship between the media consumption with three variables (press, electronic and digital) and cultural capital (subjective, objective and institutional). There is a positive correlation between all aspects of media with mental and institutional dimensions of cultural capital, but there is a negative relationship between press media with cultural capital.Discussion: Inequality of media consumption leads to inequality in information among people and inequality in cultural consumption among them.

Introduction: In our society one of the sensitive social issues which is tied to the topic of social justice is the special privileges and benefits that children of martyrs and veterans receive to compensate for the loss of their fathers. This research is done with the purpose of analyzing the relationship between these special privileges and perceived social justice.Method: The method of the present research is quantitative (survey) and research tools are Rasinski’s social justice questionnaire (1987) and a researcher-made questionnaire. This is a correlation study conducted on 310 members of martyrs’ families in Isfahan city and ordinary citizens between the ages of 20-25 years old, selected using quota sampling method.Findings: There is a positive and significant relationship between special privileges and perceived social justice in the sense of increase or decrease any independent variables influence perceived social justice. Also, children of martyrs have more positive attitude towards special privileges compared with ordinary subjects.Discussion: Ordinary people think that special privileges in areas such as education, health and welfare for martyrs' and veterans' children is legitimate and righteous. However, when it comes to job offers by the government they become suspicious.

Introduction: Deteriorated fabric are the part of city that influence on city form, function, quality and security. Therefore, realization of sustainable development and improve the quality of life and welfare of citizens require reconstruction and rehabilitation of city deteriorated fabric. Achieving this requires an enterprise and to facilitate the participation of all institutions involved the urban planning development and the people.Method: This study is applied with quantitative and qualitative approach and for achieving data field survey is used. Operational indicators identified with the exploratory study through conducting interviews with ten experts and executives related to reconstruction of deteriorated fabric. The population of the research included managers and professionals related to the renewal of city deteriorated fabric and current residents that participated in the reconstruction. Sample society includes 362 heads of households that were random selected.Findings: Study finding indicate that the amount and intensity of the influence of the individual factors is more than structural, institutional and organizational factors. Assessment of importance of indicators shows that citizens participation in setting objectives, granting financial facilities and residents education factors are higher than average.Discussion: To achieve effective and lasting contribution to structural, institutional, organizational and individual factors, combined and considered at the same time. However, individual factors have an important role. Attitude of people to participate requires consideration of individual factors. However, only changing peoples' attitudes for participation in the modernization and rehabilitation projects is not enough. In addition to individual factors, organizational and legal structures is necessary for participation.