Living with poverty: A simulation

Abstract

Summary This research explores whether participating in a poverty simulation resulted in changes to participants’ beliefs about the causes and effects of poverty, as well as shifts in their attitudes and actions towards people experiencing poverty. In this multiple case study, we analysed quantitative and qualitative data from participant feedback surveys and pre-, post- and follow-up questionnaires from two samples: undergraduate students and community participants. We conclude that the poverty simulation is only a step, albeit a potentially important one, to enhance participants’ understanding about the causes of poverty, and to alter their attitudes and beliefs about people living in poverty. Findings We found statistically significant results (p < .05) on cumulative scores of the modified Attitudes Toward Poverty Scale, indicating an improvement in participants’ attitudes towards poverty (both samples). Although generally positive about their experiences, participating in the simulation did not appear to have prompted participants to take action to reduce poverty. Applications Poverty simulation planners should be wary of adopting scenarios that emphasize, or fail to adequately contextualize, behaviours or responses that might perpetuate individual explanations of poverty. Moreover, organizers must carefully consider how to ensure participants in their audience currently experiencing low income do not become emotionally distressed, triggered or further marginalized in the process. While overall participants were positive about their experiences in the simulation, the events did not appear to have prompted them to action. Moving beyond the goal of increasing participants’ understandings of poverty, interventions that foster greater engagement in poverty issues over the long term are necessary.

Service users' perspectives of social treatment in social service departments in Israel: Differences between standard and poverty‐aware treatments

“…PAP training and supervision focus on recognising how poverty in shaping the everyday lives of SUs, their agency and their knowledge (Lister, 2004) and on challenging the role of social control that SWs fulfil and the power relations inherent in the helping relationship (Krumer‐Nevo, Weiss‐Gal, & Monnickendam, 2009; Roets et al, 2020). This finding adds to the current calls (Frank et al., 2019; Smith‐Carrier, Leacy, Bouck, Justrabo, & Decker Pierce, 2019) for the development of poverty‐aware training competent to deconstruct prevalent hegemonic attitudes, to work against the othering of people in poverty and to develop social empathy in social work practice. However, following Wilkins, Lynch, and Antonopoulou (2018), who identified the “golden thread” between SWs’ supervision and SUs’ satisfaction, there is a need for further research in order to pinpoint the specific elements of PAP training and supervision associated with SUs’ higher satisfaction.…”

Bridging Out of an Impoverished Paradigm: A Qualitative Study to Help Us ‘Rethink Poverty’ Today

“…The inclusion of experiential activities, such as the poverty simulation (see Smith-Carrier et al, 2019), can be instrumental in building participants' empathy for people living in poverty, and in altering their beliefs about the causes and effects of poverty (see Vandsburger et al, 2010). As Michael in our sample stressed, it is important to "really put yourself in somebody's shoes" to better understand the challenges and barriers associated with living in poverty.…”

“…Several of our study participants indicated that they did not feel that their learning had been stretched through their participation in the poverty training workshops (the theme 'more of the same?'). It is possible that such learning had not taken place because what they processed in the workshop had only affirmed what they already knew and thought about poverty (see, similarly, Smith-Carrier et al, 2019). As both workshops were largely comprised of individuals learning or working in the social services sector, the audience was likely attuned to the issues surrounding poverty and had a priori knowledge from which to draw.…”

“…For the study at hand, Bridges was offered over a full-day format (5-6 hours, including a one-hour lunch period and two 15-minute breaks). After delivering the poverty simulation (roughly 2 hours in duration, including time for debriefing with the audience; for more details on this activity, see Smith-Carrier et al, 2019), the key modules of the workshop included: information on the mental models of poverty (e.g., the businesses or relationships one would expect to see represented in an impoverished neighbourhood versus a middle-class neighbourhood); key Bridges concepts (e.g., the 'tyranny of the moment' in driving 'poor people's' actions and behaviours; the notion that 'generational and situational poverty' are different, etc. ); the hidden rules of poverty (i.e., disparate approaches to language, time, money, power, and destiny for those in poverty, the middle class or wealthy class); the importance of resources in the building of social capital; and the use of mentoring to build resources, and the values, norms, beliefs, and skills assumed to "bridge people out of the poverty" (see Dawson, n.d.).…”

Poverty and health inequalities: Perceptions of social work students and nursing students

“…On the other hand, while nursing students view poverty as a disadvantage in terms of utilization of health services, their belief that poverty is caused by individual/fate factors make them less likely to engage in political action to end social injustices. Therefore it is necessary to include teaching methods that serve to improve innovative skills and critical reflection (Tsimane & Downing, 2020) and provide educational strategies, that is, poverty simulation with affective learning approaches and role-playing to enable students to gain a holistic perspective on poverty, engage more critically in social issues and liberate them from the prevailing medical paradigm (Meaux et al, 2019;Northrup et al, 2020;Smith-Carrier et al, 2019).…”