The Difference of Faith: The Influence of Faith in Human Service Programs

Hugen, Beryl; Venema, Rachel

doi:10.1080/15426430903263310

Cited by 12 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Conceptualization of religion varies within organizations, especially as it applies to program implementation. Hugen and Venema (2009) examined over 1,100 human service programs which applied for the Acton Institute’s Samaritan Award, one qualification being that less than 15% of the organization’s budget should have come from government sources. In this group, variation existed for religion in its presentation to clients, its integration into the change model, and its inclusion as an outcome measure.…”

Section: What Is a “Faith-based” Organization?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Defining Faith-Based Organizations and Understanding Them Through Research

Bielefeld

Cleveland

2013

Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

100

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Welfare reform discussions in the 1990s included proposals for government to support religious organizations that provide social services. This fostered a debate about the proper relationship between government and faith-based organizations. This spurred an increase in academic publications by scholars from disciplines such as social work, religious studies, public policy, and nonprofit studies. Publications focused on a number of topics, including the unique characteristics of faith-based organizations, the services and outcomes they provided, their involvement with the government, and methodologies available for studying them. We found a rapid increase in publications starting in 1996. These peaked in 2003 and have declined since 2008. Our scan of the literature on U.S. noncongregation faith-based service providers identified over 600 works. In this article, we review the literature on the definition of faith-based organizations, typologies used to place them on a spectrum of religious expression, and methodological considerations for research on them.

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Section: What Is a “Faith-based” Organization?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Defining Faith-Based Organizations and Understanding Them Through Research

Bielefeld

Cleveland

2013

Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

100

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“…Attempting to measure differences within FBOs of different religious persuasions across three different cities (Los Angeles, Nairobi, Mumbai), they found that FBOs provided similar types of social services, leading the researchers to assert that FBOs across the world have, despite varying practices because of their contexts, similarities in service provision, faith components, and results (Ferguson et al , 2006). However, a “huge variation” has been identified among the character and practices of FBOs (Bradley, 2009), and Hugen and Venema (2009), writing within the context of FBOs in the USA, stated that, though they may share among themselves a similar “call to service”, they can carry out their programmes very differently.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the approaches to care of faith-based and secular NGOs in Cambodia that serve victims of trafficking, exploitation, and those involved in sex work

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2017

IJSSP

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Purpose Faith-based organisations (FBOs) and secular NGOs provide important services to victims of trafficking, exploitation, and those involved in sex work, yet comparative analysis of their approaches to care has lacked attention in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to examine these two types of organisations, exploring the extent to which faith influences the ways FBOs work with their clients. Design/methodology/approach In total, 41 interviews were conducted with leaders of 13 Christian FBOs and 12 secular NGOs in Cambodia, and organisational mission statements were reviewed. An input-output conceptual model was used as a framework to gather and analyse data. Findings While all FBOs maintained a high regard for their clients’ spiritual needs and operated with a faith-related approach to care, secular NGOs also, at times, included culturally embedded religious elements into their programming. The nature of FBOs’ faith-related programming, however, clearly distinguished these organisations from their secular counterparts. Despite such distinctions, similarities were maintained among both types of organisations in the behavioural or recovery outcomes they sought in their clients. Research limitations/implications Limitations include the study’s focus on organisations that serve a specific clientele in one development context. Research implications include the study pointing to the necessity of acknowledging the development context as critical to the ways in which religion may or may not influence the approaches to care of both FBOs and secular NGOs. The paper also contributes insight into the relationship between the non-resource input of faith, and services provided by FBOs. Practical implications Given that both types of organisations sought change in their clients, practitioners should ensure that their organisational approaches to care are conducive to the outcomes they seek. Though organisational policy may stipulate that clients are free to choose whether or not to participate in faith-related programming, FBOs should always ensure a care environment in which clients feel free not to participate in such programming. Originality/value Though FBOs and secular NGOs sought many similar behavioural or recovery outcomes from their clients, the development context in which these organisations worked – unlike some other contexts – and the role of faith “infusing” FBOs, led to clear, observable differences in their approaches to care. The study highlights the importance of taking into account these factors when seeking to decipher differences that may or may not exist between faith-based and secular non-state social policy actors.

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“…Just as it is hard to ascertain causality in this study, it is important to assume that something regarding this study setting exists, which makes it different from its contemporaries. It is not an entirely stretched one to ascertain that something regarding the setting made them encounter less bullying as opposed to other schools with the same makeup and size (Davis, 2003; Hugen & Venema, 2009; Parboteeah, Hoegl, & Cullen, 2008). Probably, it is the actual values that meant the Islamic religion of the school has assisted in viably getting rid of research misconduct nowadays (Parboteeah et al, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%