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

Abstract

This study explores two poverty training curricula, namely Bridges Out of Poverty (‘Bridges’) and a community-developed curriculum dubbed Rethink Poverty, intended to educate people about the causes, impacts and outcomes of poverty. The research questions posed in the study explore: (a) how are the poverty curricula assessed by participants; and (b) what can we learn about the ways in which poverty training materials are designed and/or delivered that might enhance their relevance and efficacy for community audiences? Employing a thematic analysis of qualitative interviews with participants, several themes emerged, including the importance of workshop facilitation that excludes the ideas surrounding Bridges (a theme dubbed ‘More of the same?); targeting poverty training to populations outside typical health and social service audiences (a theme entitled ‘Going beyond preaching to the choir’); themes related to ‘Observations on the evidence of poverty curricula’ and ‘Perceptions of poverty and debunking myths’; addressing the current ‘(Limited) motivation for action’ on poverty; and how to engage people to increase poverty awareness and advocacy (‘What’s missing’ in poverty training curricula). The discussion outlines key points, based on adult learning theory, for community providers to consider when offering poverty training for community audiences.