英文摘要 |
Community empowerment has been practiced as a professional skill in community work since the 1990s. In Taiwan, the 23 community empowerment centers funded by the Ministry of Health and Welfare were set by 21 local authorities for promoting community capacity. This study aimed to explore the practices of the empowerment centers and to crystallize the types of them from the in-depth interview data and operation information. The collected interviewed data were analyzed from seven dimensions: goals of empowerment, understanding of community empowerment, changes strategies, practical methods, professional skills, operational principles, and the role of the centers. Finally, we found the four types and named them Professional, Plan-implement, Supporting and Networking, and Political. The Professional highly correlated with community empowerment, and the Plan-implement were partially correlated. Additionally, the four types of centers reflected the various focus of community development policies and the different stages of community work. The authors’ reflections are that the community empowerment centers which were set based on the community capacity building theories should focus on community capacity building. In addition, for further research, how to operate the community empowerment, and how professional social workers use the types of community empowerment may be explored. |