Community-based participatory research (CBPR) positions community members on an equal footing with their academic colleagues and makes them responsible for the decisions which shape the direction and substance of research. The approach is founded on ideals of empowerment and the raising of critical awareness amongst stakeholders while contributing to social and community change. This thesis examines the practice of CBPR; specifically, the inconsistencies between its ideals and the achievement of meaningful outcomes, and its relative absence within health geography. While the thesis relies most heavily on theories of social capital for its conceptual framing, it also draws on three key concepts stigma, and critical and oppositional consciousness. Three CBPR case studies were initiated to uncover the challenges, benefits, and shortcomings of the approach involving people living with HIV/AIDS, persons with disabilities, and residents of social housing. The projects were evaluated using a range of strategies including participant observation, interviews with key stakeholders, questionnaires, and focus group discussions. The implementation of

This is a chapter about power in groups and organizations. In the following pages, we suggest that the analysis and exploration of the complexities of organizational power by managers and workers is both necessary and useful. We begin by discussing three of the prominent theoretical perspectives on power from the literatures of social and organizational psychology and critical management studies. We then outline some of the dilemmas and challenges faced by executives, managers and workers around empowerment, disempowerment and organizational democracy. Then, building on the seminal works of Follet, Deutsch, Tjosvold, Clegg, Mumby and others, we offer a framework of organizational power which views power as a multifaceted phenomenon; as thoughts, words and deeds which are both embedded within and determining of a complex network of relations, structures and meaning-making processes at different levels of organizational and community life. Such a framework enables us to understand the relational aspects of power and authority within the context of the macro structures and ideologies that give them meaning. It can also help identify those domains in organizations where the potential for sharing cooperative power is, in fact, not

Developing an effective extension

The research and publication of this study were funded by Status of Women Canada’s Policy Research Fund. This document expresses the views of the authors and does not necessarily

Abstract........................................................................................................................................1 Introduction..................................................................................................................................2

The authors of this report acknowledge the members of the Change-Makers Training Initiative for their participation in this project, and most of all, for sharing with us their commitment for the well-being of their community. A special acknowledgment goes to Ms. Flossie Brooks, Executive Director of Neighborhoods United of Plant City, Inc. The authors also acknowledge Katherine Lazear, facilitator of the Change-Makers Training Initiative, for continuously sharing her insights about the strengths and weaknesses of a participatory evaluation process. Finally, the authors acknowledge Glenn Brown and Clem Miller from the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County, for providing their valuable support throughout