Purpose
As suggested in Human Capital Investment Theory, it is essential to promote the full use and timely provision of social services in the Educational Welfare Program targeted for poor children and adolescents. The importance of service utilizat...
Purpose
As suggested in Human Capital Investment Theory, it is essential to promote the full use and timely provision of social services in the Educational Welfare Program targeted for poor children and adolescents. The importance of service utilization has also been pointed out as a crucial factor for enhancing the resilience of the children and adolescents. To find out determinants of social services utilization in the SPPREWI is a meaningful study subject for social workers working with the children and adolescents in poverty. There has been a constant argument that social stigma exists in relation to the selective welfare programs targeting the poor or the disabled. Especially, the young children and adolescents, who are very sensitive to the social recognition and the peer pressures, are more likely to be the victims of such social stigmas. In this respect, the characteristics of the SPPREWI and the selection of the target population inevitably produce certain forms of social stigma. This study aims at finding out how this "social stigma and its recognition" affects the clients in utilization social services, and analyzing what the moderating factors that mitigates negative effects are.
Methods
As a way to study the subject, a hypothetical model to determine factors of SPPREWI was formulated using Provision factors, in addition to Predisposing, Enabling, and Need factors broadly used in the Behavioral Model, The variables defined in each category are as follows; First, Predisposing factors include gender, grade, self-recognition to the social stigma, and negative attitude to using the services. Second, Enabling factors include support form important others, approval of family and friends, and economic status. Third, Need factors was defined as the client's need for the services. Lastly, Provision factors, which are Product, Place, Promotion, Price and Path, as suggested in the Five P's of Marketing strategy, were added. The experimental group was composed of two groups, one with 912 general students and another with 351 same-aged selected clients from 10 elementary and middle school out of the identical SPPREWI. Regressional analysis were used to test moderating effect, mediating effect, and moderated mediating effect. As a test method for the analysis, simple slope test, bootstrapping of AMOS, SPSS macro and syntax were utilized. The analysis were highlighted with 'the determinants of services utilization' and 'the moderated mediating effect of social stigma recognition', respectively.
Results
The result showed that the model added with the Provision factors explained the determining factors better compared to the generally accepted Behavioral model, and confirmed itself to be a valid model. The result summarized according to the group is as follows; Among the selected target student group, grade and negative attitude to using the services were notable variables among the Predisposing factors. Support of teacher and professional, as well as approval of family were influential factors among Enabling factor. The client's need for the service was an important Need factor, and the Product, Place and Path were influential among the Provision factors. In comparison, in the case of common student group, grade, social stigma recognition, and the negative attitude to using the services were found to be important. Professional support among the Enabling factors was also found to be influential. The level of need for services among Need factors, and the Place and Promotion variables among Provision factors were confirmed to be noteworthy.
The research finding on the moderated mediating effect of the social stigma recognition is categorized according to the groups; In the recipient student group. the approval of family was found to be a moderator, although insignificant, to the negative attitude effect of using services. In the common student group, all the mediating effect, moderating effect and the moderated mediating effect were found to be independently valid and significant. Social stigma recognition among the common student group has significantly increased the negative attitude to the service use, and resulted in the decrease in the services utilization as a mediator. Moreover, Provision factors had certain moderating effect in the effect of negative attitude toward using services. The combined effect of mediating negative attitude and the influence of Provision factor as a moderating mediator was also a significant force that affects the client's use of services.
Implications
The research shows that determinants of services utilization in the SPPREWI can be better explained with the addition of Provision factors, and the influence of social stigma recognition should never be underestimated. This study attempts to suggest an effective and efficient social services provision strategy, by analyzing the factors affecting the utilization of clients to the educational welfare services. Moreover, meaningful implications of the moderating factors that mitigate negative effects of social stigma were also stressed. Social stigma is inevitably related to the "recipients" and the provision of social services.