The value of social networks to community volunteers from high risk communities

Abstract

The purpose of this intervention study was to explore how the community volunteers from the Supporting Home Environments in Beating Adversity (SHEBA) research project – in two high-risk school communities in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan area – valued their social networks. The broader SHEBA participatory and action research project focused on how community volunteers, using their own resources, collaborated with schools in their communities to develop support plans for their communities. I selected interpretivism as the meta-theory for the study and utilised Participatory Reflection and Action (PRA) as the methodological paradigm and research design. The empirical part of this study was conducted in 2012. The data for the study were collected from 35 purposively selected volunteers who, at the time of the study, were involved in volunteer work at schools in their communities. All 35 volunteers participated in one workshop and one brainstorming session. Data were generated through a participatory workshop and follow-up brainstorming session and captured by means of posters and field notes. Inductive thematic analysis was used as the means of interpretation and I related the results to Lin’s Network Theory of Social Capital in interpreting the results. The results of the study suggest that the social networks of the volunteers were valued highly by them in dealing with the various challenges in their communities. The findings suggest also that the community volunteers invested themselves continuously in preserving their social support networks by reaching out to one another in times of crisis and by responding to each other’s needs by supporting one another. The findings suggest further that the volunteers maintained their social support networks by reinforcing the values that held them together and directed them in their efforts to support one another and their communities. The volunteers in the study attributed significant value to each other as sources of support and knowledge. They were able to meet their challenges together by learning from and identifying each other as resources. Modern communication media such as mobile phones were very important to the volunteers in maintaining their support networks with their colleagues and communicating with their communities. I therefore concluded that interventions in high-risk communities should be aimed at assisting community volunteers to gain access to and use such technologies effectively and appropriately in their networking. The value the community volunteers in the SHEBA project attributed to their social networks was clear from the benefits they derived from these networks. The findings of the study suggest that the social networks of the volunteers enhanced their sense of personal wellbeing as well as their sense of social belongingness. I concluded that social support networks could contribute significantly towards people’s overall wellbeing and that community interventions should adopt a holistic approach in high-risk communities thereby enhancing people’s hedonic, eudemonic, and social wellbeing.