Changing Student Beliefs about Poverty,Homelessness,and Community Service: Results from Interior Design Project Interventions

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine undergraduate interior design student attitudes toward poverty, homelessness, and community service. A secondary purpose was to determine if exposure to design projects for those who have experienced hardship would change student beliefs. All freshmen (n = 14), sophomore (n = 22), junior (n = 13), and senior (n = 21) interior design undergraduate students at a public university completed a questionnaire based on several existing scales. During the semester, the sophomores worked on assignments that were designed to provide exposure to different socio–economic groups. First, students read the book Nickel and Dimed by Barabara Ehrenreich, which provided them with an overview of the problems associated with the poor. Next students completed three projects: (1) the design of a temporary homeless shelter, (2) a renovation of a childcare center office and reception area that provides services for low–income families, and (3) the design of a low–income, residential home. In all of these projects, students were required to conduct extensive information gathering so they could better understand the problems associated with poverty. At the end of the semester, the sophomores completed the questionnaire again and were asked additional questions regarding the class and projects. Student opinions towards the poor were more individualistic when compared to the middle class, yet when the middle–class comparison was removed, some of their attitudes provided a more complex understanding of poverty and homelessness. The semester–long intervention significantly shifted students’ understanding that emphasized structural and multifaceted causes of poverty.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Addy

, Engelhardt

, & Skinner

(2013, January). Basic facts about low–income children. National Center for Children in Poverty. Retrieved September 22, 2014, from http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_1078.html

Agans

R. P.

, Liu

, Jones

, Vergan

, Silverbush

, & Kalsbeek

W. D.

(2011). Public attitudes toward the homeless. AAPOR. Retrieved April 20, 2013, from http://www.amstat.org/sections/srms/proceedings/y2011/Files/400188.pdf

American Institute of Architects (AIA). (2008). Citizen architect resolution. Retrieved April 20, 2013, from http://www.aia.org/aiaucmp/groups/aia/documents/document/aiab025033.pdf

Andre

, & Valasquez

(1990, Spring). The just world theory. Issues in Ethics, 3(2). Retrieved April 9, 2014, from http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v3n2/justworld.html

Belk

. (2009, October). Multifacted benefits of studio based service learning. Proceedings from the Interior Design Educators Council South Regional Meeting, Raleigh, NC, 80–88.

Bishaw

. (2011, December). Areas with concentrated poverty: 2006–2010. American Community Survey Briefs (ACSBR/10–17), U. S. Department of Commerce, 1–10.

Bishaw

. (2012, September). Poverty: 2010 and 2011. American Community Briefs (ACSBR/11–01), U.S. Department of Commerce, 1–8.

Boak

(2014, September 15). Widening U.S. wealth gap taking a toll on state revenue. Huffington Post. Retrieved September 22, 2014, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/15/us–income–inequality–state–revenue_n_5823290.html

Bose

, Horrigan

, Doble

, & Shipp

S. C.

(Eds.) (2014). Community matters: Service–learning in engaged design and planning. New York: Routledge.

10.

Bose

, & Horrigan

(2014). Why community matters. In Bose

, Horrigan

, Doble

& Shipp

S. C.

(Eds.), Community matters: Service–learning in engaged design and planning (pp. 1–21). New York: Routledge.

11.

Boyer

E. L.

(1996). The scholarship of engagement. Journal of Public Service & Outreach, 1(1), 11–20.

12.

Brickley

. (2010, November). State park hospitality service learning project case study. Proceedings from the Interior Design Educators Council South Regional Meeting, Highpoint, NC, 45–52.

13.

Bringle

R. G.

, & Hatcher

J. A.

(2000). Institutionalization of service learning in higher education. The Journal of Higher Education, 71(3), 273–290.

14.

Cleverdon

, Wilson

, Payne

, & Dickinson

J. I

. (2012). Community partnerships that make a difference. Proceedings of the Interior Design Educators Council Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD, 295–302.

15.

Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA). (2014). Professional standards 2014. Retrieved May 27, 2014, from www.accredit–id.org

16.

Cozzarelli

, Wilkinson

A. V.

, & Tagler

M. J.

(2001). Attitudes toward the poor and attributions for poverty. Journal of Social Issues, 57(2), 207–227.

17.

DeNavas–Walt

, & Proctor

(2014, September 20). Income and poverty in the United States: 2013. Retrieved September 22, 2014, from https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2014/demo/p60–249.pdf

18.

DeSilver

(2014). Who's poor in America? 50 years into the ‘war on poverty,’ a data portrait. Retrieved May 13, 2014, from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact–tank/2014/01/13/whos–poor–in–america–50–years–into–the–war–on–poverty–a–data–portrait/

19.

Doble

(2014). Partnering because community matters. In Bose

, Horrigan

, Doble

& Shipp

S. C.

(Eds.), Community matters: Service– learning in engaged design and planning (pp. 31–44). New York: Routledge.

20.

Dodson

(2013). Stereotyping low–wage mothers who have work and family conflicts. Journal of Social Issues, 69(2), 257–278.

21.

Ehrenreich

(2001). Nickel and dimed: On not getting by in America. New York: Henry Holt and Company.

22.

Feagin

J. R.

(1972). Poverty: We still believe that God helps them who help themselves. Psychology Today, 6, 101–129.

23.

Feller

, & Stone

(2009). Top 1 percent of Americans reaped two–thirds of income gains in last economic expansion. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Retrieved February 7, 2013, from http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=2908

24.

Gudrais

(2008, July–August). Unequal America. Harvard Magazine, 22–29.

25.

Gumpert

, & Kraybill–Greggo

J. W.

(2005). Affecting attitudes toward the poor through group process: The alternative break service trip. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, 10(3), 7–22.

26.

Hassler

(2014, September 18). Child poverty in the states still record high levels. Retrieved September 26, 2014, from http://www.childrensdefense.org/newsroom/cdf–in–the–news/press–releases/2014/ChildPovertyintheStatesStillRecordHighLevels.html

27.

Henry

, Cortes

, & Morris

(2013). The 2013 annual homeless assessment report to congress. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Planning. Retrieved June 2, 2014, from https://www.onecpd.info/resources/documents/ahar–2013–part1.pdf

28.

Hopkins

D. J.

(2009). Partisan reinforcement and the poor: The impact of context on explanations for poverty. Social Science Quarterly, 90(3), 746–764.

29.

Hunt

M. O.

(2002). Religion, race/ethnicity, and beliefs about poverty. Social Science Quarterly, 83(3), 810–831.

30.

Hunt

M. O.

(2004). Race/ethnicity and beliefs about wealth and poverty. Social Science Quarterly, 85(3), 827–853.

31.

Kendall

, & Moody

. (2010, November). Making a difference: Bringing students, professionals and parents together to strengthen space and community. Proceedings from the Interior Design Educators Council South Regional Meeting, Highpoint, NC, 62–64.

32.

Kluegel

, & Smith

(1986). Beliefs about inequality: Americans views of what is and what ought to be. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.

33.

Krikac

, & Ryan

. (2014). Co–design methodologies in design studios. Proceedings from the Interior Design Educators Council Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, 649–652. Retrieved October 17, 2014 from http://conf.idec.org/2014/co–design–methodologies–in–design–studios/#more–171

34.

Leimer

, Yue

, & Rogulkin

(2009, June 26). Does service learning help students succeed? Assessing the effects of service learning at California State University–Fresno. Institutional Research, Assessment and Planning, 1–11. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED521013.pdf.

35.

Mistry

R. S.

, Brown

C. S.

, Chow

K. A.

, & Collins

G. S.

(2012). Increasing the complexity of young adolescents’ beliefs about poverty and inequality: Results of an 8^th grade social studies curriculum intervention. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 41(6), 704–716.

36.

National Coalition for the Homeless (a) (2009, July). How many people experience homelessness? Retrieved February 7, 2013 from http://www.nationalhomeless.org

37.

National Coalition for the Homeless (b) (2009, July). Why people are homeless? Retrieved February 7, 2013 from http://www.nationalhomeless.org

38.

National Poverty Center. (2012). Poverty in the United States. Frequently asked questions. Retrieved April 24, 2012 from http://www.npc.umich,edu/poverty/

39.

O'Connor

(2014, January). Attitudes toward poverty show dramatic change. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved September 22, 2014, from http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/06/20/attitudes–toward–poverty–show–dramatic–change–wsjnbc–poll/

40.

Pable

(2012). The homeless shelter family experience: Examining the influence of physical living conditions on perceptions of internal control, privacy, and related issues. The Journal of Interior Design, 37(4), 9–37.

41.

Pable

, & Fishburne

. (2014, March). Psychological constructs of homeless shelter living spaces and their implications for shelter design. Proceedings from the Interior Design Educators Council Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, 521–525. Retrieved October 31, 2014, from http://conf.idec.org/2014/psychological–constructs–of–homeless–shelter–living–spaces–and–their–implications–for–shelter–design/#more–128

42.

Public Interest Design Institute. (n.d.). Public interest design institute. Retrieved September 19, 2014 from http://www.publicinterestdesign.com/

43.

Seider

S. C.

(2011). The role of privilege as identity in adolescents’ beliefs about homelessness, opportunity and inequality. Youth and Society, 43(1), 333–364.

44.

Seider

S. C.

, Rabinowicz

S. A.

, & Gillmor

S. C.

(2010). Changing American college students’ conceptions of poverty through community service learning. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 10(1), 215–236.

45.

Sherman

, & Trisi

(2012, July). 2011's decline in uninsured is largest in 13 years, but median income level fell, inequality widened, and poverty stayed flat. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Retrieved February 14, 2013, from www.cbpp.org/files/9–17–12pov.pdf

46.

Smith

, & Stone

L. H.

(1989). Rags, riches, and bootstraps: Beliefs about the causes of wealth and poverty. Sociological Quarterly, 30, 93–107.

47.

Trisi

, Sherman

, & Broaddus

(2011, September). Poverty rate second–highest in 45 years; record numbers lacked health insurance, lived in deep poverty. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Retrieved February 14, 2013, from www.cbpp.org/files/9–14–11pov.pdf

48.

Trozzolo

T. A.

, Beckman

, & Pettit

(2008). The urban plunge: College student views on poverty in the U.S. Research Report 6 from the Center for Social Concerns. Retrieved February 6, 2013, from http://socialconcerns.nd.edu/faculty/research/report_6/report_6.shtml

49.

U.S. Census Bureau. (2014, September). Poverty 2013 highlights. Retrieved September 22, 2014, from https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/about/overview/

50.

Wilson

(1996). Toward a revised framework for examining beliefs about the causes of poverty. Sociological Quarterly, 37(3), 413–428.

51.

Williams

(2009). Struggling with poverty: Implications for theory and policy of increasing research on social class–based stigma. Analysis of Social Issues and Public Policy, 9(1), 37–56.

52.

Zollinger

S. W.

, Guerin

D. A.

, Hadjiyanni

, & Martin

C. S.

(2009). Deconstructing service–learning: A framework for interior design. The Journal of Interior Design, 34(3), 31–45.