Files
Abstract
The purpose of the research is to examine whether Family Resource Managment undergraduate students saw changes in their attitudes toward poverty after participating in the Community Action Poverty Simulation© (CAPS) program as part of a course requirement.
In particular, this research explores the experiences of undergraduate students who simulated
impoverished adults and children and the community workers charged with assisting them during
the CAPS simulation. This research’s methodology includes both deductive and inductive coding
using Reflexive Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). This research is grounded in
Attribution Theory (Weiner, 1972) and the Experiential Learning Model (Kolb, 1984). The
sample was drawn from 167 reflection papers authored by students who simulated either an
impoverished adult (n=56), child (n=61), or a community worker (n=50) role. The students were
enrolled in the same Family Resources Management course at a large public university in the
Southeast across five Fall semesters: 2015 - 2019. The researcher constructed several themes to
address these research questions. Themes 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3 demonstrated that students simulating
the child roles. Specifically, they reflected on the effects of childhood poverty and wanting to
“give back” to those who are living in poverty. Themes 2.1 and 2.2 showed that the students
simulating the “community worker” role expressed a unique opportunity to observe the
intricacies of poverty. Lastly, students reported empathetic changes, specific attitudes about
crime, and felt that external attributions explain the existence and permeance of poverty. The
findings of this research offer implications for future research. Future research should consider
the use of CAPS and other poverty simulations in Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS)
programs.