A study of cancer self-help organization in Shanghai: The effects of members' participation, social support, social learning on empowerment (Chinese text)

This thesis research is an exploratory-descriptive study of the role and functions of cancer self-help organizations in China. The Shanghai Cancer Rehabilitation Club which is the earliest and most established self-help organization in China was the target of this case study. Based on the social support and social learning theories, this study examined the individual and collective empowerment of the members throughout the process of participation, and the mechanisms constituting such empowerment effects. The theoretical framework of this research was developed on the basis of the relationships among four major variables, namely, members' participation, social support, social learning and empowerment.; A triangulation of data collection methods was used, including a quantitative questionnaire survey and a number of qualitative in-depth interviews. Totally 426 questionnaires were successfully completed from the members of the Club. Nine measuring instruments and several indicators were employed to measure their level of empowerment, participation, social support and social learning. The in-depth interviews were designed to collect the opinions and impressions of government officials and people concerned on the role and functions of the Club as a supplement and enrichment to the data collected from the questionnaires. Consequently, 9 in-depth interviews were conducted and the focus of the interviews was on the effect of collective empowerment of the Club.; The major findings suggest that the Shanghai Cancer Rehabilitation Club was a very important source of social support and context of social learning for the members. The Club could function as an empowerment platform for the members to raise their spiritual health, life satisfaction, self-esteem, sense of mastery, sense of collective identity and control of the organization. At the same time, it was also found that social support and social learning were two important and influential mechanisms in empowerment, while members' participation was an important process and background to elicit their sense of empowerment.; Although the Club was found to be helpful and beneficial to members, it appeared unable to make significant impact on the community, which suggest that the structure of dis-empowerment was deep-rooted in the community. The results of this study have significant implications for the future development of social welfare, social work and self-help organizations in China. Self-help organizations could be an important direction for social welfare development in China. They could broaden the channel of civic participation and develop partnership with the social work profession in China. Some concrete suggestions on welfare policies and services were discussed in the last part of the thesis.