Shared Decision-Making
with People in Poverty:
A Research Project of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America
In 2000, as part of a larger project called
Ministry Among People in Poverty, an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America staff
committee was formed to explore what needed to happen to increase the involvement of
people in poverty in decision-making settings in the ELCA.
The name given to this project was "Shared Decision-making with People
in Poverty." This was understood as one
step in the direction of transforming the attitudes and behaviors of members of the ELCA
vis a vis people in poverty.
In 2002, the committee carried out a series of
focus groups in four parts of the country to listen to people in poverty. Groups were held with Appalachian whites in
southern Ohio, with Latino and Asian immigrants in Iowa, with African Americans in
Detroit, MI, and with Native Americans in Montana.
Focus group discussions surfaced a number of
issues including the relevance of shared decision-making in light of other
enormous problems people in poverty face, obstacles to involvement created by the church's
own way of "doing business," and hurdles to participation created by things such
as transportation, education, family problems, residency, and the need for allies. The research turned up things that the church
could do to increase the possibility for shared decision-making, e.g. identification of
people in poverty who have the skills and abilities to participate in shared
decision-making processes, making provision for childcare, providing educational
opportunities for those who are interested in participating in shared decision-making
processes, and presenting decision-making discussions in terms that are relevant to the
lives of people in poverty. Another
possibility is to move aspects of decision-making processes out to local communities.
The committee proposed making grants to
jurisdictional units of the ELCA to implement some of the main learnings of this
process. People who are interested in further
information about the ELCA's study may contact:
Contact point:
Rev. Les Weber
Division for Church in Society, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Phone: 773-380-2561; E-mail: lweber@elca.org |
