Showing papers on "Collective efficacy published in 2012"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the relationship between teacher networks and student achievement and the mediating role of teachers' collective efficacy beliefs and found that well-connected teacher networks were associated with strong teacher collective efficacy, which in turn supported student achievement.
386 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: Buyukozturk et al. as discussed by the authors examined the relationship between school principals' instructional leadership behaviors and self-efficacy of teachers and collective teacher efficacy, and found that instructional leadership had a significant direct and positive impact on collective teachers efficacy.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between school principals' instructional leadership behaviors and self-efficacy of teachers and collective teacher efficacy. In this regard, a model based on hypotheses was designed to determine the relationships among variables. The study sample consisted of 328 classroom and branch teachers employed in primary schools in Ankara. Instructional Leadership Scale, Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale and Collective Efficacy Scale were used to gather data. Structural Equation Modeling was performed to test the model. Research findings indicated that the model fitted the data well with acceptable goodness of fit statistics. Consequently, instructional leadership had a significant direct and positive impact on collective teacher efficacy. Additionally, it was appeared that teachers' self-efficacy moderated the relationship between instructional leadership and collective teacher efficacy. Several suggestions were presented for improving teachers' self and collective efficacy.Key WordsInstructional Leadership, Collective Teacher Efficacy, Teachers' Self Efficacy, Teacher, and School PrincipalTeachers constitute one of the most important dimensions of innovative acts in education, school development, and effective school movements (Balci, 2007; Ozdemir, 2000). Teachers' beliefs about their self-efficacy (Buyukozturk, Akbaba Altun, & Yildirim, 2010) and collective-efficacy that has been discussed in various researches in recent years (Antonelli, 2005; Cooper, 2010; Mackenzie, 2000) were counted among the most important variables that determines teachers' performance and effectiveness in schools. Researches on teachers' sense of self-efficacy indicate that self-efficacy is closely related to student achievement (Allinder, 1995; Caprara, Barnabelli, Steca, & Malone, 2006; Domsch, 2009; Ross, 1992; Woolfolk Hoy & Davis, 2006), family involvement in education (Garcia, 2004; Hoover-Dempsey, Bassler, & Brissie, 1987), tendency to risk taking and innovation (Basim, Korkmazyurek, & Tokat, 2008; Ghaith & Yaghi, 1997; Ross, 1994), collective efficacy (Goddard & Goddard, 2001), and job stress (Betoret, 2009; Ross, 1994). It can clearly be expressed that the organizational forms and structures of schools, one of the most important organizations of society, have effects on the lives of everyone in the school (Lee, Dedrick, & Smith, 1991). One of the important elements of this organizational forms and structures is school principal's leadership. Previous research on leadership (Armstrong-Coppins, 2003; Cagle & Hopkins, 2009; Demir, 2008; Hipp, 1995, 1996; Lee et al.; Kurt, 2009; Nicholson, 2003; Ross & Gray, 2006; Oliver, 2001; Williams, 2010) states that some leadership behaviors are effective on determining teachers' perceptions of self and collective efficacy. According to related literature, among these leadership behaviors the instructional leadership behaviors, which became popular with the effective school movements (Short & Spencer, 1989), are related to the variables such as job performance (Enueme & Egwunyenga, 2008), student achievement (Alig-Mielcarek, 2003; Gaziel, 2007; Hearn, 2010; Krug, 1992; O'Donnell & White, 2005), teachers' professional development (Blase & Blase, 1999a, 1999b), and teachers' attitudes towards the change (Kursunoglu & Tanriogen, 2009). Although there are some researches indicating that school principals' instructional leadership behaviors are related to teachers' self-efficacy (Derbedek, 2008; Howard, 1996; Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2007) and collective efficacy (Brinson & Steiner, 2007), it can be stated that studies in this area are not sufficient especially in terms of instructional leadership. In this regard, more research about teachers' self-efficacy, collective efficacy, and principals' behaviors that affect these efficacy beliefs is needed. It is expected that explaining the relationships between self-efficacy and collective efficacy, and detecting the effects of school principals' leadership behaviors on these efficacy beliefs will significantly contribute to improving school effectiveness and capacity, and increasing student achievement. …
130 citations
TL;DR: Future research should focus on the most promising, but currently under-studied, community-level correlates of IPV against women, namely gender inequality, gender norms, and adapted measures of collective efficacy/social cohesion.
126 citations
TL;DR: The need for strategies that will endorse and develop teachers' beliefs in their ability to manage children's behaviour successfully is underlined, adding weight to the importance of understanding and supporting teachers' belief in their collective efficacy.
Abstract: Background. Previous work has yielded knowledge of teachers’ attributions for children's behaviour. Other studies have helped to develop understanding of teachers’ efficacy beliefs. Little work has been undertaken to examine teachers’ efficacy beliefs with regard to classroom behaviour.
Aims. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between teachers’ individual and collective beliefs about their efficacy with children's behaviour and whether these beliefs were associated with the use of exclusion as a sanction.
Sample. A total of 197 teachers from 31 primary and nursery schools in the North East of England participated.
Methods. Participants responded to questionnaires to assess their individual and collective efficacy beliefs. Demographic and school level data were also collected.
Results. Factor analysis indicated that teachers’ individual efficacy beliefs were best represented by three factors: ‘Classroom Management’, ‘Children's Engagement’, ‘Instructional Strategies’ that corresponded well to previous findings. Analysis of collective efficacy beliefs showed a similar structure that differed from previous findings. Individual efficacy was not associated with numbers of children excluded. One factor ‘Addressing External Influences’ in the collective beliefs was negatively correlated with numbers of children excluded and appeared to mitigate the deleterious effects associated with socio-economic deprivation.
Conclusions. This study adds weight to the importance of understanding and supporting teachers’ beliefs in their collective efficacy. In particular, this study underlines the need for strategies that will endorse and develop teachers’ beliefs in their ability to manage children's behaviour successfully.
120 citations
TL;DR: The authors empirically examined the role of police in promoting collective efficacy and in particular, whether higher levels of police legitimacy are associated with more neighborhood collective efficacy in the developing nation of Trinidad and Tobago, providing important evidence about the generalizability of the antecedents and effects of legitimacy outside of industrialized nations.
Abstract: This research empirically examines the role of police in promoting collective efficacy and in particular, whether higher levels of police legitimacy are associated with more neighborhood collective efficacy. The research is conducted in the developing nation of Trinidad and Tobago—providing important evidence about the generalizability of the antecedents and effects of legitimacy outside of industrialized nations. The results support a potential role for police in promoting collective efficacy, but the mechanism for doing so is not legal institution legitimacy. Instead, the research identifies a relationship between quality routine police services, levels of police misconduct, and collective efficacy. In Trinidad, the amount and nature of interactions with police appear to play an important part in residents’ and neighborhood‐level assessments about police services and misbehavior.
119 citations
Book•
10 Oct 2012TL;DR: In this paper, the influence of impulsivity on offending differs as a function of neighborhood context, with higher levels of socioeconomic status and collective efficacy and lower levels of criminogenic behavior settings and moral/legal cynicism.
Abstract: The traditional trait-based approach to the study of crime has been challenged for its failure to acknowledge differences in the social environments to which individuals are exposed. Similarly, community-level explanations of crime have been criticized for failing to take into account important individual differences between criminals and non-criminals. Ultimately, a full understanding of crime requires the consideration of both individual and environmental differences, perhaps most importantly because they may interact to produce offending behavior. Yet little criminological research has examined if the effects of individual-level characteristics vary by the context in which they are embedded. The current study addresses this gap in the literature by using multivariate, multilevel item response models to examine if the influence of impulsivity on offending differs as a function of neighborhood context. Analyses using data from the Project of Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods reveals that the effects of impulsivity are amplified in neighborhoods with higher levels of socioeconomic status and collective efficacy, and lower levels of criminogenic behavior settings and moral/legal cynicism. Implications of these findings for research and policy are discussed.
103 citations
TL;DR: Perceived discrimination is a common experience for new Mainland immigrants to Hong Kong, and it predicts depressive symptoms, so interventions that reduce discrimination and strengthen social support and neighborhood collective efficacy should be designed and implemented to improve the mental health of new immigrants in Hong Kong.
101 citations
TL;DR: Results partially support a model linking neighborhood conditions, cognitions about the self, and emotions, which proposes that neighborhood conditions are associated with adolescents’ self-efficacy and, in turn, their internalizing problems.
Abstract: Self-efficacy beliefs are central to mental health. Because adolescents' neighborhoods shape opportunities for experiences of control, predictability, and safety, we propose that neighborhood conditions are associated with adolescents' self-efficacy and, in turn, their internalizing problems (i.e., depression/anxiety symptoms). We tested these hypotheses using three waves of data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (N = 2,345). Results indicate that adolescents living in violent neighborhoods tended to report lower self-efficacy beliefs, partly because they were more likely to experience fear in their neighborhood. However, moving out of Chicago neighborhoods marked by violence and low collective efficacy to neighborhoods outside of the city was associated with adolescents' increased self-efficacy (vs. staying in such neighborhoods), an association explained by adolescents' school-related experiences. Finally, through self-efficacy, these neighborhood processes had an indirect association with adolescents' internalizing problems. Results partially support a model linking neighborhood conditions, cognitions about the self, and emotions.
97 citations
TL;DR: This paper used generalized estimating equations (GEE) to examine whether baseline protective factors in subjects' home, peer, and neighborhood environments predicted log odds of emotional resilience at Waves 2 and 3 among youth ETV.
Abstract: There is compelling evidence that many youth exposed to community violence manage to adapt successfully over time. Developmental assets have been deemed salient for positive youth development, though limited longitudinal studies have examined their relevance for high-risk youth. Using the Developmental Assets framework, the authors test whether supportive relationships, high expectations, and opportunities build emotional resilience directly or indirectly via interaction with risk. Further, the authors examine the effect of neighborhood collective efficacy on resilience. The authors use multiwave data from 1,166 youth aged 11–16 years and data about their neighborhoods from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN). Generalized estimating equations (GEE) were used to examine whether baseline protective factors in subjects’ home, peer, and neighborhood environments predicted log odds of emotional resilience at Waves 2 and 3 among youth ETV. Over 7 years, 60–85% were emotionally resi...
89 citations
TL;DR: The results indicate that collective efficacy significantly predicted task cohesion but not cognitive quality in the CSCL environment, and for the role of group processes in performance, both task cohesion and cognitive quality significantly predicted group performance, but cognitive quality predicted better than task cohesion.
Abstract: Research has suggested that CSCL environments contain fewer social context clues, resulting in various group processes, performance or motivation. This study thus attempts to explore the relationship among collective efficacy, group processes (i.e. task cohesion, cognitive quality) and collaborative performance in a CSCL environment. A total of 75 Taiwanese college students (divided into 25 groups) participated in the study. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were applied for data analysis. The results indicate that collective efficacy significantly predicted task cohesion but not cognitive quality in the CSCL environment. For the role of group processes in performance, both task cohesion and cognitive quality significantly predicted group performance, but cognitive quality predicted better than task cohesion. In addition, for the predictive capability of prior performance, task cohesion, and cognitive quality in collective efficacy, the results showed that only task cohesion predicted subsequent collective efficacy significantly in the CSCL environment.
79 citations
05 Jan 2012
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the negative experience of being a victim of crime in a city and how security concerns have become an integral part of social interaction in a world in which security concerns are becoming an integr...
Abstract: Cities are places of social interaction. Some social interactions – such as being a victim of crime – are unpleasant experiences. We live in a world in which security concerns have become an integr ...
TL;DR: This article examined the effects of neighborhood structural and social characteristics on offending among girls and boys aged 8-17 residing in 80 Chicago neighborhoods and demonstrated gender differences in contextual effects, although not in ways predicted by social disorganization theory.
Abstract: This study examined the effects of neighborhood structural and social characteristics on offending among girls and boys aged 8–17 residing in 80 Chicago neighborhoods. The results demonstrated gender differences in contextual effects, although not in ways predicted by social disorganization theory. Collective efficacy and concentrated disadvantage were not significantly associated with self-reported offending among males. Among females, collective efficacy was related to higher rates of general delinquency and violence, while disadvantage reduced the likelihood of self-reported violence. These outcomes suggest that neighborhoods may impact individual offending in complex ways and highlight the importance of considering gender when researching contextual effects on youth offending.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored a theoretical model that links teachers' perceived uncertainty and teachers' sense of collective efficacy with organizational learning mechanisms (OLMs) in elementary schools and found that OLMs serve as a mediator construct.
Abstract: Purpose: This study explored a theoretical model that links teachers’ perceived uncertainty and teachers’ sense of collective efficacy with organizational learning mechanisms (OLMs) in elementary schools. OLMs serve as a mediator construct. Research Design: For testing the primary theoretical model, 801 teachers from 61 elementary schools (33 urban and 28 suburban) in Israel’s largest district responded to the research instruments. The authors used structural equation modeling to determine whether OLMs mediate between teachers’ perceived uncertainty and their sense of collective efficacy. Findings: A significant model, which included direct and indirect effects of teachers’ perceived uncertainty on teachers’ sense of collective efficacy, emerged for the urban school context. Although OLMs (storing, retrieving, and putting to use of information) served as a prominent mediating variable in the urban school context, OLMs did not play a mediating role in the research model for the suburban school context. Con...
TL;DR: Neighborhood social norms may be more relevant than is collective efficacy to smoking cessation and the normative environment may shape health behavior and should be considered as part of public health intervention efforts.
Abstract: Objectives. We examined the separate and combined relations of neighborhood-level social norms and collective efficacy with individuals’ cigarette smoking cessation.Methods. We modeled the hazard of quitting over a 5-year period among 863 smokers who participated in the 2005 New York Social Environment Study.Results. In adjusted Cox proportional hazard models, prohibitive neighborhood smoking norms were significantly associated with higher rates of smoking cessation (second quartile hazard ratio [HR] = 1.17; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.59, 2.32; third quartile HR = 2.37; 95% CI = 1.17, 4.78; fourth quartile HR = 1.80; 95% CI = 0.85, 3.81). We did not find a significant association between neighborhood collective efficacy and cessation or significant evidence of a joint relation of collective efficacy and smoking norms with cessation.Conclusions. Neighborhood social norms may be more relevant than is collective efficacy to smoking cessation. The normative environment may shape health behavior and shou...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluate the prospects of small business-driven job creation by assessing the link between small business and population health, an alternative measure of economic development, and demonstrate that communities with a greater concentration of small businesses, ceteris paribus, have higher levels of population health.
Abstract: In this paper, we evaluate the prospects of small business-driven job creation by assessing the link between small business and population health, an alternative measure of economic development. We combine two literatures from the social capital perspective of aggregate community well-being to model the effects of small-business concentration on aggregate measures of population health. We argue that entrepreneurial culture facilitates collective efficacy for a community and provides a problem-solving capacity for addressing local public health problems. Our analysis demonstrates that communities with a greater concentration of small businesses, ceteris paribus, have greater levels of population health. Implications for theory and research are discussed.
TL;DR: Positive supportive communication (e.g. enthusiasm after making a point) was identified as the factor most predictive for positive collective efficacy beliefs, and the factor referring to the negative emotional reactions of players was the most predictive in a volleyball context.
Abstract: Collective efficacy can be defined as a group's shared confidence that they will successfully achieve their goal. We examined which behaviours and events are perceived as sources of collective efficacy beliefs in a volleyball context. In Study 1, volleyball coaches from the highest volleyball leagues (n = 33) in Belgium indicated the most important sources of collective efficacy. This list was then adapted based on the literature and on feedback given by an expert focus group, resulting in a 40-item questionnaire. In Study 2, coaches and players from all levels of volleyball in Belgium (n = 2365) rated each of these sources on their predictive value for collective efficacy. A principal component analysis revealed that the 40 sources could be divided into eight internally consistent factors. Positive supportive communication (e.g. enthusiasm after making a point) was identified as the factor most predictive for positive collective efficacy beliefs. The factor referring to the negative emotional re...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined whether collective efficacy can mediate the association between coach-athlete relationship and athlete satisfaction and team cohesion and player satisfaction, and found that Unity, preparation, and ability appeared to be the best mediators.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine whether collective efficacy can mediate the association between (a) coach-athlete relationship and athlete satisfaction and (b) team cohesion and athlete satisfaction. The sample consisted of 135 Greek-Cypriot athletes who participated in interactive sports and responded to four questionnaires including the Collective Efficacy Questionnaire for Sport, Greek Coach-Athlete Relationship Questionnaire, Group Environment Questionnaire and three subscales of the Athlete Satisfaction Questionnaire. The results from a series of regression analyses indicated that dimensions of collective efficacy have the capacity to explain the association between the quality of the coach-athlete relationship and athlete satisfaction as well as between team cohesion and athlete satisfaction. Unity, preparation, and ability were dimensions of collective efficacy that appeared to be the best mediators. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
TL;DR: This article explored the impact of teacher leadership, professional development, and overall participant dispositions of three grant-funded projects connected by their approach to implementing school reform, focusing on transformation of teacher roles, improved meaningful professional development and increased collective efficacy.
Abstract: Universities and schools are struggling with the critical issues surrounding teacher quality, student learning, and the gap between research and practice. This study employed a collective case-study design to explore the impact of leadership teams and school-university partnerships on teacher leadership, professional development, and overall participant dispositions of three grant-funded projects connected by their approach to implementing school reform. Analysis of interviews, focus groups, observations, and project documents yielded three primary themes: transformation of teacher roles, improved meaningful professional development, and increased collective efficacy. Discussion of the findings addresses implications regarding teacher leadership, professional development, and school-university partnerships, especially as they impact teaching and learning.
TL;DR: It may be more efficient for urban planners and health professionals to focus on community programs that reduce environmental stressors and foster neighborhood cohesion than programs that solely improve physical infrastructure.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the separate and combined effects of transformational leadership behaviour and social processes of leadership on key organisational outcomes within Australian local councils and found that transformational leaders predicted performance outcomes, collective efficacy/outcomes expectancies and organisational commitment.
Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the separate and combined effects of transformational leadership behaviour and social processes of leadership on key organisational outcomes within Australian local councils.Design/methodology/approach – A survey research methodology was used to gather quantitative data from employees from nine local councils. Data were analysed using Item clustering analysis for scale construction. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was employed to test the proposed conceptual framework.Findings – It was found that transformational leadership predicted performance outcomes, collective efficacy/outcomes expectancies and organisational commitment. Social processes of leadership predicted performance outcomes, collective efficacy/outcomes expectancies and organisational citizenship behaviours.Practical implications – Results indicate that by practising aspects of transformational leadership such as articulating clear standards and expectations for performance and show...
TL;DR: The findings suggest that aspects of the broken window theory, collective efficacy, and place attachments/territoriality play a role in affecting residents' concerns about neighborhood safety.
TL;DR: In treatment neighborhoods, adolescents increased their deliberative and communicative efficacy and adults showed higher collective efficacy for children, and the Young Citizens Program is becoming recognized as a structural, health promotion approach through which adolescent self-efficacy and child collective efficacy are generated in the context of civil society and local government.
TL;DR: It is found that alcohol sales in a given neighborhood increase adolescents' alcohol use, and the direct effect of collective efficacy is insignificantly related to children's and youths' alcohol consumption, but models suggest that it significantly attenuates the effect of local alcohol retailers and sales on underage drinking.
TL;DR: The authors found that high concentrations of returning prisoners are associated with a reduced capacity for collective efficacy; the fostering of social situations conducive to criminal behavior; and higher levels of violent crime, and they concluded that the impact of incarceration on these neighborhood processes appears to be largely indirect through the turmoil that concentrations of incarceration create in a neighborhood's labor and housing markets.
Abstract: Incarceration, whose putative goal is the reduction of crime, may at higher concentrations actually increase crime by overwhelming neighborhoods with limited resources. The present research poses and provides initial support for an explanation of this paradoxical consequence of a crime control strategy. Specifically, we draw on two different lines of theoretical work to suggest that large numbers of returning prisoners may negatively impact a community’s economic and residential stability, limiting a community’s capacity for informal social control and resulting in labor market conditions conducive to criminal behavior. This study combines data on local social organization processes from a large survey of Seattle residents with contextual, crime, and incarceration data from the US Census, Seattle Police Department, and Washington State Department of Corrections. The results suggest that high concentrations of returning prisoners are associated with a reduced capacity for collective efficacy; the fostering of social situations conducive to criminal behavior; and higher levels of violent crime. The impact of incarceration on these neighborhood processes, however, appears to be largely indirect through the turmoil that concentrations of incarceration create in a neighborhood’s labor and housing markets. We conclude with a call for greater scrutiny of the goals and actual outcomes of incarceration policy.
TL;DR: The authors examined the relationship among social disorganization, collective efficacy, social control, residence restrictions, spatial autocorrelation, and the neighborhood distribution of registered sex offenders (RSOs) in Chicago.
Abstract: This study uses geospatial and regression analyses to examine the relationships among social disorganization, collective efficacy, social control, residence restrictions, spatial autocorrelation, and the neighborhood distribution of registered sex offenders (RSOs) in Chicago. RSOs were concentrated in neighborhoods that had higher levels of social disorganization and lower levels of collective efficacy, offered greater anonymity, and were near other neighborhoods with high concentrations of RSOs. Furthermore, social control mechanisms mediated some of the effects of structural disorganization. The neighborhoods where RSOs were likely to live did not exhibit characteristics that would support the informal social control of such offenders, as RSO legislation assumes.
TL;DR: This article conducted a concept mapping study in two New York City neighborhoods, to understand what behaviors neighborhood residents might enact to prevent partner violence and how feasible and effective residents believed them to be.
Abstract: How the neighborhood environment relates to intimate partner violence against women has been studied using theories applied originally to general violence. Extending social disorganization and collective efficacy theories, they apply a traditional measure informal social control that does not reflect behaviors specific to partner violence. We conducted a concept mapping study in two New York City neighborhoods, to understand what behaviors neighborhood residents might enact to prevent partner violence and how feasible and effective residents believed them to be. Results revealed a range of “preventive intervention behaviors.” Cluster analysis revealed that these behaviors grouped into four general areas, corresponding to the victim, perpetrator, community, and formal systems. Preventive intervention behaviors rated by participants as most feasible focused on the victim, whereas those rated most effective involved formal systems. Results have theoretical and practical implications for future research and programs to engage neighbors and neighborhoods in intimate partner violence prevention.
TL;DR: It is argued that the mainstream psychosocial determinants of social cohesion and self-efficacy are usefully reconceptualized in an Indigenous context as connectedness to culture and land, and collective efficacy, respectively.
Abstract: The poor health of Indigenous Australians is well established. However, the health of residents of one remote community in the Northern Territory of Australia called Utopia has been found recently to be much better than expected. In this article, we draw on historical anthropological research to explain this finding. We trace how cultural and social structures were maintained through changing eras of government policy from the 1930s, and show how these structures strengthened psychosocial determinants of health. We argue that the mainstream psychosocial determinants of social cohesion and self-efficacy are usefully reconceptualized in an Indigenous context as connectedness to culture and land, and collective efficacy, respectively. Continuity of cultural and social structures into the 1940s was facilitated by a combination of factors including the relatively late colonial occupation, the intercultural practices typical of the pastoral industry, the absence of a mission or government settlement, and the in...
TL;DR: Teachers' years of experience showed a significant relationship with efficacy beliefs, yet it was the teachers' perceived collective efficacy of their educational setting that ultimately predicted teachers' sense of efficacy.
Abstract: Teachers' sense of efficacy, or the belief that teachers have of their capacity to make an impact on students' performance, is an unexplored construct in deaf education research. This study included data from 296 respondents to examine the relationship of teacher and school characteristics with teachers' sense of efficacy in 80 different deaf education settings in the US. Deaf education teachers reported high overall efficacy beliefs but significantly lower efficacy beliefs in the area of student engagement than in instructional strategies and classroom management. Teachers' years of experience showed a significant relationship with efficacy beliefs, yet it was the teachers' perceived collective efficacy of their educational setting that ultimately predicted teachers' sense of efficacy. These findings lend credence to the need for further examination of school processes that influence teacher beliefs and attitudes in deaf education settings.
TL;DR: Significant risk reduction can be achieved by large-scale female sex worker interventions, but the impact depends on the history of programming, the complexity of the context in which sex work happens and pre-existing levels of support sex workers perceive from their peers.
Abstract: Background Empowering sex workers to mobilise and influence the structural context that obstructs risk reduction efforts is now seen an essential component of successful HIV prevention programmes. However, success depends on local programme environments and history. Methods The authors analysed data from the Integrated Behavioural and Biological Assessment Round I cross-sectional survey among female sex workers in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. The authors used propensity score matching to estimate the impact of participation in intervention activities on reduction of risk (consistent condom use) and vulnerability (perceived collective efficacy and community support). Results Background levels of risk and vulnerability as well as intervention impact varied widely across the different settings. The effect size ATT of attending meetings/trainings on consistent condom use was as high as 21% in Tamil Nadu (outside of Chennai) where overall use was lowest at 51%. Overall, levels of perceived collective efficacy were low at the time of the survey; perceived community support was high in Tamil Nadu and especially in Chennai (93%) contrasting with 33% in Mumbai. Consistent with previous research, the context of Mumbai seems least conducive to vulnerability reduction, yet self-help groups had a significant impact on consistent condom use (ATT=10%) and were significantly associated with higher collective efficacy (ATT=31%). Conclusions Significant risk reduction can be achieved by large-scale female sex worker interventions, but the impact depends on the history of programming, the complexity of the context in which sex work happens and pre-existing levels of support sex workers perceive from their peers.