CAN SOCIAL-WORK INTERVENTION INCREASE ORGANIZATIONAL-EFFECTIVENESS

In recent years, participation in social services has re-emerged as a solution to many of society's problems throughout the world. The study described here tries to test empirically the assumption that client p articipation and community belonging lead to improved output. A random sample of clients in two models of community centres was chosen. The first model was activated by client participation and controlled by a community social worker. The second model was not supervised by a comm unity worker and did not involve the community centre clients on any l evel of its activities. The study indicates that there are differences between participants (Model I) and non-participants (Model II) as to the community centre outputs. Furthermore, client participation leads to effectiveness if the client feels a sense of belonging to the commu nity.