Changes in World View
Self-help groups, including DA, urge members to change their world view. It is critically important for self-help groups to ease this process for their members as changes in world view are generally accompanied by significant behavioral changes. For example, the pamphlet Debtors Anonymous answers "How Does a Person Get Solvent Through the D.A. Program?" by explaining that DA brings about a "progressive personality change" within the member. This change is accomplished through faith in, and understanding of, DA's Twelve Steps.
Using convenience and snowball sampling sociologist Terrell A. Hayes found and surveyed 46 DA members from July 1993 to June 1995. 42 of the members surveyed were attending meetings in the Eastern United States, the remaining four attended meetings in Austin, Texas. An analysis of the data Hayes collected revealed specific parts of DA hindered acceptance of DA's overall ideology. These included: labeling, intergroup and intragroup differences, lack of a clear position on bankruptcy and debt-shifting and contradictory information on what literature DA groups should use.
Read more about this topic: Debtors Anonymous
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