| Abstrakt: |
The sense of community is one of the fundamental concepts of community psychology. According to Sarason (1974), it is defined as the perception of belonging, interdependence, and mutual commitment, gathering all individuals within a community. The model that has been defined by McMillan and Chavis (1986) comprises four dimensions: membership status, integration and satisfaction of needs, influence, and shared emotional relationships. The study hereby presented has been developed through a multimethod approach and has aimed to understand in which way the sense of community emerges in volunteers (adult leaders) of corpo nacional de escutas (CNE; faith-based scouting movement of Catholic inspiration), in its four dimensions. Seven semistructured interviews, to key informants of the association, were conducted, and the Sense of Community Index 2 (SCI-2; Chavis, Lee, & Acosta, 2008) administered to 811 participants of the above-mentioned Association. The aim of the study was to understand the dynamic relations among the different elements of the sense of community, and to contribute to the conceptual development of "sense of community." The results have revealed that the factorial structure of the sense of community is in accordance with the proposed model by the authors, presenting a multidimensional structure. The key informants have identified diversified elements of the sense of community. It has also been demonstrated that the sense of community of the participants is positive in all dimensions and in an overall perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
