INTERNATIONAL HOME ECONOMICS: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF THE INTERFACE OF HOME ECONOMICS PROGRAMMING WITH WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT (HOUSEHOLD, THIRD WORLD

The purpose of this study was to investigate the interface of contemporary home economics programming with women in development program and policy approaches in addressing the needs of women and families in developing countries. Specifically, the study sought to explore the relationship of program and policy preferences to professional training, professional association membership, international experience, and related demographic variables.;The sample for this study consisted of 299 members of the International Section of the American Home Economics Association (AHEA) or the Association for Women in Development (AWID). The subjects responded to the Program and Policy Preference Inventory (PPPI) developed to measure preferences for program and policy approaches in addition to a Professional Data section.;Three factors--Household, Empowerment, and Economic--were developed through factor analysis to test the policy and program preferences of sample members. Household included items focusing on individual and family well-being at the household level. Empowerment included items focusing on increasing women's access to resources and power to transform societal systems. Economic included items focusing on macro-economic policies. Home economists showed a stronger preference than non-home economists for Household, while non-home economists showed a stronger preference than home economists for Empowerment. The two groups did not differ significantly on Economic. The AWID home economists were at the interface of the AHEA and AWID professional association membership groups for Household and Empowerment. The AWID home economists showed a stronger preference for Household than other AWID members but they did not prefer Empowerment more than other AWID members.;In considering the relationship of mean factor scores and experience abroad, home economists without experience abroad preferred Household more than home economists with experience abroad. No significant differences existed for home economists and non-home economists with or without experience abroad for Empowerment or Economic. When mean factor scores among three professional groups were compared, the only significant difference was that AWID home economists without experience abroad preferred Empowerment approaches more than AWID home economists with experience abroad.