• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.443-475
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• 2010

Despite the rapidly increased concern on the circularity of the program development activities in the social service agencies, there are only a few studies about the phenomena. This study is to describe the characteristics of program development in the process of adopting, developing, and disseminating the social programs and to figure out the factors influencing differences in the 3 activities in social service agencies. The researchers constructed an explanative model including each 12-13 independent variables with 3 consecutive dependent variables on the basis of reviewing the related literatures. A multiple regression analysis was applied to predict the features of the program development using 195 questionaries responded from social workers in community service centers. As the result of the descriptive analysis, the two noticeable features are found; (1) the agencies have very actively adopted outside programs, developed appropriate programs for the agency, and disseminated the programs into other agencies in the community. (2) there are some positive aspects of the factors in related to the process of the program development. The results of the regression analysis show that the three dependent variables of the adoption, development, and dissemination are very closely interconnected with each others, showing the evidence of the circularity in the agencies. In addition, the 5 independent variables at the value of p .01 are statistically related with the circularity of the three dependent activities. The implication of major findings were discussed in academic and practical perspectives in Korea, including future research works in the area.