Seeking Champions for Change: A Positive Deviance Approach for Social Work

Abstract

Given growing interest in and need for social innovation, social workers will benefit from knowing about positive deviance (PD), an approach that capitalizes on local creativity and strengths. The PD approach seeks community (or organizational) members who have developed solutions for problems with which other members struggle, despite their having similar resources and constraints. Rather than rely on professional expertise and skills to solve intractable problems in communities, the PD approach evokes a “new way of thinking” that promotes indigenous leadership and community responsibility for problems and solutions. This article outlines key components of the PD approach, describes steps for implementing PD, and discusses implications for social work.

Improving relations between police and African American neighborhoods: A positive deviance approach.

“…Positive Deviance is an approach designed to help people tackle complex problems using practices already existing in their communities (LeMahieu et al, 2017; Pascale et al, 2010; Wolfer & Wilson, 2019). Despite having similar constraints and resources as people around them, so-called positive deviants tap into solutions that have yet to be discovered and implemented by others in the community (Pascale et al, 2010).…”

“…Positive deviance methodology typically includes five steps (Positive Deviance Initiative, 2010; Wolfer & Wilson, 2019). In…”

“…Despite having similar constraints and resources as people around them, so-called positive deviants tap into solutions that have yet to be discovered and implemented by others in the community (Pascale et al, 2010). They engage in uncommon behaviors and practices that deviate in positive ways from the status quo (Wolfer & Wilson, 2019).…”

“…Jerry and Monique Sternin developed positive deviance to address child malnutrition in Vietnam (Pascale et al, 2010). While working with Save the Children, the Sternins innovated an approach that “used the successes of positive deviants as the foundation for social change interventions” (Wolfer & Wilson, 2019, p. 151). They identified “positive deviants,” that is, poor families whose children had better nutritional health than their neighbors despite the same limited resources (Lewis, 2009).…”

How positive deviants helped in fighting the early phase of COVID-19 pandemic? A qualitative study exploring the roles of frontline health workers in Nepal

“…Positive deviance is a concept widely used in public health and social sciences. It can be considered a practical strategy that enables behavior and social changes by learning from the deviants who fare better than others under similar circumstances [1,2]. In any setting, there are people whose uncommon but successful behaviors or strategies enable them to find better solutions to a problem than their peers, despite facing similar challenges and resource constraints.…”