Feeding Hope Through Tulsa's Philanthropic Community

Abstract

Hope Theory continues to emerge in the scholarly literature. Rooted in positive psychology, this theory is comprised of three facets: goals, pathways thinking, and agency thinking. To date there has been limited application of hope theory to the context of work underway in the nonprofit sector. The purpose of this quantitative study was to apply hope theory as a lens to predict well-being among clients seeking food-related assistance from nonprofit organizations in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The measurement instruments used in this study were the Future Hope Scale, the Food Security Survey, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, and the Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE). The results suggest that respondents living in food insecure conditions struggle with life satisfaction and report high levels of negative affect based on their experiences. Additionally, Hope Agency accounted for significant variance in both satisfaction with life and affect, over and above food insecurity and hope pathways, among this sample. The results of this study can inform future research specific to hope theory and have direct application to the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors engaged in this work in Tulsa, Oklahoma.