Social Counseling as an Instrument for Strengthening Welfare Awareness Based on Community Participation

Abstract

This study examines social counseling as an instrument for strengthening welfare awareness through community participation. Using a qualitative approach with an embedded single-case study design, the research was selected to capture meaning-making processes, interactional dynamics, and contextual conditions shaping participatory welfare action. Fieldwork was conducted in a peri-urban community in West Java, Indonesia (pseudonym: Cendana District), chosen because social counseling activities were routinely implemented and connected to local welfare initiatives. Data were generated through in-depth interviews, non-participant observation, and document review involving 26 purposively selected informants, including counselors/facilitators, community participants, local leaders/volunteers, and welfare service representatives. Findings show that counseling strengthened welfare awareness by reframing welfare from individualized hardship to shared responsibility, and increased participation when it improved attitudes, supportive norms, and perceived control over welfare-related action. Participation was sustained when counseling also strengthened social capital, particularly linking ties to institutions that reduced administrative barriers and stigma. The study recommends designing counseling as participatory social learning with structured follow-up, micro-role allocation, and institutional collaboration to ensure durable welfare-oriented collective action.