Human Service Practitioners Research Articles

Supervision and Wellness: A Survey of Human Service Practitioners

ABSTRACT Organizationally provided workplace-based supervision is important for human services as it impacts service delivery, client outcomes, and organizational efficacy. Surveying human service practitioners in Ontario, Canada (N = 207), this study examined the relationship between supervision effectiveness and practitioner wellness using the Manchester Clinical Supervision Scale and the Professional Quality of Life – Health Scale, conducting a MANCOVA and fitting a Structural Equation Model. Of the participants, 37% received effective supervision as defined by MCSS-26 developers, 40% non-effective supervision, and 23% no supervision. Participants whose scores reflected non-effective supervision experienced the worst wellness outcomes, worse than no supervision. Results indicate effective supervision, particularly the strength of supervisory relationship and administrative (i.e. normative) function, predicts practitioner wellness, increasing perceived support and compassion satisfaction while decreasing burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and moral distress. Findings emphasize the need for organizations to dedicate resources to effective supervision to improve practitioner wellbeing and, in turn, client outcomes.

Promoting Older Adults’ Engagement in Disaster Recovery Through Supportive Relationships, Partnerships, and Collaboration: Perspectives of Social Work Practitioners and Human Service Professionals

Shifting demographics—that is, the growing number of older adults in Canada and internationally—and intersecting climatic risks create a complex landscape of aging in place in disaster contexts. Some older adults are vulnerable due to their underlying health conditions and limited physical mobility. Yet they also exhibit resilience in a distinct manner, owing to their wealth of knowledge, wisdom, and ability to navigate adversities. This article elucidates potential avenues for promoting the involvement of older adults in disaster recovery efforts. Our intention is to recognize and foster older adult resilience and mitigate vulnerability by drawing upon insights from the study titled “In the Aftermath of the 2016 Alberta Wildfires: The Role of Social Work Practitioners and Human Service Professionals in Long-Term Disaster Recovery.” Employing a qualitative research approach, that study recruited 51 participants for semistructured interviews and focus groups. A thematic analysis of the collected data unveiled the pivotal roles played by social workers and human service practitioners in facilitating recovery from the 2016 wildfires in the research. Notably, three overarching themes emerged concerning the promotion of older adults’ involvement in disaster recovery: fostering supportive relationships, building partnerships and enhancing collaboration, and addressing ongoing challenges. These findings offer valuable insights into how social work practitioners and human service professionals can effectively facilitate the engagement of older adults in disaster recovery initiatives. This article emphasizes the significance of actively promoting the participation of older adults in disaster mitigation efforts, thereby fostering greater resilience within communities.

A Multi-System Approach to Investigate Different Forms of Delinquency in Female Adolescents at Risk: Family, School, and Peers.

The delinquency of female adolescents at risk has increased conspicuously, much to the concern of human service and public health practitioners. Nevertheless, prior findings of pertinent research have commonly been based on samples of male or gender-mixed participants, especially general youths in the community. These cannot adequately explicate the impacts of different contextual systems on at-risk female adolescents, who are, in fact, more vulnerable to developing delinquency. Based on cross-sectional data collected from a sample of 236 at-risk female adolescents with the help of a large social work organization, the present study investigated and compared the effects of family, school, and peer systems on different forms of delinquency among at-risk female adolescents. The results show that positive family functioning, constructive school experiences, and deviant peer influence were predictive of both self-destructive and other-destructive delinquency in at-risk adolescent girls, respectively, but the effects were significantly different depending on which contextual systems influenced what forms of delinquency. Furthermore, the relationships between positive family functioning and both forms of delinquency were significantly mediated by the effects of constructive school experiences and deviant peer influence, giving support to the distal role of family and the proximal functions of school and peers in adolescence. Implications for policy prevention and interventions to strengthen the contextual supports in different social systems to help female adolescents at risk are discussed.

Individual Responsibility and Disconnection: Practitioner Experiences of the First Wave COVID19 Lockdown

ABSTRACT The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia called for a lockdown that impacted the delivery of social work and human services. This study investigated the experiences of 15 social work and human service practitioners in Southeast Queensland, Australia. Telephone and Zoom interviews were conducted with practitioners and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Three themes arose: 1) technology problems; 2) flexibility in work roles; 3) supportive and unsupportive organisations. Findings suggested that practitioners faced challenges due to poor technology, reduced role clarity, and in some cases limited organisational support. Findings also provided insight into benefits that included increased flexibility, regular communication from the organisation, and acts of kindness and care from individuals and organisations. A fundamental lesson from this study was the importance for organisations to nurture connections that demonstrated care for employees during times of crisis. IMPLICATIONS Social work and human service practitioners need continued support in accessing and using software and hardware in preparation for crisis. While practitioners displayed resilience and flexibility during the COVID19 lockdown, clarity about work roles and responsibilities is necessary. Employers play a vital role in maintaining practitioner wellbeing during crisis by showing care and connection between individuals and across the wider organisation.

Development and Initial Validation of Scores on the Inner Wealth Inventory: Implications for Human Service Management and Practice

ABSTRACT Human services professionals who work in child welfare face notable risks for burnout, which is associated with higher levels of job stress, job dissatisfaction, and turnover. The authors of this study developed and validated scores on the Inner Wealth Inventory (IWI), a screening tool for appraising Inner Wealth (IW), a strengths-based construct with implications for reducing burnout. The collective results of exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, convergent validity testing, and internal consistency reliability analyses supported the psychometric properties of the IWI with two independent samples of child welfare professionals. Implications for human service managers, researchers, and practitioners are discussed.

Examination of Ethical Decision-Making Models Across Disciplines: Common Elements and Application to the Field of Behavior Analysis.

Human service practitioners from varying fields make ethical decisions daily. At some point during their careers, many behavior analysts may face ethical decisions outside the range of their previous education, training, and professional experiences. To help practitioners make better decisions, researchers have published ethical decision-making models; however, it is unknown the extent to which published models recommend similar behaviors. Thus, we systematically reviewed and analyzed ethical decision-making models from published peer-reviewed articles in behavior analysis and related allied health professions. We identified 55 ethical decision-making models across 60 peer-reviewed articles, seven primary professions (e.g., medicine, psychology), and 22 subfields (e.g., dentistry, family medicine). Through consensus-based analysis, we identified nine behaviors commonly recommended across the set of reviewed ethical decision-making models with almost all (n = 52) models arranging the recommended behaviors sequentially and less than half (n = 23) including a problem-solving approach. All nine ethical decision-making steps clustered around the ethical decision-making steps in the Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts published by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (2020) suggesting broad professional consensus for the behaviors likely involved in ethical decision making.

One Size Fits All: The Role of Technology in Practitioner’s Experience of Working from Home during COVID19

The Covid-19 pandemic led to different ways of working for social work and human service practitioners across the globe. This paper examines the use of technology by practitioners during nationwide stay at home orders due to COVID19. This study consisted of interviews with fifteen social work and human services practitioners in Southeast Queensland, Australia. While technology is frequently used in practice, the challenges and benefits of using technology as a primary practice method whilst working from home are discussed in this paper. The findings of this study suggest that the use of technology whilst working from home may be a viable option for future practice in well-resourced organizations with technologically proficient practitioners. However, for practitioners and clients without limited access to technology or reduced digital capabilities, such arrangements risk becoming discriminatory. Considerations therefore must be made in ensuring access to technology and the appropriateness of working from home for some social work and human services practitioners.

Recovery Assessment: Culture, Ethnicity, and Spiritual Dysfunction

Religion and Spirituality are essential pieces to an individual's or group's identity and are present on the spectrum of multicultural diversity. Human service practitioners cannot overlook how individuals conceptualize their relationship with the Sacred. Knowledge of spiritual beliefs and practices creates the basic cultural competence of the practitioner. It enriches the relationship between the practitioner and the person receiving service and makes room for powerful spiritual healing. There needs to be a professional nonsectarian change toward a holistic model of recovery and resilience that embraces the spiritual dimension. This dimension must include traditional and non-traditional belief systems not just as part of the self-help movement but as part of an integrated psychological and spiritual health model that complements people's biological and genetic foundation. This integrated model must focus on: (1) the elimination of stress in the overall community; (2) being attentive toward environmental factors such as divorce, death, and Illness; and (3) supporting and providing opportunities for better housing, increased employment opportunities and positive family activities. Effective treatment services must embrace a holistic approach that integrates well into a comprehensive social support network perspective

“Plenty of Vaccines, but Not Enough Arms”: A Social-Ecological Approach to COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in Rural US Communities

This article leads off the special issue’s first section on Health, Mental Health, and Well-Being Today Among Marginalized Populations. It draws from multiple disciplines to address COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in rural areas of the United States. Presenting a synthesis of literature on rural vaccine hesitancy and emerging research and scientific opinion on COVID 19, we identify likely factors in rural decision-making about COVID-19 vaccination. Vaccination is underway, with plans to provide access to every U.S. resident. However, polls suggest vaccine hesitancy may compromise our ability to reach the goal of herd immunity, and rural residents express more hesitancy than their urban and suburban counterparts. Drawing on Thomson et al.’s (2016) identification of five dimensions of vaccine uptake, we use a social-ecological approach to propose actions to increase vaccine acceptance on individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and cultural levels. This conceptual paper is a starting point for rural health and human services administrators and practitioners seeking to reduce COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in their communities in this early stage of COVID-19 vaccination.

Messiness in international qualitative interviewing: What I did, what I didn’t do, and a little bit about why

This is a reflexive account of the messiness experienced by a Persian-Australian doctoral researcher interviewing social work and human service practitioners and people seeking asylum in Germany. This data collection was part of a cross-national comparative study of the impacts of policy on the experiences and perceptions of people seeking asylum and social work and human service practitioners in Bavaria and Western Australia. Through interview stories and the work of others, this article offers a first person account of the complexities, ambiguities and dilemmas that can occur before, during and after data collection, how these were navigated through the use of Finlay's (2012) five lenses for the reflexive interviewer, and some of the lessons learnt.

Las complejidades interpersonales y estructurales entre las mujeres que experimentan la falta de vivienda en una comunidad fronteriza entre México y Estados Unidos

The life complexities of women experiencing homelessness warrants further exploration as there is insufficient information on their life’s interpersonal and structural challenges. The aim of this study is multifold: to explore the experiences of unhoused women in El Paso, Texas, a city that borders with Ciudad Juarez Mexico, to identify barriers to health and social services, to promote agency, and improve access to care. Recruitment of participants was done through partner agencies in selecting a sample of 15 Hispanic and 15 Non-Hispanic women who were experiencing homelessness and residing in local shelters in the spring of 2019. The Beck Depression Inventory II, General Self-Efficacy (GSE), and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) scales were administered to enhance understanding and knowledge on the characteristics of women with a lived experience of homelessness to learn about their interpersonal and adverse experiences and future outlook. Feminist perspective was employed as part of the theoretical framework to further explore the interpersonal and structural realities of women experiencing homelessness. Three major themes emerged: relational adversity and intimate partner violence; lack of social support; and challenges related to transitioning out of homelessness. Implications highlighted in the findings will inform health and human service providers, and decision makers about the needs of women and the importance of person-centered carer for this population. It is critical that social workers, human service practitioners, policy makers, researchers, and the general public pause, listen and understand the realities that women experiencing homelessness face and their resiliency to ensure quality services to support them transition and end homelessness.

 A Qualitative Examination of the Preparedness of African American Pastors to Address Issues of Addictions

This study qualitatively explored the preparedness of African American pastors to meet the needs of parishioners with addictions. Findings indicated that African American pastors do not always perceive themselves to be prepared to address issues of addiction, and existing cultural barriers challenge collaboration between human services practitioners and African American pastors. Findings also revealed that despite existing cultural barriers, African American pastors are willing to collaborate with professionals who offer educational opportunities in culturally relevant ways. Human services professionals’ ability to understand cultural nuances of African American pastors is of paramount concern to effectively enhance the quality of life for clients utilizing faith-based interventions to meet the needs of individuals with addiction. Recommendations for strategies for human service professionals to build collaborations with pastors of African American churches are provided.

The Influence of Policy, Cultural and Historical Contexts on Social Work and Human Service Practice Responses with People Seeking Asylum in Germany and Australia

ABSTRACT This article explores the findings of a qualitative study comparing social work and human service practice with people who have sought asylum in Germany and Australia. Globally social workers are concerned with the record high of people forcibly displaced worldwide and the Global North host-nations’ increasingly hostile, discriminatory and restrictive policies towards people seeking asylum. This policy context is antithetical to the professional values of social workers and human services practitioners. The findings of this study reveal how the policy directly impacts social work and human service practice, creates unique ethical challenges and dilemmas and, subsequently, diverse practice responses. The paper also suggests that the country of practice influences how practitioners perceive and respond to ethical challenges and dilemmas. Through doing so, the findings challenge traditional understandings of critical practice theories that suggest that practice focused solely on the individual level is inadequate for work with people seeking asylum. Due to the diversity of contexts and their influences, we encourage social work and human services to view practice on a personal-political continuum when working with people seeking asylum.

Is Anyone Listening to us? ‘They’re Given Feedback and There’s No Outcomes' Settlement for Newly Arrived Syrians in Regional Australia

ABSTRACT In 2017 the number of refugees arriving in Australia was double the intake of previous decades. In 2015 the Australian Government provided an additional 12,000 humanitarian visas specifically to Syrian and Iraqi refugees. While Australia has a robust predominantly urban system designed to settle refugees who have a high level of need, the same services may not be well suited or available to the Syrian population who are being encouraged to settle in rural and regional areas. This paper draws on empirical research that documents issues affecting Syrian refugee settlement and builds on existing research to identify keys to successful and ethical regional settlement policy. Initial findings suggest high levels of social capital but limited opportunities for employment and education are thwarting settlement efforts. We argue for working in partnership and promoting ethical social work values to address the challenges facing these newly arrived communities. Social workers and human service educators and practitioners in this space must adapt to the rapidly changing service delivery system. Working alongside refugees, in this case Syrian people, requires both co-production and transparency in order to shift perceptions of their vulnerability and lack of agency in order to foster agency and self-determination.

Coloniality of Power and International Students Experience: What are the Ethical Responsibilities of Social Work and Human Service Educators?

ABSTRACT This article explores theoretical responses to the living structures of dominance and subordination within modern postcolonial societies, highlighting racialised international students’ experiences within Australian universities. Drawing on coloniality of power and border thinking, it seeks to address ethical responsibilities for social work and human service educators from the author’s positioning as a non-Western immigrant ‘Other’, and experience of belonging as an educator of future social work and human service practitioners in Australia. Utilising autoethnographic and qualitative study, the article offers great insight into the systemic nature of discrimination in Australian tertiary education institutions. It suggests a need for critical, self-reflexive awareness about the legacies of colonialism and hegemonic whiteness to permeate social work and human service profession and education. This article, thus, enables decolonising minds, securing informed understanding, and initiating a shift in the way non-white (and non-Western) racialised international social work students are seen, constructed, and understood in contemporary Australian (Western) societies.

Finding their place in the world: what can we learn from successful Autists’ accounts of their own lives?

The purpose of this article is to identify developmental and environmental factors and personal strategies that have shaped the lives of eight successful Autists in Australia, North America, and the United Kingdom. The article employs a process of meta-ethnography to distil learnings and factors from Autist’s publicly available autobiographical accounts. Key findings relate to the importance of: identifying and enabling productive individual special interests; matching individual strengths with environmental resources and opportunities; nurturing self-awareness; developing personal strategies for success; and finding a niche in the world. The article concludes with recommendations for applying study findings in strengths-based approaches to social work and other human services. Points of interest Autist’s as people with autism spectrum conditions (ASCs) who have successfully established a social niche for themselves can be a source of wisdom for other Autist’s, their families, and social work and human service practitioners; This study examined the life stories of eight successful Autists to identify factors that supported their success; We identified four key areas that shape their abilities and success. Those included: being aware of and supported in their special interests; having self-awareness of their internal experience and how they can embrace relationships with others; developing personal strategies to better navigate their world; and finding social and vocational opportunities that capitalise on their strengths, special interests, and self-awareness; The study findings hence suggest pathways for strengths-based social work, human services, and other forms of professional practice such as education and training.

Heard but not seen: Exploring youth counsellors’ experiences of telephone counselling

INTRODUCTION: Human service practitioners who work over the telephone are physically invisible to their clients and this invisibility shapes their work. Existing literature suggests that physical invisibility, coupled with anonymity and the immediacy of service provision are defining features of telephone counselling. However, little research has explored how telephone counsellors experience these features in any real depth.METHODOLOGY: This article reports on a case study conducted at a youth helpline in Aotearoa New Zealand. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 practitioners on their experiences of telephone counselling work. One key finding from this case study is discussed: the impact of invisibility and anonymity.FINDINGS: Findings indicate that practitioners’ experiences of delivering telephone counselling are more divergent than those presented in extant literature. While telephone counsellors face challenges delivering non-face-to-face counselling support, the physical invisibility of this medium, coupled with a supportive work environment can also provide potential benefits to counsellors.CONCLUSIONS: Counsellors’ experiences of telephone counselling work appear to be more nuanced than traditionally understood. While practitioners may experience a range of possible challenges in delivering telephone counselling, such as responding to hoax and abusive callers, they also experience benefits such feeling relaxed, and supported by colleagues and supervisors. Management practices, such as flexible rules and accessible supervision, can help practitioners manage the impact working non-face-to-face with clients. Given the ongoing popularity of telephone counselling, further research is needed on the working conditions that promote practitioner wellbeing and job satisfaction.

An Assessment of the Hypercriminalization Thesis: Evidence from Juvenile Justice and Human Service Practitioners in the USA

One of the most salient effects of racial discrimination in the USA is the criminalization of youth of color (YOC). Using a deductive approach to evaluate Rios’s hypercriminalization theory, this study analyzes 79 human service and juvenile justice practitioners’ professional experiences with witnessing the criminalization of YOC. The results of a priori coding revealed that criminalization is a baseline experience for YOC that occurs in a variety of social settings, and it is linked to the disproportionate contact of YOC with the juvenile justice system. Practitioners reported that criminalization also impacted YOC’s self-concept and contributed to their development of destructive attitudes. The study concludes with suggestions for future research and recommendations for combatting the criminalization of YOC in professional work settings.

Working with Restrictions: A Scoping Review of Social Work and Human Service Practice with People Seeking Asylum in the Global North

Abstract With a record number of people reported to be forcibly displaced worldwide and an increasingly anti-asylum policy environment in Global North host nations, it is critical to examine social work and human services with people seeking asylum and people with refugee status. This scoping review sought to identify and review the existing qualitative research on such practice from the perspectives of social work and human service practitioners, people seeking asylum and people with refugee status and clients in Global North host nations. The review presents the key findings and trends emerging from twenty publications and identifies areas for future research to further develop knowledge of this field of practice as there is a dearth of research on this topic. Through thematic analysis of very different publications, it was found that Global North host nations have varying forms of restrictive policy and dominant anti-asylum discourses. This and other factors result in many potential areas for improvement of social work and human services. The findings include recommendations for more inclusive and compassionate policy, person-centred and strength-based practice approaches, and further qualitative research with people seeking asylum.

Offering the “Sociological Eye” to Examine Ethical Egoism at an Illustrative Homeless Shelter for Men: A Pedagogical Exercise

This is an exploration into the philosophical realm of misplaced ethics at an illustrative homeless shelter where human service practitioners should be keeping better focus on delivering services to destitute men in a large industrial city. The question raised is whether or not the cause of the ethical egoism seen there, that results in problems typical of homeless shelters around the world, is structurally based. The problems result in mistrust of the shelter and a diminishment of services to a vulnerable population. Sociologically framed questions serve as a tool for the use of the case method of teaching.