Human Service Sector Research Articles

Calling All Leaders

ABSTRACT The U.S. Surgeon General recently published two reports highlighting the current public health crisis of unhealthy work environments that are contributing to mental health and physical, emotional, and psychological challenges for 161 million American workers. He identifies leaders as crucial partners in addressing this crisis. This editorial presents an approach to leadership assessment not often discussed in the human services sector, namely, using evidence-supported tools to assess a leader candidate’s qualifications prior to hire. Details of this approach, specific tools, as well as implications for social work practice, are reviewed.

The Community-Based Health Workforce in Public Health and Health Care Delivery.

The "community-based workforce" is an umbrella term used by a workgroup of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) leaders to characterize a variety of job titles and descriptions for positions in the public health, health care delivery, and human service sectors across local communities. Definitions, expectations of the scope of work, and funding opportunities for this workforce vary. To address some of these challenges, a workgroup of HHS agencies met to define the roles of this workforce and identify existing opportunities for training, career advancement, and compensation. The community-based workforce has demonstrated success in improving poor health outcomes and addressing the social determinants of health for decades. However, descriptions of this workforce, expectations of their roles, and funding opportunities vary. The HHS workgroup identified that comprehensive approaches are needed within HHS and via public health sectors to meet these challenges and opportunities. Using the common term "community-based workforce" across HHS can encourage alignment and collaboration. As the environment for this public health and health care community-based workforce shifts, it will be important to understand the value and opportunities available to ensure long-term sustainability for this workforce to continue to advance health equity.

Leadership Education and Development: An Exploration of Australian Academic Educators’ Perceptions of Leadership Education for Health and Human Service Sector Leaders

The purpose of this study was to explore the nature of postgraduate leadership courses and programs offered by Australian Higher Education Institutions for leaders and potential leaders in the Health & Human Service (H&HS) sector including structure, content, and teaching practices from the perspective of educators. Ten educators from a range of institutions were interviewed. Interview data was coded and analyzed using Inductive Content Analysis. Six global categories represent the broad range of experiences and perspectives of participants in this study. Findings demonstrate formal education has the potential to positively impact the development of leaders in the H&HS sector.

Bridging and Bonding Social Capital by Analyzing the Demographics, User Activities, and Social Network Dynamics of Sexual Assault Centers on Twitter: Mixed Methods Study.

Social media platforms have gained popularity as communication tools for organizations to engage with clients and the public, disseminate information, and raise awareness about social issues. From a social capital perspective, relationship building is seen as an investment, involving a complex interplay of tangible and intangible resources. Social media-based social capital signifies the diverse social networks that organizations can foster through their engagement on social media platforms. Literature underscores the great significance of further investigation into the scope and nature of social media use, particularly within sectors dedicated to service delivery, such as sexual assault organizations. This study aims to fill a research gap by investigating the use of Twitter by sexual assault support agencies in Canada. It seeks to understand the demographics, user activities, and social network structure within these organizations on Twitter, focusing on building social capital. The research questions explore the demographic profile, geographic distribution, and Twitter activity of these organizations as well as the social network dynamics of bridging and bonding social capital. This study used purposive sampling to investigate sexual assault centers in Canada with active Twitter accounts, resulting in the identification of 124 centers. The Twitter handles were collected, yielding 113 unique handles, and their corresponding Twitter IDs were obtained and validated. A total of 294,350 tweets were collected from these centers, covering >93.54% of their Twitter activity. Preprocessing was conducted to prepare the data, and descriptive analysis was used to determine the center demographics and age. Furthermore, geolocation mapping was performed to visualize the center locations. Social network analysis was used to explore the intricate relationships within the network of sexual assault center Twitter accounts, using various metrics to assess the network structure and connectivity dynamics. The results highlight the substantial presence of sexual assault organizations on Twitter, particularly in provinces such as Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec, underscoring the importance of tailored engagement strategies considering regional disparities. The analysis of Twitter account creation years shows a peak in 2012, followed by a decline in new account creations in subsequent years. The monthly tweet activity shows November as the most active month, whereas July had the lowest activity. The study also reveals variations in Twitter activity, account creation patterns, and social network dynamics, identifying influential social queens and marginalized entities within the network. This study presents a comprehensive landscape of the demographics and activities of sexual assault centers in Canada on Twitter. This study suggests that future research should explore the long-term consequences of social media use and examine stakeholder perceptions, providing valuable insights to improve communication practices within the nonprofit human services sector and further the missions of these organizations.

Burnout in the human service sector: causes, consequences and sustainable remedial measures

Burnout in the human service sector: causes, consequences and sustainable remedial measures

Burnout in the human service sector: causes, consequences and sustainable remedial measures

Burnout in the human service sector: causes, consequences and sustainable remedial measures

An Exploratory Study of Employee Engagement in Human Service Agencies

Given research suggesting that engaged employees demonstrate greater workplace performance, employee engagement has been one of the highest trending topics in the management and human resource literature over the past 20 years; yet there is minimal empirical research focused specifically on employee engagement in nonprofit organizations. The purpose of this study was to explore antecedent factors that contribute to employee engagement in the human services sector, using a convenience sample of staff in human service agencies in the New York City region. Organizational trust, satisfaction with supervisor, and coworker support were significant predictors of employee engagement.

Advancing Social Work Research in Australia: Experienced Researcher Perspectives

ABSTRACT While social work research in Australia is in reasonable shape, it requires a strong research culture promoting rigorous research to enhance its credibility and influence on social policy discourses. This study explored proposals to advance social work research, based on interviews with 20 experienced Australian social work researchers. Strategies identified include improving research culture and training, the development of research infrastructure to promote and stimulate research, and forming new partnerships both among researchers and between researchers and research end-users. Growing and strengthening the research foundations of the discipline is essential to its future relevance. IMPLICATIONS The Australian social work community would benefit from a more deliberate and strategic approach to increasing the quality and quantity of research to inform practice and policy. Opportunities for social work researchers to connect with each other to disseminate, discuss, and plan research could provide a hub for increasing research development and research collaboration. The responsibility and capacity to lead research development and advocate for social work research is shared between the academy, the human services sector, and representative professional associations.

Precarious Professionals: The Impact of Neoliberalism on the Workforce of the Nonprofit Human Service Sector

Abstract Forty years of neoliberal policies and protocols, such as privatization, austerity measures, and managerialism, has pushed the U.S. human service sector to the brink of collapse. This commentary delineates the impact of neoliberalism on nonprofit human service agencies. Specific attention is paid to the untenable working conditions of professional frontline staff, who are tasked with providing much needed programs and services to often vulnerable populations. Worker strategies for coping with and fighting against neoliberalism, both individual and collective, are delineated. This piece concludes with some suggestions for more systemic responses to ameliorate and challenge neoliberalism’s impact on the human service sector workforce, although additional strategies are also needed.

Programming Change Among Nonprofit Human Service Organizations During the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT Research shows that nonprofit human service organizations are nimble in times of crisis. The surprising nature of the pandemic posed unique challenges to both the supply and demand sides of the human service sector. One way that nonprofit human service organizations responded to the pandemic environment was through programming change, including adding new programs, serving new populations, and discontinuing previous programs. Drawing from a two-wave statewide survey, our results indicate that a sizable proportion of nonprofit human service organizations engaged in these changes within the first five months of the pandemic. Such decisions were associated with both resource and mission considerations. Extant research shows how strategic change made in response to environmental shifts often leaves an imprint on organizations. As such, pandemic-era programming change may have a lasting impact on the human service sector, further evidenced by leaders’ intentions to sustain them in the years to come.

The Digital Bytes Project: Digital Storytelling as a Tool for Challenging Stigma and Making Connections in a Forensic Mental Health Setting.

This article reports on the findings of a study that explores the utility of digital storytelling as a narrative practice and learning tool for social work in an Australian secure forensic mental health hospital. The short digital stories, or Digital Bytes Project, centered on capturing the lived experience, hopes and perspectives of the hospital's service users by giving voice to their experiences through digital technology. The project was collaboratively designed and co-delivered with social work students, hospital staff, and service users. It aimed to not only destigmatize people with lived experiences of mental distress and criminal justice system involvement but also to give staff and students further insights into understanding who they are working with. Through a series of 11 semi-structured, one on one interviews, this research aims to explore social work student and forensic mental health staff experiences and perceptions in relation to the utility and impact of these digital bytes, reflecting on how the prototype bytes may have impacted their learnings, or practice, including how they then interact with service users. This research investigates how these digital bytes could be used further within forensic mental health organisations and contexts. The research findings demonstrate the overall value of digital bytes in challenging different kinds of stigma, shifting power dynamics and staff perspectives; strengthening rapport and understanding through enhancing engagement and sharing power between students, staff, and consumers; as well as providing insight into the utility of digital bytes for learning and making connections between theory and practice. The preliminary findings from this research suggest the need for greater accessibility, integration, and consideration of these digital tools, with their potential to be translated across multiple human service sectors.

Going Away or Getting Green in BRICS: Investigating the EKC Hypothesis with Human Capital Index, Nuclear Energy, Urbanization, and Service Sectors on the Environment

Rising industrialization, urbanization, and the vast economic size of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) are generating CO2 emissions, and these countries are struggling to deal with environmental degradation. Before it is too late, the BRICS need to identify variables that reduce pollution to maintain long-term sustainable growth. The study tries to test EKC in the BRICS area and analyzes the dynamic linkages between nuclear energy, urbanization, the service sector, human capital consumption, and CO2 emissions. The newly developed Cross Section Autoregressive Distributed Lag (CS-ARDL) approach, which incorporates both slope heterogeneity (SH) and cross-sectional dependence (CSD), is used to examine annual time series data from 1972 to 2021. After confirming SH and CSD problems, the paper applied second-generation unit root and cointegration tests. The EKC represents an inverted U-shaped quadratic relationship identified between environmental pollution and GDP in the BRICS countries. In terms of environmental damage, however, GDP in quadratic form has a relatively small impact. As a result, it is vital to consider the effects of other variables. Urbanization is a major contributor to the contamination of the environment. On the other hand, nuclear power can minimize emissions in the long run. Research suggests that the service sector's development and human capital investments are essential to keep environmental degradation to a minimum in the BRICS. Overall, the study shows crucial findings for pollution control and achieving sustainable development goals. This study also demonstrates that simply increasing the nation's wealth is inadequate to satisfy environmental demands.

The Forgotten Human Service Sector: Leadership Narratives of Immigrant and Refugee-Led Community-Based Ethnic Organizations

ABSTRACT Although community-based ethnic organizations (CBEOs) play a crucial role within the human services landscape, their role often remains unacknowledged. Our study examines the role of CBEOs in the context of the larger human services environment. Purposive sampling was used to interview immigrant/refugee CBEO leaders (N = 7). Four overarching themes emerged: perceived role of CBEOs in immigrant/refugee services; CBEO challenges in the human services environment; inclusion versus exclusion in the HSO network; and CBEO positioning as a way forward for human services. We argue for increased legitimization of CBEOs serving immigrant and refugee communities for an equitable human services environment.

Negative Acts as Risk Factor for Work-Related Violence and Threats from Clients towards Employees: A Follow-Up Study.

Work-related violence and threats are major problems in many occupations, especially within the human service sector, with consequences at multiple levels, including reduced physical and mental health, increased absenteeism, and reduced organizational commitment. It is, therefore, crucial to identify risk factors for work-related violence and threats. However, only a few studies have examined whether negative acts at work increase the risk of work-related violence and threats from clients toward employees. To examine the associations between exposure to negative acts towards employees from colleagues, clients, or a combination of both, and the risk of work-related violence and threats perpetrated by clients towards employees in a longitudinal study. Questionnaire data were collected in 2010, 2011, and 2015. In total, 5333 employees from special schools, psychiatric wards, eldercare, and the Prison and Probation Services participated in the first round of data collection in 2010. Negative acts were measured in 2010 using the Short Negative Acts Questionnaire, while work-related threats and violence were measured at all three-time points. The analyses were performed using multilevel logistic regression. Negative acts from clients and the combination of negative acts from both clients and colleagues were associated with later exposure to work-related violence and threats. The associations were observed after one year, and work-related threats were still present after four years. Negative acts are associated with an increased risk of work-related violence and threats perpetrated by clients toward employees. Organizations may reduce the risk of work-related violence and threats by preventing negative acts.

Emotional Sustainability in Human Services Organizations: Cultural and Communicative Paths to Dealing with Emotional Work

Emotional sustainability in the human services sector is crucial for both the organizations and the constituents they serve. However, human services professionals consistently struggle with emotional work as they care for the vulnerable. Despite such challenges, individuals in the human services sector choose to work in emotionally demanding careers and are motivated to serve others. However, such career pathways may not be consistent in other cultures and can further impact the way individuals cope with emotional work. This study explores South Korean social workers and how they experience and sustain themselves through emotional work. Findings show that emotional work led to burnout yet also resulted in fulfillment. Social workers also were mostly led to work in the human services sector by their education system that reflects the unique culture of South Korea. At the same time, these systems were foundational to building sustainability as they bolstered communication networks based on selective ties specific to school.

Pivoting the Profession as We Approach the Quasquicentennial

The year 2023 marks professional social work’s quasquicentennial: the 125th anniversary of our profession since the first social work classes were offered in the summer of 1898 at Columbia University. The profession has grown in its reach across many human service sectors over all these years creating opportunities for those who want to serve their communities in myriad and impactful ways. As we observe disruptions in the higher education sector, with profound implications to the mission of the social work profession, we are also witnessing many cross-sector opportunities for the future of the social work profession. Given our changing environment, the time is right for us to re-envision social work education and practice in ways that center our professions’ commitment to social justice and the well-being of individuals, families, and communities. In our efforts to meet the needs of the people and communities we serve, we have seen several innovative and impactful expansions into areas that have augmented our original “scope of practice.” Some have occurred to meet the needs of the time; others have morphed due to market conditions for jobs that have been encroached on by other professions/disciplines. And as we see more complex and vexing societal issues in our current environment, it is time for us to collectively discern our purpose, adjust our mindset, and be prepared to meet future challenges and opportunities. This special issue on “re-envisioning social work” provides a space for thought leaders to showcase meaningful and purpose-filled advances for the profession.

Supporting GPs in the Management of Children and Young People with ADHD Through Project ECHO®: Results from a Self-Efficacy Survey.

Introduction:Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) accounts for a high proportion of paediatric outpatient visits in Australia. Shared care by general practitioners (GPs) would deliver more timely care, closer to home, however GPs indicated the need for interprofessional training support. This study describes the use of Project ECHO®, a guided practice model, to support GPs with ADHD management, by connecting them virtually with an interprofessional team of paediatric specialists using a structured methodology.Methods:A retrospective pre/post-knowledge and self-efficacy survey across twenty-seven aspects of ADHD management was administered, using a seven-point Likert scale.Results:Significant improvement (p < 0.001) in provider self-efficacy was demonstrated across all tested domains.Discussion:Use of the ECHO model™ by an interprofessional team of paediatric specialists achieved an increase in GP knowledge and self-efficacy in the local management of children and young people with complex healthcare needs. Learnings indicate viability to expand the application of the ECHO model™ to address fragmentation for other priority populations across the Australian healthcare and human service sector landscape.Conclusion:Use of the ECHO model™ to support and train GPs was successful. Integration of care was achieved through strengthened partnerships between content and context experts, and the ECHO model™’s case-based learning methodology.

Information Assurance Technique for Mitigation of Data Breaches in the Human Service Sector

This research paper analyzes data breaches in the human service sector. The hypothesis for the solution to this problem is that there will be a significant reduction in data breaches in the human service sector due to an increase in information assurance. The hypothesis is tested using data from the United States Department of Health and Human Services data breach notification repository during January 2018-December 2020. Our result shows that without the increased mitigation of information assurance, data breaches in the human service sector will continue to increase.

The prevalence of burnout among interns in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and its relation to engaging in unethical behaviors

BackgroundBurnout is a work-related physical and/or emotional exhaustion among individuals working in the human service sector. This descriptive cross-sectional study aimed to estimate the prevalence of burnout among interns training in different hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and its relation to engaging in unethical behaviors.ResultsThe study found a high burnout level in 135 (50%) of the interns with minimal overall engagement in unethical behaviors (5.9%). However, patient-related burnout was the only factor found with a highly significant association to engagement in unethical behaviors (P-value < 0.001).ConclusionsThis study demonstrated a high prevalence of burnout among interns with a significant association between patient-related burnout and the engagement in unethical behaviors. That was a worrying sign that needs further evaluation in future research, including the other risk factors, to prevent/improve burnout and to limit the unprofessional behaviors.

A Machine-Learning Classification Tree Model of Perceived Organizational Performance in U.S. Federal Government Health Agencies

Perceived organizational performance (POP) is an important factor that influences employees’ attitudes and behaviors such as retention and turnover, which in turn improve or impede organizational sustainability. The current study aims to identify interaction patterns of risk factors that differentiate public health and human services employees who perceived their agency performance as low. The 2018 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS), a nationally representative sample of U.S. federal government employees, was used for this study. The study included 43,029 federal employees (weighted n = 75,706) among 10 sub-agencies in the public health and human services sector. The machine-learning classification decision-tree modeling identified several tree-splitting variables and classified 33 subgroups of employees with 2 high-risk, 6 moderate-risk and 25 low-risk subgroups of POP. The important variables predicting POP included performance-oriented culture, organizational satisfaction, organizational procedural justice, task-oriented leadership, work security and safety, and employees’ commitment to their agency, and important variables interacted with one another in predicting risks of POP. Complex interaction patterns in high- and moderate-risk subgroups, the importance of a machine-learning approach to sustainable human resource management in industry 4.0, and the limitations and future research are discussed.