 Reflecting on Professional Identity Through Art: A Case Example

Undergraduate human services programs seek ways to support students as they develop their professional identities. Few, if any studies, have considered the benefits of engaging human services students in art directives as a method for them to reflect on their professional identities. The following is a case example on how an art directive was incorporated in an undergraduate fieldwork course at an urban community college.

 Response of Undergraduate Human Services Programs to the Mass Incarceration Crisis

Mass incarceration has resulted in the United States having the world’s largest incarcerated population and the highest rate of incarceration. Consequently, nearly 1 in 4 Americans has a criminal record. Racial and ethnic minorities have much higher rates of incarceration than Whites. The collateral consequences of a criminal conviction are colossal and continue well beyond incarceration. Human services students must be well prepared to competently serve clients and families affected by this crisis. This exploratory, qualitative study aimed to determine if undergraduate programs accredited by the Council for Standards in Human Service Education offer course content related to the mass incarceration crisis. Results from a content analysis of course titles and descriptions of 17 accredited programs suggest students are not being adequately prepared to competently serve this population. Implications for human services education, practice, and research are discussed.

A Faculty Practice Plan for the Acute Care and Critical Care Nurse

This article discusses faculty clinical practice and explains the steps that one group of nursing faculty used to develop a faculty practice plan at a private college of nursing in a small, faith-based university in a mid-western city. The goal of the faculty practice plan was to link faculty interests and advanced practice skills with targeted populations and community needs. This was done to provide healthcare services to schools, agencies, health and human services programs, and populations in need. Examples of faculty roles in the faculty practice domains of educator, researcher, and expert clinician in an acute care setting illustrate how nurses can individualize their participation in the faculty practice plan to support their professional career goals. Faculty practice plans can benefit not only nursing faculty but also the college of nursing, its students, and its community and populations of interest.

Family-Oriented Program Models, Helpgiving Practices, and Parental Control Appraisals

Findings from two studies investigating sources of variations in parents' assessment of helpgiving practices and personal control appraisals are reported. Participants were parents of young children with disabilities or at-risk for poor developmental outcomes. Parents were involved in early intervention and human services programs that differed along a continuum from professionally centered to family focused. Results indicated that demographic characteristics showed no relationship to either helpgiving practices or perceptions of personal control. In contrast, program characteristics were highly related to helpgiving practices, and both program characteristics and helpgiving practices were highly related to personal control.

Case Management: A Systems Perspective

Case management is used within a broad range of human services programs. The author examines case-management practice from a systems perspective, exploring interorganizational issues and case managers' fiscal authority. Case managers' potential to produce systems change has been underdeveloped because most case managers cannot influence the distribution, type, and supply of resources within their local delivery systems. Strategies designed to enhance case managers' system-level effectiveness are discussed. Program examples in mental health, community-based long-term care, and health care are analyzed.