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HHS435ContIssuesTrendsHealthLawEthicsinHHSChapter8.docxChapter 8 NATIONAL COMMUNITY SUPPORT SKILL STANDARDS PROJECT: IMPLICATIONS FOR HUMAN SERVICE EDUCATION
MARY DIGIOVANNI
FRANKLYN M. ROTHER
DAVID C. MALONEY
INTRODUCTION
This chapter reflects a necessary and timely effort to define, evaluate, and implement program standards for human service education with the most recent outcomes of the federally funded Community Support Skill Standards (CSSS) project. In the following pages, the reader will be given a detailed comparison and synthesis, where appropriate, of both the CSHSE standards and the CSSS competencies.
Historical Overview of the Need for, and Development of, National Skill Standards for CSHSPs
Changes in the societal expectations of human service delivery prompted by self-advocacy, scarce resources, and ideological shifts in the 1970s and 1980s led to a concentration on outcomes and quality-of-life issues. The purpose of human service interventions that promote changes in individual behavior, perspective, and social status and that provide life-sustaining supports became more focused on individualized support, institutional decentralization, and citizen participant involvement.
Human service agency providers became less hierarchical, encouraging recipient participation in their placement and treatment. This decentralization and flattening of organizational structures placed strong emphasis on collaboration among professionals working with recipients of services. At the same time, new community-based residential facilities and day activities programs promoted greater recipient participation and responsibility in improving their own life circumstances.
Direct care workers in these human service facilities were faced with new work demands and less supervision. An emphasis on tolerance of ambiguity, flexibility, and creativity in these new environments required greater future planning skills and a strong sense of personal professional behavior. This evolution of direct service worker skills required for professional performance in community support agency settings has converged with an inadequate labor pool, persistent low wages in the field, and the need for educational and training programs to teach the necessary values, vision, and competencies required for community support human service practice.
In 1993, the Human Services Research Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, received funding from the federal Departments of Education and Labor to participate in the original cohort of twenty-two industry pilot projects to identify national skill standards for entry-level and midlevel workers in community support human services settings. The vision of the National Skill Standards Board to establish skill standards for direct service workers by the year 2000 brought together members of consumer, employer, and educational organizations to research and determine the set of competencies required for direct service practitioners working in community support agencies.
A technical committee, headed by the HSRI project director, informed, guided, and participated in the three-year project, which led in 1996 to the publication of the Community Support Skill Standards (CSSS) (HSRI, 1996).
The implications for the pedagogy and structure of educational and training programs to effectively prepare students to meet the CSSS is the current focus of the Council for Standards in Human Service Education (CSHSE), the National Organization for Human Service Education (NOHSE), and the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP).
Higher Education Program Approval by CSHSE
Technical-, associate-, and baccalaureate-degree human service programs are encouraged to seek approval from the Council for Standards in Human Service Education. An approval process for master’s degree programs in human services is currently in the initial stages of development. The twenty-three standards are comprehensive and uniform to all human service programs. They are organized into general program characteristics and curriculum (CSHSE, 1989).
The crosswalk match between the community support skill standards and the CSHSE program approval requirements, as well as the potential adjustments that can be made in CSHSE skills requirements to include all CSSS, will strengthen the utilization of the CSSS as a basis for worker training and education in higher education human service programs.
CROSSWALK: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CSSS AND THE NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR HUMAN SERVICE WORKER EDUCATION AND TRAINING PROGRAMS (CSHSE)
The main objective of the crosswalk was to determine how closely the national skill standards (CSSS) corresponded to the council standards (CSHSE). The crosswalk revealed that there was a direct correlation between the council standards and the national community support skill standards. The council standards were then strengthened to incorporate the concepts of the national community support standards into the program characteristics and curriculum. The council has endorsed the community support skill standards and strengthened the council standards to incorporate the CSSS. (The crosswalk is shown in Table 8.1).
Dissemination of the CSSS through regional and national conference presentations and publications of NOHSE and CSHSE will inform human service educators about the necessary skills, knowledge, and attitudes required of the CSHSP. These national skill standards will:
provide a framework for curriculum development for human service programs;
set performance appraisal standards for field internships;
delineate specific competency performance standards for students’ educational completion; and
provide human service agencies with guidelines for hiring and retaining workers.
THE CSSS: SKILL STANDARDS FOR DIRECT SERVICE WORKERS IN THE HUMAN SERVICES
The twelve competency categories defined by the CSSS project are described as follows. Included in the descriptions are the specific skill standards delineated by each competency area.
Categorical Interpretations
Competency Area 1: Participant Empowerment.
The competent community-based support human service practitioner (CSHSP) enhances the ability of the participant to lead a self-determining life by providing the support and information necessary to build self-esteem and assertiveness and to make decisions.
Skill Standard A.
The competent CSHSP assists and supports the participant to develop strategies, make informed choices, follow through on responsibilities, and take risks.
Skill Standard B.
The competent CSHSP promotes participant partnership in the design of support services, consulting the person and involving him or her in the support process.
Skill Standard C.
The competent CSHSP provides opportunities for the participant to be a self-advocate by increasing awareness of self-advocacy methods and techniques, encouraging and assisting the participant to speak on his or her own behalf, and providing information on peer support and self-advocacy groups.
Skill Standard D.
The competent CSHSP provides information about human, legal, civil rights, and other resources and facilitates access to such information and assists the participant to use information for self-advocacy and decision making about living, work, and social relationships.
Sequence of Training.
At the secondary educational level, it is felt that basic concepts of participant support and encouragement should be developed in the CSHSP. Awareness of individual needs and respect for helping to motivate participants toward independent functioning are the priority goals in this competency area at this level of training. At the secondary level, it is felt that standards 1B and C can be achieved with both interactive classroom and role-playing exercises. Associate-and baccalaureate-degree levels of education will share the full set of standards as a foundation for practice in the human service field.
Competency Area 2: Communication.
The community-based support human service practitioner should be knowledgeable about the range of effective communication strategies and skills necessary to establish a collaborative relationship with the participant.
Skill Standard A.
The competent CSHSP uses effective, sensitive communication skills to build rapport and channels of communication by recognizing and adapting to the range of participant communication steps.
Skill Standard B.
The competent CSHSP has knowledge of and uses modes of communication that are appropriate to the communication needs of participants.
Sequence of Training.
At the secondary level, trainees should be directed toward gathering and organizing competencies in the communication area. At this level, these workers would be basic assistants in the client intake process and would focus on welcoming skills and helping clients complete initial registration materials. These activities would still require close supervision. Associate and baccalaureate degree professionals would be trained to assume independent responsibilities in the intake process and would be more closely supervised in the direct care and helping activities associated with entry-level positions of responsibility. Response and adaptive skills in interpersonal communication (both verbal and nonverbal) would focus the training and practicum experiences of the CSHSP.
Competency Area 3: Assessment.
The community-based support human service practitioner should be knowledgeable about formal and informal assessment practices to respond to the needs, desires, and interests of the participants.
Skill Standard A.
The competent CSHSP initiates or assists in the initiation of an assessment process by gathering information (e.g., participant’s self-assessment and history, prior records, test results, evaluation results, and additional evaluation) and informing the participant about what to expect throughout the assessment process.
Skill Standard B.
The competent CSHSP conducts or arranges for assessment to determine the needs, preferences, and capabilities of the participants using appropriate assessment tools and strategies, reviewing the process for inconsistencies, and making corrections as necessary.
Skill Standard C.
The competent CSHSP discusses findings and recommendations with the participant in a clear and understandable manner, following up on results and reevaluating the findings as necessary.
Sequence of Training.
It is felt that the initial analysis and diagnosis of client needs should be primarily exclusive to the baccalaureate degree level of training (and perhaps beyond.) Because most third-party sources of reimbursement of client services require some form of initial diagnostic assessment, and this normally is assumed in the intake process, it should be principally limited to upper levels of training and experience. Consequently, it is not recommended for the secondary level and should be limited to basic gathering, organizing, and informational services at the associate degree level.
Competency Area 4: Community and Service Networking.
The community-based support human service practitioner should be knowledgeable about the formal and informal supports available in his or her community and skilled in assisting the participant to identify and gain access to such supports.
Skill Standard A.
The competent CSHSP helps to identify the needs of the participant for community supports, working with the participant’s informal support system, and assisting with or initiating identified community connections.
Skill Standard B.
The competent CSHSP researches, develops, and maintains information on community and other resources relevant to the needs of participants.
Skill Standard C.
The competent CSHSP ensures participant access to needed community resources coordinating supports across agencies.
Skill Standard D.
The competent CSHSP participates in outreach to potential participants.
Sequence of Training.
All levels of training the CSHSP should include both the awareness of and the basic referral to community resources. The CSHSP would be trained on foundational matching of participant needs and available resources to meeting those needs in the community.
Actual research skills applied to community resources (surveying and collating agency and service information in the community) should be limited to more formal levels of training and education and are routinely incorporated into the introductory and survey courses at the associate and baccalaureate levels.
Competency Area 5: Facilitation of Services
Skill Standard A.
The competent CSHSP maintains collaborative professional relationships with the participant and all support team members (including family and friends), follows ethical standards of practice (e.g., confidentiality and informed consent), and recognizes his or her own personal limitations.
Skill Standard B.
The competent CSHSP assists and/or facilitates the development of an individualized plan on the basis of participant preferences, needs, and interests.
Skill Standard C.
The competent CSHSP assists and/or facilitates the implementation of an individualized plan to achieve specific outcomes derived from participants’ preferences, needs, and interests.
Skill Standard D.
The competent CSHSP assists and/or facilitates the review of the achievement of individual participant outcomes.
Sequence of Training.
All levels of training of the CSHSP should include a basic level of understanding and application of ethics in the profession (e.g., client confidentiality). Likewise, there should be functional awareness of what is involved in developing and implementing an individual service, treatment, or educational plan for the participant. At the associate and baccalaureate levels, it is expected that trainees would acquire greater self-awareness and outcome evaluation of individual participant plans.
Competency Area 6: Community Living Skills and Supports.
The community-based support human service practitioner has the ability to match specific supports and interventions to the unique needs of individual participants and recognizes the importance of friends, family, and community relationships.
Skill Standard A.
The competent CSHSP assists the participant to meet his or her physical (e.g., health, grooming, toileting, and eating) and personal management needs (e.g., human development and sexuality) by teaching skills, providing supports, and building on individual strengths and capabilities.
Skill Standard B.
The competent CSHSP assists the participant with household management (e.g., meal prep, laundry, cleaning, and decorating) and with transportation needs to maximize his or her skills, abilities, and independence.
Skill Standard C.
The competent CSHSP assists with identifying, securing, and using needed equipment (e.g., adaptive equipment), and therapies (e.g., physical, occupational, and communication).
Skill Standard D.
The competent CSHSP supports the participant in the development of friendships and other relationships.
Skill Standard E.
The competent CSHSP assists the participant in recruiting and training service providers as needed.
Sequence of Training.
Secondary training of the CSHSP would include the more basic development of participant skills in life management and everyday achievement of basic household and social functioning. Associate and baccalaureate programs should incorporate all five standards in this area and would differ only in the amount of ongoing experience and for the level of challenge the participant population presents.
Competency Area 7: Education, Training, and Self-Development.
The community-based support human service practitioner should be able to identify areas for self improvement, pursue necessary educational/training resources, and share knowledge with others.
Skill Standard A.
The competent CSHSP completes required training education/certification, continues professional development, and keeps abreast of relevant resources and information.
Skill Standard B.
The competent CSHSP educates participants, co-workers, and community members about issues by providing information and support and facilitating training.
Sequence of Training.
The secondary level would be primarily excluded from more formal levels of credentials, licensing, and/or certification but would be routinely exposed to upper-level role models in their work environment. (Note: Students who graduate from substance abuse education programs for substance abuse certification and those who graduate from human service education programs at the two-year level may be eligible for a license or certification as an entry-level social service assistant.)
Associate and baccalaureate programs could more relevantly train the CSHSP for qualifying for the credentialing process. The amount of supervised experience criteria (e.g., levels of examination) would differentiate these levels of training in the credentialing process and would vary from state to state.
Competency Area 8: Advocacy.
The community-based support human service practitioner should be knowledgeable about the diverse challenges facing participants (e.g., human rights, legal, administrative, and financial) and should be able to identify and use effective advocacy strategies to overcome such challenges.
Skill Standard A.
The competent CSHSP and the participant identify advocacy issues by gathering information and reviewing and analyzing all aspects of the problem.
Skill Standard B.
The competent CSHSP has current knowledge of laws, services, and community resources to assist and educate participants to secure needed supports.
Skill Standard C.
The competent CSHSP facilitates, assists, and/or represents the participant when there are barriers to his or her service needs and lobbies decision makers when appropriate to overcome barriers to service.
Skill Standard D.
The competent CSHSP interacts with and educates community members and organizations (e.g., employers, landlords, and civic organizations) when relevant to participants’ needs or services.
Sequence of Training.
Advocacy skills are social action competencies that evolve from more advanced training and exposure of the CSHSP to all levels of sociopolitical activism, lobbying, and grassroots community organizing. It is believed these are best reserved for associate and baccalaureate programs with opportunities for community- and state-level practicum experiences.
Competency Area 9: Vocational, Educational, and Career Supports.
The community-based support worker should be knowledgeable about the career- and education-related concerns of the participant and should be able to mobilize the resources and support necessary to assist the participant in reaching his or her goals.
Skill Standard A.
The competent CSHSP explores with the participant his or her vocational interests and aptitudes, assists in preparing for job or school entry, and reviews opportunities for continued career growth.
Skill Standard B.
The competent CSHSP assists the participant in identifying job or training opportunities and marketing his or her capabilities and services.
Skill Standard C.
The competent CSHSP collaborates with employers and school personnel to support the participant, adapt the environment, and provide job retention supports.
Sequence of Training.
In this area of competency standards, it is felt that the thrust (vocational guidance and counseling of participants) would be best served at the two- and four-year levels of training where the CSHSP would be exposed to understanding basic vocational development theory (e.g., Roe and Super), various career training resources (state and federal), and the availability and eligibility of vocational and employment training.
Competency Area 10: Crisis Intervention.
The community-based support human service practitioner should be knowledgeable about crisis prevention, intervention, and resolution techniques and should match such techniques to particular circumstances and individuals.
Skill Standard A.
The competent CSHSP identifies the crisis, defuses the situation, evaluates and determines an intervention strategy, and contacts necessary supports.
Skill Standard B.
The competent CSHSP continues to monitor crisis situations, discussing the incident with authorized staff and participant(s), adjusting supports and the environment, and complying with regulations for reporting.
Sequence of Training.
Secondary programs do not engage their students in clinical intervention procedures and are not recommended for inclusion in these standards. In both associate and baccalaureate programs, there is a basic need to train and educate the CSHSP on foundations of crisis intervention. Prevention and postvention skills would be more readily appropriate to four-year programs.
Competency Area 11: Organizational Participation.
The community-based support human service practitioner is familiar with the mission and practices of the support organization and participates in the life of the organization.
Skill Standard A.
The competent CSHSP contributes to program evaluations and helps set organizational priorities to ensure quality.
Skill Standard B.
The competent CSHSP incorporates sensitivity to cultural, religious, racial, disability, and gender issues into daily practices and interactions.
Skill Standard C.
The competent CSHSP provides and accepts co-worker support, participating in supportive supervision and performance evaluation and contributing to the screening of potential employees.
Skill Standard D.
The competent CSHSP provides input into budget priorities, identifying ways to provide services in a more cost-beneficial manner.
Sequence of Training.
In this area of entry-level competencies, the CSHSP would be familiar with administrative, management, and budgetary processes and as such would be best served at advanced levels of training and education (associate and baccalaureate programs.) This same consideration would apply to Skill Standard B, which relates to multicultural awareness and diversity.
Competency Area 12: Documentation.
The community-based support worker is aware of the requirements for documentation in his or her organization and is able to manage these requirements efficiently.
Skill Standard A.
The competent CSHSP maintains accurate records; collects, compiles, and evaluates data; and submits records to appropriate sources in a timely fashion.
Skill Standard B.
The competent CSHSP maintains standards of confidentiality and ethical practice.
Skill Standard C.
The competent CSHSP learns and remains current with appropriate documentation systems, setting priorities and developing a system to manage documentation.
Sequence of Training.
All levels of training again should address training of the CSHSP in legal and ethical issues of the human service profession. Skill Standard 12B is also addressed in the previous discussion of skill standards.
In the ongoing responsibilities for record keeping, reporting, data management, and so on, it is felt that those competencies would be incorporated more exclusively at the associate and baccalaureate levels of training, inasmuch as both levels of the CSHSP would routinely require the same.
In Table 8.1 you will see an analysis of the “goodness-of-fit” between the twelve areas of competency from the CSSS and where these may be located within the CSHSE standards.
Table 8.2 is designed to exhibit the relevant placement at which entry-level skills standards would be most appropriately incorporated in relationship to level of educational programs (i.e., technical, associate, and baccalaureate levels). In the previous section, the CSHSE curriculum standard that most directly relates to each entry-level skill standard category has been cross-referenced. In sum, each of the twelve categories of the CSSS community support skill standards in the first column on the left of the chart is crosswalked to which level of educational program it is best suited for. Obviously, some categories of skill standards will be relevant to all levels of educational programs, whereas others will relate only to certain levels of program training. Regarding entry-level competency, the focus has been, and remains today, exclusive to associate and baccalaureate educational programs. For purposes of relating competency standards of the National Skill Standards Project in the broadest possible way, the present report and crosswalk exercises have been extended downward to secondary education whenever it was appropriate to do so.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS AND CONSIDERATIONS
Faculty Requirements
Faculty at all levels—secondary, technical, associate, and baccalaureate institutions—need to possess experience and competency in those skill standards areas in which they teach. Because of the necessary skills development required of the learner to become a community support human service practitioner, it is important that faculty in these human service programs demonstrate competency in the teaching of the required worker skills areas and bring to the classroom professional experience that supports the hands-on knowledge and skills that learners must acquire in becoming effective CSHSPs.
The future of human service education will require educators and administrators at educational institutions to be drawn from the growing pool of human service professionals who are obtaining graduate degrees in human services and demonstrate excellence in the application of their learning to their practice.
Competency-Based Curriculum Goals and Objectives
Curriculum goals and objectives need to be based on competency. Assessment strategies to determine that learners have absorbed and integrated the necessary knowledge and skills required of a CSHSP must be clearly reflected in the overall program curriculum and specifically stated in course or training module assessment standards for completion of degree or training certification requirements. A partial list of activities may include the following:
testing for knowledge retention;
skill building through structured and supervised internships;
in-class demonstrations and proactive experiences; and
required field site visits and learner reflective feedback through process recordings, logging, or journal methods.
New technologies and techniques influencing educational delivery systems include distance learning through
virtual classrooms;
interactive computer software;
programmed instruction;
guided study;
portfolio assessment; and
CD-ROM vignettes and expanded performance assessments through
peer assessment evaluations;
participant assessment; and
consumer satisfaction surveys.
Curriculum Review, Evaluation, and Redevelopment Matching Curriculum Content to Competency Outcomes
Educational and training programs must reorient curriculum content to competency outcomes that lead to curriculum review, evaluation, and redevelopment. At all educational levels, curriculum content taught must match competency outcomes learned. It is not enough for training and educational program curricula to reflect the necessary content for student-practitioners becoming CSHSPs. Learners must demonstrate competency and mastery of the activity performance indicators that will reflect achievement of each skill standard.
To accomplish this goal, human service program coordinators and faculty must stay in contact with the national, state, and local employment trends and the ongoing knowledge and skill changes and then reflect all this in the competency requirements for learner educational program completion. Ways of staying current about human service competency requirements include
maintaining a representative community provider advisory board;
joining national, regional, and local human service organizations;
participating in a broad range of human service information workshops and conferences; and
reading materials from journals and governmental publications.
Regularly scheduled curriculum review and program evaluation will support redevelopment of curriculum content to match competency outcomes. Most higher education institutions have a five-year cycle in conjunction with preparations to regional accreditation organizations. The CSHSE has a five-year reapproval cycle.
Supervision of Student CSHSPs
Identification and recruitment of qualified professionals to supervise students in required internships and field practice is a crucial component of an effective training and educational program. Although a wide variety of degree levels and certifications/licensures are appropriate professional credentials for supervision, the supervisor must also be oriented to and supportive of the learner’s demonstration of competency in his or her performance of activities related to each skill standard. Adequate and appropriate field site supervision has emerged as a major concern of human service training and education programs. Qualified and committed professionals to supervise students to become CSHSPs becomes essential to effective worker training and education.
Development and support of this critical component of student learning in field internships requires such strategies as
advisory board participation in agency supervisory selection;
development of field sites by a staff field developer;
training of supervisors in the supervisory expectations of students in field internships;
student feedback to instructors through class seminars and written feedback mechanisms;
maintenance and updates to student learning contracts as internship experiences change; and
recognition by the educational institutions of the contributions made by field supervisors with students in field internships.
Monitoring of Field Experiences and Internships
The maintenance of sufficient monitoring of field experiences and internships by faculty and staff of high schools, colleges, and training providers will be necessary for the quality control of field site supervision and the verification of competency outcomes by student interns. Use of learning contracts between the learner, the field site supervisor, and the faculty member to elaborate the specific activity performance indicator to meet a skill standard will assist in reviewing the efficacy of the field site as an appropriate and adequate placement for students studying to become CSHSPs.
Other monitoring tools may be useful in relation to the training or educational institution and level of skill standards achievement. These may include
periodic redevelopment of a utilized field internship site;
annual supervisory skills conference;
updates of supervisory field manual based on changing expectations of the field; and
student feedback in classroom seminars and written documentation of field experiences.
Professional Development for Faculty
Faculty should be supported in the maintenance of active involvement in professional organizations. This can include
formal memberships in national, regional, statewide, or local organizations and associations;
attendance at seminars, workshops, and conferences that keep them abreast of changes in the human service field and their impact on the program curriculum and learning objectives;
sabbatical leaves focused on human service professional renewal activities; and
institutional resources that support technological assistance to human service educators through library resources, computer equipment and software resources, Internet access, and interactive teleconferencing.
Faculty members’ professional growth has been a critical area of concern in recent years because travel, research, and support resources for professional development have been reduced in institutional budgets during this period of fiscal exigency.
Technical Assistance to Training and Educational Institutions
Technical assistance in the development of curriculum content and competency outcomes assessment is important to quality program development and quality control in the implementation of the CSSS as a basis for education and training CSHSPs. The CSHSE currently provides technical assistance when human service education programs seek program approval. The implementation of the crosswalk recommendations will facilitate the integration of the CSSS into the approval and reapproval process. Other organizations should be identified to assist in technical assistance activities.
Utilization of the crosswalk document as a guide for articulation agreements between secondary and technical schools and associate’s degree programs, associate’s and baccalaureate degree programs, and baccalaureate to graduate program admissions, targeting members of CSHSE and NOHSE would expand the mission of integrating the Community Support Skill Standards into existing and developing human service education program curriculums. Human service educators knowledgeable and supportive of the Community Support Skill Standards could provide technical assistance training and education on curriculum infusion and competency performance assessment.
Support and Resources that Promote CSSS
Educational and training institutions need to identify and direct appropriate levels of support and resources that promote CSSS development for students studying to become CSHSPs. It must be recognized by training providers and educational institutions that implementation of the CSSS into human service programs will be labor-intensive and technologically demanding, because it will require low faculty-student ratios and adequate methodological and computer technological support. The effectiveness and efficiency of CSHSPs in their careers necessitate
adequate faculty and staff personnel;
properly equipped training and education settings;
appropriate field site supervision; and
sufficient technological support.
Seeking resource support will require
assistance from local and county human service agencies;
lobbying local, county, state, and federal governmental agencies and elected officials;
participating in research and grant activities that promote the skill standards; and
approaching business and industry for contributions to specific efforts to support the implementation of CSSS and recognize excellence of achievement by community-based human service agencies and CSHSPs.
REFERENCES
CSHSE. (1989). National Standards for Human Service Worker Education and Training Programs.
HSRI Community Support Skills Standards (CSSS).
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING
Taylor, M., V. Bradley, and R. Warren, Jr. (1996). The Community Support Skill Standards: Tools for Managing Change and Achieving Outcomes: Skill Standards for Direct Service Workers in the Human Services. Human Services Research Institute (HSRI) 2336 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA 02140. Mailing address for the Council for Standards is Attn: Mary DiGiovanni, Northern Essex Community College, Elliott Way, Haverhill, MA 01830.
Special Focus Feature: THE HUMAN SERVICE WORKER: A GENERIC JOB DESCRIPTION
A JOINT PUBLICATION OF NOHSE AND CSHSE
HUMAN SERVICES
Making a Difference in People’s Lives
The field of human services is a broadly defined one, uniquely approaching the objective of meeting human needs through an interdisciplinary knowledge base, focusing on prevention as well as remediation of problems, and maintaining a commitment to improving the overall quality of life of service populations. The human service profession is one that promotes improved service delivery systems by not only addressing the quality of direct services but also seeking to improve accessibility, accountability, and coordination among professionals and agencies in service delivery.
Human Service Workers
“Human service worker” is a generic term for people who hold professional and paraprofessional jobs in such diverse settings as group homes and halfway houses; correctional, mental retardation, and community mental health centers; family, child, and youth service agencies; and programs concerned with alcoholism, drug abuse, family violence, and aging. Depending on the employment setting and the kinds of clients served there, job titles and duties vary a great deal.
The primary purpose of the human service worker is to assist individuals and communities to function as effectively as possible in the major domains of living.
A strong desire to help others is an important consideration for a job as a human service worker. Individuals who show patience, understanding, and caring in their dealings with others are highly valued by employers. Other important personal traits include communication skills, a strong sense of responsibility, and the ability to manage time effectively.
Generic Human Service Worker Competencies
The following six statements describe the major generic knowledge, skills, and attitudes that appear to be required in all human service work. The training and preparation of the individual worker within this framework will change as a function of the work setting, the specific client population served, and the level of organizational work.
1. Understanding the nature of human systems: individual, group, organization, community, and society and their major interactions. All workers will have preparation that helps them to understand human development, group dynamics, organizational structure, how communities are organized, how national policy is set, and how social systems interact in producing human problems.
2. Understanding the conditions that promote or limit optimal functioning and classes of deviations from desired functioning in the major human systems. Workers will have understanding of the major models of causation that are concerned with both the promotion of healthy functioning and with treatment and rehabilitation. This includes medically oriented, socially oriented, psychologically behavioral oriented, and educationally oriented models.
3. Skill in identifying and selecting interventions that promote growth and goal attainment. The worker will be able to conduct a competent problem analysis and to select those strategies, services, or interventions that are appropriate to helping clients attain a desired outcome. Interventions may include assistance, referral, advocacy, or direct counseling.
4. Skill in planning, implementing, and evaluating interventions. The worker will be able to design a plan of action for an identified problem and implement the plan in a systematic way. This requires an understanding of problem analysis, decision analysis, and design of work plans. This generic skill can be used with all social systems and adapted for use with individual clients or organizations. Skill in evaluating the interventions is essential.
5. Consistent behavior in selecting interventions that are congruent with the values of oneself, clients, the employing organization, and the human service profession. This cluster requires awareness of one’s own value orientation, an understanding of organizational values as expressed in the mandate or goal statement of the organization, human service ethics, and an appreciation of the client’s values, lifestyle, and goals.
6. Process skills that are required to plan and implement services. This cluster is based on the assumption that the worker uses himself as the main tool for responding to service needs. The worker must be skillful in verbal and oral communication, interpersonal relationships, and other related personal skills, such as self-discipline and time management. It requires that the worker be interested in and motivated to conduct the role that he has agreed to fulfill and to apply himself to all aspects of the work that the role requires.
Where Human Service Workers Work
Working conditions vary. Human service workers in social service agencies generally spend part of the time in the office and the rest of the time in the field. Most work a forty-hour week. Some evening and weekend work may be necessary, but compensatory time off is usually granted.
Human service workers in community-based settings move around a great deal in the course of a work week. They may be inside one day and outdoors on a field visit the next. They, too, work a standard forty-hour week.
Human services workers in residential settings generally work in shifts. Because residents of group homes need supervision in the evening and at night seven days a week, evening and weekend hours are required.
Despite differences in what they are called and what they do, human service workers generally perform under the direction of professional staff. Those employed in mental health settings, for example, may be assigned to assist a treatment team made up of social workers, psychologists, and other human service professionals. The amount of responsibility these workers assume and the degree of supervision they receive vary a great deal. Some workers are on their own most of the time and have little direct supervision; others work under close direction.
Human service workers in community, residential care, or institutional settings provide direct services such as leading a group, organizing an activity, or offering individual counseling. They may handle some administrative support tasks, too. Specific job duties reflect organizational policy and staffing patterns as well as the worker’s educational preparation and experience.
Chapter 8 NATIONAL COMMUNITY SUPPORT SKILL STANDARDS PROJECT: IMPLICATIONS FOR HUMAN
SERVICE EDUCATION
MARY DIGIOVANNI
FRANKLYN M. ROTHER
DAVID C. MALONEY
INTRODUCTION
This chapter reflects a necessary and timely effort to define, evaluate, and implement program
standards for human service education with the most recent outcomes of the federally funded
Community Support S
kill Standards (CSSS) project. In the following pages, the reader will be given a
detailed comparison and synthesis, where appropriate, of both the CSHSE standards and the CSSS
competencies.
Historical Overview of the Need for, and Development of, National
Skill Standards for CSHSPs
Changes in the societal expectations of human service delivery prompted by self
-
advocacy, scarce
resources, and ideological shifts in the 1970s and 1980s led to a concentration on outcomes and quality
-
of
-
life issues. The purpose
of human service interventions that promote changes in individual behavior,
perspective, and social status and that provide life
-
sustaining supports became more focused on
individualized support, institutional decentralization, and citizen participant inv
olvement.
Human service agency providers became less hierarchical, encouraging recipient participation in their
placement and treatment. This decentralization and flattening of organizational structures placed strong
emphasis on collaboration among profess
ionals working with recipients of services. At the same time,
new community
-
based residential facilities and day activities programs promoted greater recipient
participation and responsibility in improving their own life circumstances.
Direct care workers
in these human service facilities were faced with new work demands and less
supervision. An emphasis on tolerance of ambiguity, flexibility, and creativity in these new environments
required greater future planning skills and a strong sense of personal pro
fessional behavior. This
evolution of direct service worker skills required for professional performance in community support
agency settings has converged with an inadequate labor pool, persistent low wages in the field, and the
need for educational and t
raining programs to teach the necessary values, vision, and competencies
required for community support human service practice.
In 1993, the Human Services Research Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, received funding from the
federal Departments of Edu
cation and Labor to participate in the original cohort of twenty
-
two industry
pilot projects to identify national skill standards for entry
-
level and midlevel workers in community
support human services settings. The vision of the National Skill Standards
Board to establish skill
standards for direct service workers by the year 2000 brought together members of consumer,
employer, and educational organizations to research and determine the set of competencies required
for direct service practitioners working
in community support agencies.
Chapter 8 NATIONAL COMMUNITY SUPPORT SKILL STANDARDS PROJECT: IMPLICATIONS FOR HUMAN
SERVICE EDUCATION
MARY DIGIOVANNI
FRANKLYN M. ROTHER
DAVID C. MALONEY
INTRODUCTION
This chapter reflects a necessary and timely effort to define, evaluate, and implement program
standards for human service education with the most recent outcomes of the federally funded
Community Support Skill Standards (CSSS) project. In the following pages, the reader will be given a
detailed comparison and synthesis, where appropriate, of both the CSHSE standards and the CSSS
competencies.
Historical Overview of the Need for, and Development of, National Skill Standards for CSHSPs
Changes in the societal expectations of human service delivery prompted by self-advocacy, scarce
resources, and ideological shifts in the 1970s and 1980s led to a concentration on outcomes and quality-
of-life issues. The purpose of human service interventions that promote changes in individual behavior,
perspective, and social status and that provide life-sustaining supports became more focused on
individualized support, institutional decentralization, and citizen participant involvement.
Human service agency providers became less hierarchical, encouraging recipient participation in their
placement and treatment. This decentralization and flattening of organizational structures placed strong
emphasis on collaboration among professionals working with recipients of services. At the same time,
new community-based residential facilities and day activities programs promoted greater recipient
participation and responsibility in improving their own life circumstances.
Direct care workers in these human service facilities were faced with new work demands and less
supervision. An emphasis on tolerance of ambiguity, flexibility, and creativity in these new environments
required greater future planning skills and a strong sense of personal professional behavior. This
evolution of direct service worker skills required for professional performance in community support
agency settings has converged with an inadequate labor pool, persistent low wages in the field, and the
need for educational and training programs to teach the necessary values, vision, and competencies
required for community support human service practice.
In 1993, the Human Services Research Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, received funding from the
federal Departments of Education and Labor to participate in the original cohort of twenty-two industry
pilot projects to identify national skill standards for entry-level and midlevel workers in community
support human services settings. The vision of the National Skill Standards Board to establish skill
standards for direct service workers by the year 2000 brought together members of consumer,
employer, and educational organizations to research and determine the set of competencies required
for direct service practitioners working in community support agencies.
