Competencies of human service assistants working with limited resource families in Bexar County, Texas in five years /
As welfare regulations change and the unemployment rate rises, more families are seeking assistance from a large array of agencies and organizations. In San Antonio, the 9th largest city in the nation, human service assistants are working to meet the demands of those families. The skills and abili...
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| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
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[Place of publication not identified] :
[publisher not identified] ;
2002.
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| Online Access: | http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=764778211&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=2945&RQT=309&VName=PQD |
| Summary: | As welfare regulations change and the unemployment rate rises, more families are seeking assistance from a large array of agencies and organizations. In San Antonio, the 9th largest city in the nation, human service assistants are working to meet the demands of those families. The skills and abilities that the staff of these agencies use will need to change to meet the demands of the future. Research has not been conducted to determine what competencies human service providers will need to serve limited resource families in five years in Bexar County. There is a need to identify competencies of those human service providers who work in a large array of agencies and organizations providing services to limited resource families. It is not known what competencies are the most frequently employed and which are most critical. The skill level of the competencies needed by professionals and para-professionals is also not known. The primary purpose of this study was to determine the competencies that will be needed in five years by social and human service assistants working in agencies that provide services to families in Bexar County and to determine the frequency, criticality, and level of the competencies. Through a series of nominal groups, an expert panel, and a survey to executive directors and nominal group participants, 23 competency clusters were identified. Of the competency clusters identified, Communication, Interpersonal Skills, Personal Qualities, and Knowledge of the Population Served will be the most frequently used and most critical. Communication, Relationship Building, and Interpersonal Skills were those identified as needing the highest level of expertise. Twelve conclusions have been reached as a result of this study. Recommendations for practice have been made for five stakeholder groups, including a consortium of agencies serving limited resource families, community colleges, community libraries, workforce development agencies, managers and executive directors and the individual employees. Recommendations for research include: conducting nominal groups with individuals identified by name as proficient on the selected competencies at the expert level to determine how they learned or developed those competencies, and interviewing families served by limited resource agencies to determine what was effective in meeting their needs. |
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| Item Description: | Pagination error in table of contents page xi is lacking. Vita. "Major Subject: Educational Human Resource Development". |
| Physical Description: | x, 196 leaves ; 28 cm. Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilm Inc. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-97). |