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In Volume 30(3) we welcome a new Publishing Partner representative from Monmouth University and a new Co-Editor from the University of Minnesota to our Practice Section, along with grateful appreciation for the dedicated people who contribute their time and expertise to making Reflections possible. We introduce the idea of Reflections as a “way station” for authors and readers on an increasingly rapid journey of professional helping where making the space to reflect is absolutely critical, and yet, actually grasping the time and savoring the moment is challenging. We are excited to highlight eight articles that offer insights about self-care and strategies for facilitating opportunities for change in practice and educational arenas as well as remind us of the importance of balancing the multiple and many demand in our lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reflections Volume 30(2) begins with an update from the Editorial Leadership Team and our appreciation for the many people who give of their time to make Reflections a reality. We continue to explore narrative writing as a means to share lived experience as authors tell their stories about encounters and interactions that transformed their personal and professional lives. We are excited to be highlighting 11 engaging manuscripts in this General Issue in which poetry, art, musical lyrics, and narratives are used to focus on the mental health needs of helping professionals, their clients, and their communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors focus on a collective biography of 12 women social work educators, all either tenured or in tenure lines, from five different universities at the time of the study. The participants represent several aspects of macro practice including administration, planning, community practice, and policy. Beginning with reflections about coming into macro practice, we highlight memories about first teaching experiences and examine cultural shifts discovered in our academic journeys. We feature students who inspired us and perceptions of challenges in curricular development affecting the preparation of students. This article includes comments that emphasize the themes and focus of our collective reflections. Finally, we place what we learned in the context of a report from the Association for Community Organization and Social Administration calling for the visibility of and advocacy for macro social work education.

Reflections Volume 29(3) includes an update from the Editorial Leadership Team and our new Publisher at Salem State University. We follow this update by recognizing how Reflections is built around an multidisciplinary community of reviewers, authors, volunteers, students, and educators engaged in the enterprise of supporting a platform for narrative writing and creative expression. In this General Issue we are excited to introduce 13 engaging articles in which stories about personal and professional relationships influence our sense of community and impact every aspect of our lives. Beginning with articles on personal interactions and experiences that form us, our authors take us into educational and practice settings in which it is imperative to form cohesive bonds that sustain us as professional helpers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conceptual paper is based on interdisciplinary work the authors have participated in as part of the renewed push for civic engagement, the various forms it takes, and the multiple constituencies involved in its promotion. We focus on what theoretical and empirical content could be incorporated into courses on aging so that students can be prepared to critically think about, understand, and analyze both practice and policy aspects of civic engagement and aging. We provide three learning cases that can be used as classroom exercises, suggest sample assignments, and examine implications of engagement for older adults. We append a sample syllabus that can be used as a framework to convey this content in an elective course or as a module of a social gerontology course. The call for civic engagement is being heard throughout the United States across sectors and across population groups. In this article, we begin with background information on the renewed push for civic engagement, the various forms it takes, and the multiple constituencies involved in its promotion. Following a brief contextual background, we focus on theoretical and empirical content that could be incorporated into courses on aging so that students can be prepared to understand and critically analyze the implications of civic engagement for older adults. Four units that could constitute a one-credit module or become part of an existing gerontology course are provided, complete with discussion questions, learning cases that can be used in classroom exercises, as well as sample assignments. We conclude with a sample course syllabus around which this module could be constructed in order to convey this content.

Recent attention on community organizing in national politics provides an opportunity for social work educators to revisit and enhance community practice as a core practice of the profession. Drawing from social work's rich tradition of community practice this article provides a practical aid to understand the variety of strategies currently used by instructors and students. It proposes a framework that differentiates the underlying assumptions of three community practice paradigms--traditional, collaborative, and radical--with very different goals or visions for organizing. It examines multiple dimensions of practice within each paradigm including purpose, power, politics, and evaluation standards. In addition, it provides suggestions about how the framework can be used in the classroom. (Contains 1 table and 3 figures.)

The authors examine one of the earliest systematic forms of qualitative inquiry to identify some of the boundaries needed in grounded theory designs to provide a small corner of clarity in the discourse about what is acceptable science from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) perspective. Beginning with an overview of grounded theory research as it was originally conceived and extended, the challenges for establishment of a uniform standard are put forth. Within this background and context, the authors report the results of a content analysis of a sampling of dissertation abstracts claiming to use grounded theory. Results reveal the need to clarify standards for different types of grounded theory research to help those facing IRB oversight. The authors assert that there are two useful sets of standards that should be applied to the assessment of the quality of a grounded theory design and researchers should not confuse the two. (Contains 3 tables.)

Teaching policy analysis is compared to teaching research skills. Both involve the selection of an appropriate analytical tool to be used with multiple units of analysis; and in both, the selected instrument must fit the purpose of the analysis or the product is not useful. Policy analysis frameworks characteristically address policy process, content, and performance. However, these frameworks are based on different worldviews, with embedded assumptions and with deep philosophical roots that may be rational (classical), interpretive, or progressive (radical). These different assumptions can lead to very different analytical expectations and results. Here, we justify teaching policy analysis as research, categorize a number of frameworks, and provide recommendations for equipping students to critically assess issues that arise in the development and use of policy analysis frameworks. (Contains 1 figure.)

Describes a four-year collaboration between a practitioner and an academician and discusses the opportunities it presented to draw from practical experience and academic expertise. Suggests that there are fundamental organizational and institutional issues that must be considered even in successful collaborations. (JOW)

Focuses on a population of disabled people who are aging with pre-existing physical disabilities. Distinguishes between those who experience prolonged aging and those who experience accelerated aging. Provides four case examples to illustrate the practice implications faced by social workers in partnering with people with pre-existing disabilities. (RJM)

Long-term care ombudsman programs are charged with resolving complaints and solving problems of elderly persons in long-term care settings. Conducted content analysis of annual ombudsman program reports sent to Administration on Aging from 49 states in 1990. Found substantial variation in documented information at both state and local levels and recommended revising reporting system. (Author/NB)

This paper examines organized religion as a driving force within the social welfare state and looks at religious organizations as human service providers. Direction is provided for incorporating content on religious groups and organizations as influential forces, into courses on social policy, administration, organization, and community. (Author/MLW)

Scenario Visualization: An Evolutionary Account of Creative Problem Solving By Robert Arp. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2008. 209 pp. Hardcover, $30. We are longtime collaborators, but this is the [...]

Human service agency cultures are often difficult to understand. Competing values and paradoxical assumptions add to that difficulty. In this study, we use a well-established framework for organizational analysis to establish a tool to assess differing values and assumptions in diverse field agencies. A total of 200 MSW field instructors responded to a mailed survey at a 50% response rate. Comparisons of responses by participants in private and public agencies revealed that public agencies tended to have more traditional cultures than nonprofit agencies. Younger agencies were more likely to score higher than older agencies on items representing alternative perspectives. Participants perceived their organizations as straddling multiple perspectives. Knowing what values and assumptions are dominant within an organization may allow the professional to assess his or her fit within that organization and how to approach change within respective cultures. KEYWORDS organization assessment, multiple paradigms, human service organizations

Reflections V28(3) includes an update from the Editorial Leadership Team and Editorial Board. In this General Issue of Reflections authors reveal what can happen when practitioners, clients, educators, or students feel unsupported or marginalized. Most importantly these authors offer valuable insights and strategies used to create safe, authentic, and brave physical and virtual spaces in which to cope with sadness, loss, trauma, and change. We reinforce this theme by sharing our thoughts about the brave space Reflections provides for narrative writing, how powerful it is to own one's positionality, how it impacts one's interactions across professional roles and relationships. We hope readers will be as delighted as we are with the creativity emerging within the pages of this issue!! [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With growing numbers of older people entering nursing homes (NHs), NH social workers will continue to handle the bulk of complex human behavior problems, yet there is increasing concern that [...]

Program planning is about creating a means of guiding policy implementation. The impetus to engage in program planning may come through enacted policies, community needs, funding initiatives, or other incentives. We identify two major types of program planning, both of which engage participants in advocacy activities, but in different ways. Focused planning seeks within-systems change (generally for individual clients), whereas transformative planning seeks overall systemic change. Transformative programming is intended to change the status quo with or without related direct service interventions. Both transformative planning and focused planning require unique strategies, particularly in funding environments bent on outcome-based measurement. We provide guidelines for translating transformative program planning efforts into measurable results, doi: 10.1300/J147v31n04_06 KEYWORDS. Advocacy, program planning, outcomes, social change, accountability

The article reviews the 15 faith-based programs applied in four urban cities to study how people find homes to meet their community needs.

Three traditions of women's organizations emerged in the 1800s: benevolence, reform, and rights. This article focuses primarily on women who founded the forerunners of today's nonprofit health and human service agencies. Using Richmond, Virginia, as an example, it draws from historical documents, as well as the literature, to reframe the importance of what Lady Boards of Managers did in shaping the governance and administration of early human service organizations. Of particular importance is the invisibility of their actions, which were extraordinary for the times in which they lived, in the theories and practice models that drive current macrosocial work practice. Keywords: board of directors; management; women; history; charities

This paper provides an overview of how practice courses in an administration and planning concentration have been redesigned to be multi-paradigmatic and to intentionally elevate subjugated knowledge. Rational and nonrational theories are used to guide diverse program designs. Assignments are engaging educators, practitioners, and students in the teaching/learning/grading processes. These efforts are geared to preparing future leaders for practice in diverse organizations that advocate for, plan for, fund, and/or deliver human services within the United States and beyond. Early evaluative information suggests success with students. Challenges remain with colleagues who do not recognize the merits of a multi-paradigmatic approach to organization practice. KEYWORDS. Organizations, alternatives, theories, practice, subjugated, knowledge, curriculum

In this article, we examine theoretical perspectives and studies on volunteer and paid staff relationships to determine what administrators in social work can glean from theory and research. We also draw from the conceptual literature in the area of volunteerism, as well as our experience with one nationally mandated program that utilizes 90% volunteers and 10% paid employees. Implications for social work administration include recognizing the culture of one's program or organization and the norms associated with volunteerism, as well as understanding the nature of psychological contracting for both paid employees and volunteers. Guidelines for assessing volunteer/paid staff culture are provided. KEYWORDS. Volunteerism, human resources, roles, personnel management, paraprofessionals

The article presents the discussion on COVID-19 long-term care facility shutdowns and fears escalating a trend for certified volunteer ombudsmen (CVO) resignations and retirements. Topics include ombudsmen trained in social work being a natural alliance between ombudsmen and LTC facility social workers; and loss of CVO-driven complaint data representing a critical loss of information informing systems advocacy.

In this paper we examine The Geriatric Rotational Education & Training (GREAT) Project, funded by The John A. Hartford Foundation. Created as a bi-regional consortium located in Central and Northern parts of one state, the project was designed to expose social work students to the diversity among older persons, the complexity of their health care issues, and the continuity of care. Consortium members included the state's Geriatric Education Center (GEC), 12 organizations recognized for leadership in geriatric care, and the Institute for Social Services Training Activities (ISSTA). Lessons learned in the planning process were: (1) planning for continuity is a major challenge given changes in the current environment; (2) careful assessment of one's existing system prior to project development is crucial; (3) methods for motivating students and receiving their ongoing feedback must be developed; (4) meaningful incentives for field instructors must be identified; (5) insights gained from the emergence of a philosophy may reveal educational commitments that are currently unsubstantiated by research; and, (6) it is essential to recognize what is realistic for sustainability.

This article presents a tactical protocol to guide social workers and ombudsmen in explaining their conflict behavior in fundamentally imbalanced power structures like nursing homes. It is argued that efficient case advocacy requires the selection of tactics based on the confluence of two conditional factors on a low to high continuum in the following priority: (a) the urgency and severity of the resident's needs, and (b) the facility's level of resistance. Seven possible influence tactics are presented within the broad strategies of relation-building, campaign/collaboration, and contest.