Ruth Huber

Volunteer and Paid Staff Relationships

Summary 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 ones 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.

Historical and Theoretical Development of Culturally Competent Social Work Practice

This article provides a detailed review of the historical and theoretical context in which culturally competent practice has evolved in the social work profession and enables educators and practitioners to see holistic connections between the past and present. Historical review of the inclusion of diversity content is followed by definitions of culture, cultural competence, and culturally competent practice. We then provide a synthesis of different frameworks currently being used for understanding the development of cultural competence in psychology and social work, and conclude with discussion and implications for social work education and practice.

Differences in Types of Complaints and How They Were Resolved by Local Long-Term Care Ombudsmen Operating In/Not In Area Agencies on Aging

This article examines the differences between types of complaints and how they are resolved in the context of whether local ombudsman programs are housed in Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs). Nine of Kentuckys 15 local ombudsman programs are housed in AAAs, while 6are subcontracted to non-AAA agencies. All complaints analyzed for this paper were received in the first year of a pilot study and reported on standardized forms. Results revealed significant differences by program auspice. Implications for the placement of ombudsmen programs are presented.

Interpreting the Meaning of Ombudsman Data Across States: The Critical Analyst-Practitioner Link

In this article, the authors report data from four states that have computerized their long-term care ombudsman databases and are using the same software. The authors explore the apparent differences among these four states to encourage critical thinking in interpreting the meaning of these data. Just as a national ombudsman database draws closer, so does the need for practitioners, researchers, educators, and policy makers to be vigilant in understanding that data must be contextualized. Otherwise, premature and inaccurate conclusions may be drawn. Critically important is the link between those persons who analyze and interpret and the ombudsman practitioners who collect and report these data.

Macro Assignment: Think Big!

Recognizing that social work students traditionally intend to work with individual clients, the authors developed the macro assignment described in this article to encourage master’s-level social work students to stretch their thinking about social work interventions to larger and larger systems. The authors summarize six student presentations and analyze students’ evaluations of the assignment. They assert that if, in a cognitive exercise, students can conceptualize interventions on such scales, they may be able to design programs for agencies and larger populations in their future professional roles.

Volunteer and Paid Ombudsmen Investigating Complaints in Six States: A Natural Triaging

The Long Term Care Ombudsman Program provides an opportunity to explore how a public mandate is implemented through the use of paid and volunteer ombudsmen who investigate complaints in long-term care facilities. In this article, the authors report partial findings from a growing database across six states, focusing on what is known about the use of volunteers and paid staff complaint investigation. Findings reveal differences in the types of complaints received, the sources of complaints, and the percentage of complex (difficult) complaints investigated by volunteers and paid staff. These differences result in a natural triaging that occurs among volunteers and paid staff, so that complaints viewed as difficult to verify and resolve are automatically given to paid staff.

In Search of the Impact of Staff Mix on Long-Term Care Ombudsman Programs

Although the Older Americans Act requires all states to implement long-term care ombudsman programs, states vary in the utilization of paid staff and volunteers in program implementation. Aggregate data from multiple secondary sources are analyzed in this article to provide an overall picture of the relationship between staff mix (percentage of staff who are volunteers) and the handling of complaints in both nursing and board-and-care homes throughout the country. Although the validity of the data is dubious, staff mix is positively correlated with the volume of complaints reported by ombudsmen and negatively correlated (but not significantly) with complaint resolution. Possible reasons for these findings are discussed.

The Social Worker-Ombudsman Partnership

Abstract 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 residents needs, and (b) the facilitys level of resistance. Seven possible influence tactics are presented within the broad strategies of relation-building, campaign/collaboration, and contest.

Factors Effecting Volunteer Ombudsman Effort and Service Duration: Comparing Active and Resigned Volunteers

Volunteers are key to successful ombudsmen programs. Motivating them and keeping them is difficult. The principal goal of this article is to compare active and resigned volunteer ombudsman perceptions (along with select demographic influences) of factors that either encouraged or discouraged their work. The authors find that former ombudsmen felt more role ambiguity, greater nursing facility resistance, higher boredom, and desired better supervision than active volunteer ombudsmen. They also served less time in significantly smaller facilities. Both active and resigned volunteers perceived relatively high role conflict. Implications regarding strategies to improve volunteer ombudsman work effort and retention are discussed.

Training Residents' Rights Case Advocates in Effective Situational Conflict Skills

Abstract Despite work that is inherently conflictual, very little dispute resolution training is provided to the paid and volunteer ombudsmen who investigate complaints in Americas elder care facilities. This article explains how the special conflict dynamics of long-term care support the implementation of a two-phased knowledge- and skills-based training program designed to develop skills in situational conflict. The benefits of situational conflict training are explored in the context of the long-term care systems highly regulated, yet fundamentally unbalanced power structure which promotes inequity and issue rigidity, undermining the advocates use of collaborative Strategies in favor of adversarial tactics.