Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Melinda S. Markham and Karen S. Myers-Bowman / The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the phenomenon of social networking sites (SNSs) and its impact on practicing human service professionals. In this exploratory study, 33 interviews, comprised of family life educators and social workers, were conducted in order to gain the perspective of how SNSs were being used in practice. A phenomenological approach was used to get at the lived experiences of these professionals. In addition, a Johari Window lens provided a way to understand the level of transparency professionals had when interacting with the digital culture. Themes found described how SNSs were being utilized in practice. These centered on benefits to the agency, clientele, and to the professional. The changing technological climate was shown to be impacting the delivery of services, yet professionals were underutilizing SNSs in practice. Regardless if the professional was on or offline, being recognized as a professional was extremely important. As a result, professionals were cognizant of potential consequences of using SNSs for professional and personal use. This awareness not only led professionals to want to safeguard their privacy, but also provided an opportunity for these professionals to develop guidelines for ethical digital behavior. Implications for research include exploring how a person’s digital status should be defined, if at all, how do privacy and ‘connecting’ influence each other, and what is the impact of viewing others’ posts on the ego strength of the person. The biggest implication for practice was the need for specific policies designed around professional digital behavior. In the absence of specific guidelines, professionals established their own set of rules to guide their practice. However, as more agencies and professions begin to see the need for and develop policies for SNS use, professionals will need to assimilate these new guidelines into their practice.

Government human service organizations regularly attempt to recruit ethnically and culturally diverse professionals to improve services to diverse communities. The assumption here is that organizational culture and structure support this organizational practice. This study considers the unique challenge for Aboriginal professionals who work in a government child welfare system responsible for the oppression of Aboriginal children, families, and communities. As a non-Aboriginal organizational insider and researcher, I use a combined Indigenous/ethnographic approach to explore these issues with Aboriginal professionals within the British Columbia Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD). This study involves a dual focus that examines the history, identity, values, motivations, and practice approaches of Aboriginal professionals as well as how organizational structural and environment variables support or impede their representation of community needs and interests. Analysis of these two areas results in significant findings for the organization, the social work profession, and various practice and organizational diversity literatures. Aboriginal participant descriptions of values, beliefs, and practices contribute to literature exploring contemporary Indigenous practice approaches that integrate traditional knowledge with professional practice. Consistent with some representative bureaucracy studies, participant descriptions of personal history, experience, practice, and motivation to work in MCFD indicate values, beliefs, and motivations strongly shared with their representative group: to reduce the number of Aboriginal children in government care and reconnect them to community. Aboriginal participant role tensions and dual accountabilities, resulting from their unique community/Ministry insider/outsider position, provide context to studies that explore tensions and contradictions that exist for diverse professionals working in their communities through mainstream organizations. Findings also contribute to studies in representative bureaucracy and other organizational diversity approaches concerned with the ability of diverse professionals to actively represent community interests. Organizational variables, such as low Aboriginal practice support, racism, cultural incompetence, hierarchical structure and decision making, risk-averse practice norms, poorly implemented rhetorical change initiatives, and institutional physical environments, among others, impede the ability of Aboriginal participants to actively represent community interests. Mitigating factors were found where some Aboriginal participants describe significant organizational support at the worksite level through dedicated culturally competent Aboriginal management and practice teams. / Graduate / 0452 / 0617 / 0631 / janerousseau@shaw.ca

Government human service organizations regularly attempt to recruit ethnically and culturally diverse professionals to improve services to diverse communities. The assumption here is that organizational culture and structure support this organizational practice. This study considers the unique challenge for Aboriginal professionals who work in a government child welfare system responsible for the oppression of Aboriginal children, families, and communities. As a non-Aboriginal organizational insider and researcher, I use a combined Indigenous/ethnographic approach to explore these issues with Aboriginal professionals within the British Columbia Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD). This study involves a dual focus that examines the history, identity, values, motivations, and practice approaches of Aboriginal professionals as well as how organizational structural and environment variables support or impede their representation of community needs and interests. Analysis of these two areas results in significant findings for the organization, the social work profession, and various practice and organizational diversity literatures. Aboriginal participant descriptions of values, beliefs, and practices contribute to literature exploring contemporary Indigenous practice approaches that integrate traditional knowledge with professional practice. Consistent with some representative bureaucracy studies, participant descriptions of personal history, experience, practice, and motivation to work in MCFD indicate values, beliefs, and motivations strongly shared with their representative group: to reduce the number of Aboriginal children in government care and reconnect them to community. Aboriginal participant role tensions and dual accountabilities, resulting from their unique community/Ministry insider/outsider position, provide context to studies that explore tensions and contradictions that exist for diverse professionals working in their communities through mainstream organizations. Findings also contribute to studies in representative bureaucracy and other organizational diversity approaches concerned with the ability of diverse professionals to actively represent community interests. Organizational variables, such as low Aboriginal practice support, racism, cultural incompetence, hierarchical structure and decision making, risk-averse practice norms, poorly implemented rhetorical change initiatives, and institutional physical environments, among others, impede the ability of Aboriginal participants to actively represent community interests. Mitigating factors were found where some Aboriginal participants describe significant organizational support at the worksite level through dedicated culturally competent Aboriginal management and practice teams. / Graduate / 0452 / 0617 / 0631 / janerousseau@shaw.ca