Expert communication training for providers in community health centers

BACKGROUND: Community health center (CHC) clinicians describe significant challenges in delivering care for populations with complex health needs. INTERVENTION: A three-workshop series was presented to 102 providers working in CHCs. Training focused on four areas identified through online needs assessment: challenging interactions; patient perspective; health literacy; and motivational interviewing. EVALUATION METHODS: A retrospective pre-post evaluation measured self-perceived change in content knowledge in all four areas. Participants documented commitments to change behaviors across workshops, which were analyzed for recurring themes. RESULTS: Paired t-tests documented improvement in all four content areas. Content analysis of commitments yielded four themes: empowering patients, structuring care, understanding patients, and reflecting purposefully. Of the sixty-eight percent of participants responding to post-workshop queries about their commitments (n=70), 94% report having fully implemented changes in practice behavior or planning to do so. CONCLUSIONS: Providers at CHCs benefit from opportunities to learn and reflect together about communication challenges in practice

New Generation Leadership: Looking After Tomorrow

This chapter looks forward, asking how to envision a social work we need for the twenty-first century. It challenges easy notions of succession, mentoring and leadership preparation by proposing a tension between innovation and simply being guided by what has gone before. What types of leaders do we need to navigate complex futures? Will their skill sets and competencies need to be different, and how do we prepare them for next generation leadership? How can today’s leaders exercise generosity of spirit in facilitating this transition, creating space and crafting enabling environments that foster such development? The authors argue for ethical leadership in the profession that guides new ways of thinking about and enabling a distinctive approach for new generation leadership in social work education, practice and research