Occupational Social Work Education for Employee Assistance Practice

ABSTRACT

This article explores the current state of Occupational Social Work/Employee Assistance (OSW/EA) education. It examines the relationship between social work curricula, field placement experiences, and entry-level employment opportunities in the OSW/EA field. It is based on an educational initiative called the Partnership for Employee Assistance Education. Drawing on the OSW/EA literature, surveys, and focus group materials, the article concludes that the nature of OSW/EA is being reshaped by information technology, shifting demographics, globalization, and evolving terms and conditions of employment. The authors discuss how the graduate-level OSW/EA curriculum and field placements are being transformed to reflect these trends. Concepts such as Organizational Social Work and organizational intelligence are discussed. Innovative educational strategies are recommended. Finally, the authors argue that the contemporary workplace offers potential opportunity for innovative social work practice and education.     

Understanding Early Inhibitory Development: Distinguishing Two Ways That Children Use Inhibitory Control

Inhibitory control is the capacity to suppress inappropriate responses. It is central to many aspects of development, most notably executive function and effortful control. Despite its importance, however, there are significant gaps in our understanding of inhibitory control’s early development, and several findings that remain hard to explain. Here, a new account of inhibitory control is presented, explaining previous findings by distinguishing between two distinct ways that inhibitory control is used. According to this “Strength/Endurance” account, inappropriate responses which are highly prepotent tax inhibitory strength; whereas inappropriate responses which remain active for a long time tax inhibitory endurance. The developmental trajectories of these two aspects of inhibitory control, and their separate impacts on broader development, are discussed.