•  
  •  
 

Abstract

This study examines one aspect of youth worker expertise, the ability to appraise and respond to the dilemmas of practice encountered in youth programs. To understand how expert youth workers differ from novices in their reasoning about these dilemmas, a sample of expert and novice practitioners read vignettes of dilemma situations and described their appraisals of the situations and how they might respond to them. Quantitative analyses confirmed four hypothesized differences between the two groups. Experts identified more considerations in the situations and generated more possible responses. Experts’ responses were also more likely to be youth-centered and address multiple considerations. Qualitative analyses suggested that these differences were attributable to the experts having more elaborate mental models that allowed them to understand varied human systems – individual youth, group dynamics, parents, funders, etc. – and to tailor their responses accordingly. The experts engaged in more forecasting of events, anticipating contingencies, and formulating decision trees that took possible contingencies into account. Although preliminary, the findings have implications for how youth workers are trained.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.