¶ … technology that has impacted your area of interest in human services within the past five years, and explain how. Then explain a possible benefit and limitation of this technology on the practice of human services. Be specific and provide examples.
Experience has taught that the written word can be just as misconstrued as a verbal communication. Verbal communications differ from the written word in that oftentimes, especially during times of stress or anger, verbal altercations can escalate to domestic violence, abuse or other dangerous situations, whereas the written word is not as likely to do so. The written word may not often be used to alleviate domestic abuse scenarios, but it is used to create records, complete mandated reports and assist medical personnel in tracking patient care and treatments. Use of electronically written words has expanded over the last several years to include tracking through text and email technologies.
In one recent study it was determined that the PDA was effective in "significant reduction in redundant domestic abuse data collection" (Hawkins, Pearce, Skeith, Dimitruk, Roche, 2009, p. 58).
Not only has the use of the PDA resulted in significant redundancy it has also been instrumental in providing more efficient and effective treatments for ever-increasing numbers of patients in need of services. The Hawkins et al. study found that "software advances allow healthcare providers to select encrypt and securely transmit data to official agencies for mandated reporting and to referral agencies of their expertise in interventions" (p. 59). Many of the…
