HS 201 - Family Dynamics

Acceptance into Human Services AAS Program or Family Support Services program(s). 

Course Description: Explores the dynamics of the family and its role in shaping the lives of its members. It offers a framework of understanding the influences of family, focusing on both effective and maladaptive responses to stressors such as poverty, addictions, divorce, etc. This understanding is central to the further study of how social services are designed and delivered to individuals and families in need. 

Course Learning Outcomes:

• CLO#1: Describe family systems models, including characteristics, structural properties and rules. (ILO: Critical Thinking)
• CLO#2: Identify strategies employed by families for accomplishing tasks such as identity development, maintaining boundaries and managing stress/anxiety.
• CLO#3: Delineate models of family interaction, taking into account ethnic, cultural and gender diversity issues.
• CLO#4: Discuss the impact on the family system of internal and external stressors such as domestic violence, substance abuse, child abuse and neglect, single parenting, step-parenting etc.
• CLO#5: Recognize the issues which impact non-traditional families, including single parent, step and blended families, same-sex parented families, and families without children.