In this grounded theory research project, face-to-face interviews were conducted with program participants, board members, administrators, coordinators, and collaborators in 15 faith-based programs. Findings concerning the roles played by participants, volunteers, and paid staff reveal the wearing of multiple hats, facilitated by a tendency toward cross-training, role diffusion, and doing what is needed. Boundaries created by roles appear to be less important than pragmatically responding to meet human needs. The moral imperative or faith-based nature of the work appears to be a recruiting tool for both paid staff and volunteers, as well as an expressed personal benefit for both. Challenges include turnover among paid staff and volunteers, heavy reliance on volunteers, and low pay. Psychological contracting with a faith-based community may be related to the ability to cope with fluid role expectations and associated ambiguities.

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Recent attention to human spirituality, research on congregationally-related practice, and growth in employment within religiously-based organizations energize the creation of educational initiatives to prepare future professionals for competent social work practice within these settings. Internship experiences with congregations and religiously-affiliated organizations (RAOs) play a pivotal role in delivering the competencies required by the social work accreditation body. Conceptual tools are needed for understanding congregationally-related practice, for navigating potential conflict between faith and professional practice, and for delivering effective internship experiences. This article, written from the faculty's perspective of a Christian, religiously affiliated social work degree program, offers a framework for conceptualizing social work with congregations and RAOs and a beginning discussion for sorting out dilemmas in the integration of faith and practice in these settings. Two models, individual placement and rotational model placement, for congregationally-related internship experiences are presented and evaluated. Recommendations for enriched internship learning and future research are offered.

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Grief is an experience of both common and unique responses (Hooyman & Kramer, 2006). Grief affects people in various ways including emotionally, cognitively, socially, physically, and spiritually (Corr, 2007; Doka, 2014). Little has been published on the cognitive domain of loss affecting attention, and concentration of bereaved adults. This qualitative study explored these effects among adults in one hospice bereavement program in Central Texas. Five focus groups included facilitated bereavement topical conversations resulting in descriptions of memory, concentration, and attention deficits after loss. These results suggested that participation in bereavement programming may normalize the experience facilitating cognitive task accomplishment. Referrals for bereavement care may be appropriate in order to facilitate equilibrium in individual's lives following a significant death.