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A Study Of Diversity And Social Capital In The Field Of Child Life, Madalyn L. Marshall

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Certified Child Life Specialists are professionals with a background in child development who traditionally provide psychosocial support to children and families in a pediatric healthcare environment (Pearson, 2005). According to the last job analysis done in 2013, 92% of child life specialists identify as White and Non-Hispanic (438 out of 476 respondents). Compared to an ever-diversifying patient population, the field of child life can be considered homogenous in terms of racial representation. Considering the racial homogeneity of the field and the potential impact of implicit biases, increasing the diversity of child life specialists would be beneficial to the development of …