Meeting Maslow: Case Management Support Services for Community College Students

This study concerns how unmet student needs negatively impact academic performance and how using a case management approach to meet those needs can improve students' chances of success in the classroom. Its theoretical foundation is rooted in humanistic psychology, specifically the work of Abraham Maslow. Maslow wrote extensively about unmet needs and how people meet those needs in a specific order and progress toward fulfilling their own potential. In this study, the researcher examines a small section of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, that concerned with basic physiological needs and safety needs, in the light of how those needs, if unmet, can function as obstacles to academic success. The study explores these concepts through the lens of a case management program at a mid-sized community college in North Carolina. The researcher interviewed some of the college's faculty and staff members and community partners to discern their perspectives on the impact the case management program had on the students they had referred to the program. By doing so, the researcher determined some of the overarching themes present in the participants' experiences and made recommendations about further study of case management programs in community college settings.<p></p>