A Conceptual Framework Scottsdale, Arizona - October 21-24, 1993

• Recommended Name for the Profession: Family and Consumer Sciences
  
  
• Sound Bite: Empowering Individuals, Strengthening Families, Enabling Communities
  
  
• Unifying Focus: Family and Consumer Sciences uses an integrative approach to the relationships among individuals, families, and communities and the environments in which they function.
  
  
• The profession takes leadership in:
  • improving individual, family, and community well-being;
  • impacting the development, delivery, and evaluation of consumer goods and services;
  • influencing the development of policy; and
  • shaping societal change, thereby enhancing the human condition.
    
    
• The profession is concerned with:
  • the strength and vitality of families;
  • the development and use of personal, social, and material resources to meet human needs;
  • the physical, psychosocial, economic, and aesthetic well-being of individuals and families;
  • the role of individuals and families as consumers of goods and services;
  • the development of home and community environments that are supportive of individuals and families;
  • the design, management, and use of environments;
  • the design, use of, and access to current and emerging technologies; and
  • the critique, development, and implementation of policies that support individuals, families, and communities.
    
    
• Basic Beliefs - We believe in:
  • families as the fundamental social unit;
  • a life-span approach to individual and family development;
  • meeting individual and family needs within and outside the home;
  • diversity that strengthens individual, family, and community well-being;
  • the right to educational opportunities for all individuals to enhance their intellectual development and maximize their potential;
  • strong subject matter specializations with a commitment to integration;
  • the use of diverse modes of inquiry; and
  • education as a lifelong process.
    
    
• Planning Assumptions - as the profession positions itself for the 21st century, it will:
  • build upon its historical and philosophical foundations;
  • be visionary, visible, and influential;
  • build upon the sciences, arts, and humanities;
  • use research as a basis for professional practice;
  • prepare individuals for careers and professions;
  • strive for professional competence and continuing professional development; and
  • incorporate a global perspective.
    
    
• Professional Practice
  • We focus on the discovery, integration, and application of knowledge.
  • We use analytical/empirical, interpretive, and critical science as modes of inquiry.
  • We integrate knowledge across subject and functional areas.
  • We use a systems approach in professional practice.
  • We provide services along a continuum from prevention to intervention with prevention being our primary focus.
  • We address both emerging and persistent, perennial concerns of individuals and families by building strong specializations, bringing specialists together, and establishing partnerships of professionals and consumers.
  • We establish partnerships with other professionals and organizations to accomplish mutual goals.
  • We practice from an ethical base.
  • We advocate on behalf of individuals, families, consumers, and communities through professional practice.
  • We promote leadership and organizational development.
  • We practice our profession within the context of
    
    
    • education,
    • government,
    • research,
    • extension,
    • business,
    • communications,
    • health and human services; 
    • community-based organizations, and
    • homes.
      
      
• Outcomes - the outcomes of our professional practice are:
  • the enhancement of social, cognitive, economic, emotional, and physical health and well-being of individuals and families;
  • the empowerment of individuals and families to take charge of their lives, to maximize their potential, and to function independently and interdependently; and
  • the enhancement of the quality of the environments in which individuals and families function.

This framework was developed and accepted by those participating in the Scottsdale meeting, October 23, 1993. It was distributed to the membership of the following organizations by the presidents of each organization: the American Home Economics Association; the American Vocational Association, the Home Economics Education Division; the Association of Administrators of Home Economics; the National Association of Extension Home Economists; and the National Council of Administrators of Home Economics.  (Note: Kappa Omicron Nu was also represented.)