Suchergebnisse

The notion that social workers should engage in the policy process to further social justice is embedded in the professional discourse. However, little is known about social workers' actual engagement in policy processes. This article presents a scoping review of the research literature published in English in order to understand the nature of current research and ascertain what is known about three modes of social workers' policy involvement: voluntary political participation, holding elected office, policy practice. The review identified 51 studies published between 1964 and 2015. The studies focus mainly on social workers' levels of involvement, their activities and the factors associated with the level of engagement. The review describes the main findings emerging from the research and underscores some methodological limitations in the existing studies and the continuing gaps in our knowledge on the policy engagement of social workers. Implications for future research, practice and education are presented.Key Practitioner Message: • Social workers' engagement in policy processes in order to further social justice and the well‐being of service users is a core mission in the social work profession. However, it is much less clear whether and how social workers, both as citizens and professionals, have heeded this call; • The article offers a scoping review of the research on three modes of social workers' policy involvement: voluntary political participation, holding elected office, policy practice; • The review identifies 51 studies that shed light on the levels of engagement, the wide range of policy activities undertaken by social workers and the individual, organisational and macro factors associated with the level of engagement.

The aim of this study was to review existing knowledge on policy practice (PP) in social work education that seeks to train undergraduate and graduate social work students to influence social policy. The review, based on different search strategies, identified 113 publications written by scholars from Australia, Canada, Israel, South Africa, UK and the USA. The review revealed marked growth in interest in PP education between 1970 and 2014. This was reflected in articles that have reported on six areas: research on the place of PP in social work curricula; research on students' preferences with regard to PP; recommendations on what to include in PP education; descriptions of actual pedagogical methods and courses; evaluations of actual pedagogical methods; and tools for assessing PP competencies. Most of this discourse was devoted to descriptions of PP courses and teaching methods and much less to systematic evaluation of PP teaching.Key Practitioner Message: • Policy practice education is playing a growing role in social work training at both the Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) and Master of Social Work (MSW) levels; • The literature suggests a wide range of innovative experiential approaches in class and in actual policy arenas; • To further strengthen the field, systematic evaluations of policy practice teaching innovations are required.

Rather than being seen simply as social policy implementors, in recent decades there has been recognition of the unique insights that social workers can bring to policy formulation. This book offers a theoretical framework for understanding why social workers engage in policy, and the implications for research, education and practice.

The goal of this innovative book is to shed light on the role of social workers in social policy formulation in different countries across the globe. The involvement of social workers in this type of activity has been termed 'policy practice' and it refers to activities carried out by social workers as an integral part of their professional work aimed at influencing the formation and adoption of new policies or the modification or preservation of existing ones, whether at the organizational local, national or international levels

The goal of this innovative book is to shed light on the role of social workers in social policy formulation in different countries across the globe. The involvement of social workers in this type of activity has been termed 'policy practice' and it refers to activities carried out by social workers as an integral part of their professional work aimed at influencing the formation and adoption of new policies or the modification or preservation of existing ones, whether at the organizational local, national or international levels.

Abstract
Securing rights for service users, particularly in taking up their social rights, has long been a goal of the social work profession. However, take-up advocacy is an under-researched and under-theorised practice, and little is known about how social workers engage in it and perceive it. The goal of this study is to provide an empirically driven conceptualisation of take-up advocacy by expanding knowledge on how social workers engage in it and their perceptions of its purpose and nature. This study employed a qualitative research design based on forty semi-structured interviews with social workers working in an Israeli programme that defined take-up advocacy as a core duty and practice. A thematic categorical content analysis of the interviews revealed that the social workers adopted a unique care-oriented model of advocacy, in which they infused the goals, principles and strategies of social work treatment into the legally oriented archetype of take-up advocacy. This care-oriented approach includes adopting broader perceptions of goals, taking a holistic perspective, involving service users in the take-up process, standing alongside service users, employing emotional tools and using the take-up process for relationship building.

AbstractPolicy practice (PP) refers to the on-the-job activities of social workers (SWs) intended to influence the design of public policies. Despite the importance attributed to this type of practice within social work, there is limited empirical knowledge on how SWs actually engage in PP and what explains it. This study contributes to this body of knowledge by examining the engagement of eighteen Israeli local government community SWs who engaged in PP to affect their localities' policies. The study employed a qualitative method and used semi-structured interviews. The policy issues addressed were diverse, with policies for children and adults with disabilities, for physical infrastructures and for community development prominent. The participants employed foundational strategies, such as cultivating personal and professional relationships with officials in the municipality's hierarchy, and targeted strategies such as organising meetings between high-level officials and residents. Motivational, facilitating and opportunity factors can explain the engagement in PP. Our main conclusion is that local government community SWs who decided to be policy actors and create change from within adopted a 'collaborative institutional policy practice', which is based primarily on internal, collaborative and consensual strategies.

Abstract
Knowledge about social workers (SWs) who run for political office is rare. This study sought to examine the conditions and factors that led SWs in Israel to enter the formal world of politics and to run for elected office at the local level. Twenty SWs who ran for, or held, local political offices were interviewed employing semi-structured interviews. The analysis was based on content analysis and yielded that most ran for councillor positions while three ran for mayor. Eleven SWs were elected at least once. They all possessed personal resources, such as political, communication and leadership competencies. They also displayed psychological involvement in politics, which developed through early political socialisation, social work education and experience in community activities. This was coupled with a sense that political office is an important vehicle to create change in the community to which they felt obligated and committed. Their desire to affect change became a realistic option following direct recruitment by political or community figures who knew them from their prior community activities. Support from their families and social networks enabled them to overcome dilemmas concerning their capacity to run for office.

Abstract
This study enhances the knowledge regarding the role of senior managers of street-level organisations in reshaping social policy on the ground, a subject that has been side-lined in research. The study focused on the ways senior managers of local government social services in Israel, all of whom are social workers by law, implemented emergency material assistance (EMA). This form of assistance is formulated by the central government but administered by local government. A qualitative research design based on semi-structured interviews with sixteen senior managers from diverse localities was employed. Findings showed that senior managers played a major role in the reconstruction of EMA on the ground. They reshaped policy in some or all of its major aspects. Both contextual factors and ideological factors impacted their policy decisions. The contextual factors were budgetary constraints, accessibility of resources from localities or charities, and socio-economic status of the locality. The ideological factors were managers' attitudes towards the policy, the place of material assistance in the social service, risk, and perceptions of poverty and people living in poverty. These factors led to divergences in material assistance across localities, while conservative and poverty-aware attitudes guided managers as they navigated between state–agent and citizen–agent roles.

SummaryPolicy change is a core goal of community social workers. This study aims to identify the motivational and facilitating factors associated with community social workers' engagement in policy practice, defined as policy involvement undertaken in the workplace context. The sample comprised of 106 community social workers employed by local government in Israel and the data were collected between June 2015 and February 2017.FindingsThe findings showed that community social workers are more likely to engage in policy when they enjoy higher professional status, possess more policy practice resources, have higher psychological involvement in politics, are more involved in political and professional networks, and sense that they enjoy greater organizational support for policy practice.ApplicationsIn seeking to enhance the engagement of community social workers in the policy process, social work education should provide future community social workers with policy practice skills and a sense of psychological engagement in politics. It should also encourage their participation in political networks and offer training that affords them opportunities to develop the organizational skills needed to further macro goals in a social service agency setting. In their workplace, community social workers seeking to engage in policy practice need to nurture an organizational culture that supports social workers' policy involvement. Given that this study is on a single Israeli sample, future research on community social workers in additional work settings and in other countries is required in order to advance knowledge on this crucial, yet understudied, form of professional activity.