Why Do Social Workers Become Policy Actors?

The study examines factors related to social workers’ involvement in policy practice by examining their engagement in legislative advocacy in Israel. Based on the three components of the Policy Practice Engagement Framework—opportunity, facilitation and motivation—the study focused upon a group of social workers who were actively involved in legislative advocacy as part of their professional job. In order to learn more about their features and the circumstances of their legislative advocacy, they were asked about their testimonies and were then compared to a group of social workers who have never participated in the deliberations of legislative committees. The sample consisted of 190 social workers evenly divided between the two groups. The findings underscore that the intersect of opportunity, facilitation, and motivation created a context that encouraged the involvement of social workers in a specific form of policy practice. The study findings emphasize the opportunity and facilitation components of the framework over the motivational.     

Disaster,Time, and Dialogue: A Couple Lessons from Hurricane Katrina

There is much to learn about ourselves and the worlds we fashion “when all hell breaks loose” (W. Lloyd Warner 1947:1).

This brief paper is about The Katrina Bookshelf, specifically about a couple of the contributions several of the forthcoming books on The Shelf will make to the social study of disaster. It is both a collective and an individual achievement. Imagine The Katrina Bookshelf as a composition and each book on The Shelf a movement, a part of the composition that is more or less complete in and of itself. Any one of the books could be taken from The Shelf and read alone, independent of the others. Each has its own voice and reaches its own resolution. But examined together, The Shelf reveals the phenomenal human complexity that is Hurricane Katrina.     

Disaster Relief and Crisis Intervention with Deaf Communities: Lessons Learned from the Japanese Deaf Community

ABSTRACT

During natural disasters and crises, the deaf and hard of hearing community might not have full accessibility to all of the information shared with the larger hearing community. This could be due to the lack of awareness among social work professionals about these cultural and linguistic needs of this minority population. The purpose of this article is to explore the challenges faced by the deaf community and to discuss culturally and linguistically appropriate crisis intervention and mobilization to natural disaster situations based on the experiences of the Japanese deaf communities affected by the Kobe and Tohoku earthquakes.     

Organizational Policy Advocacy for a Quality Improvement Innovation in a Maternal and Child Health Network: Lessons Learned in Early Implementation

This article analyzes and reports lessons learned in early implementation of a large quality improvement innovation for a maternal and child health network working in a large Midwestern metropolitan area. It uses a case study method to focus on how internal advocacy and policy practice helped network partners accept and adapt to the initial rollout of a mandated quality improvement system that required careful data tracking for a universal screening and referral process for perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. Three key findings emerged. Network participants endorsed new outreach to the executives of network partners to confirm their support of and compliance with the new quality improvement system. Participants also strategized ways to maintain program autonomy and disperse concerns about heavy-handed implementation of the quality improvement program. Finally, they identified ways to adapt the quality improvement program in response to concerns raised.     

Utilizing Digital Advocacy in Community Organizing: Lessons Learned from Organizing in Virtual Spaces to Promote Worker Rights and Economic Justice

This article discusses the usefulness and challenges associated with utilizing social media technologies in the context of community organizing practice, often referred to as digital advocacy. We ground the analysis of digital advocacy in the context of a recent organizing effort undertaken by social work academics, grass roots organizers, and allies to support the boycott of Hyatt Hotels in San Antonio, Texas, by marginalized hotel workers and labor unions through advocating that the Society for Social Work Research relocate their 2014 conference from the Grand Hyatt, San Antonio, and to work toward better conference planning procedures in the future.     

Empowerment Practice in Canada and the United States

Abstract

This article discusses the legacy of colonialism and racism in Canada and the United States. It shows how this legacy, combined with a market-oriented philosophy to social and economic issues and policies, has resulted in major, persistent social problems in both countries. It goes on to argue that an empowerment-oriented approach, by restoring policy issues, and therefore social justice issues, to the core of social work, can help the profession address these problems more efficiently. The article concludes by examining three particular challenges related to empowerment-oriented practice: creating partnerships; working with and in communities, and finding optimal ways of integrating all levels of social work practice.     

Facing Nuclear Risks: Lessons from the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

This paper discusses the sociological lessons learnt from the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident that occurred on 11 March 2011. This disaster is the second largest nuclear accident after the Chernobyl accident. Meltdown and explosions occurred because of the hydrogen released from the damaged core. A large amount of radioactive materials has been released. Many people, around 150 000, are still in evacuation by government order or by their own choice. The incident has several characteristics. First, it is the first severe accident of a nuclear power station, the complex disaster being triggered by a large earthquake and tsunami. Second, the four reactors were simultaneously endangered. Third, the uncontrolled situation of the melted‐down reactors has continued for more than 9 months. Fourth, it is the first severe accident of a nuclear power plant on the coast. Scientists are worried about serious contamination of seawater and damages to the ecosystem. This accident is a human disaster which an electric company and the national government are very much responsible for due to a series of “underestimates,” such as that of the height of a possible tsunami, the possibility of a “station blackout” and lengthy periods of no AC power. A lot of confusing and misleading information, along with the deliberate concealment of information and delay in information disclosure occurred. Located in the background of all of this is the “Atomic Circle,” a very closed relationship between politicians, government, academics, industry and the media. We should try and learn from all of this in building a post‐nuclear East Asia. This would be the greatest lesson from the tragic Fukushima disaster and the greatest message to East Asia, the world and future generations.     

Finance Capital and the Water Crisis: Insights from Mexico

This paper explores how finance capitalism materializes as socio-ecological process, shedding light on the complex causalities in which current shifts in control over natural resources are embedded. Housing is a critical aspect of financialization. A case study of the financialized housing sector in Central Mexico shows (i) how housing policy serves as a mechanism for the redistribution of wealth from the working class to global finance capital, and (ii) how mortgage-financed housing projects come into being only through an existing water governance regime, while in turn leading to new structures of groundwater governance with profound social and ecological implications. The paper concludes that current accumulation and natural resource regimes interact in complex and contradictory ways that go beyond straightforward resource grabbing. It suggests that Moore’s concept of ‘capitalism in the web of life’ could help to understand how finance capitalism simultaneously transforms the socio-natural world and is produced by it.     

To Empower with Meaningful Data: Lessons Learned in Building an Alliance Between Researchers and Long-Term Care Ombudsmen

Abstract

This is the story of how a research team formed an alliance with state long-term care ombudsmen to develop a national database of resident complaints. Beginning with background information on problem identification and analysis, the article focuses on lessons learned in building alliances between practitioners and researchers, in recognizing individual site needs, in advocating for credible dissemination of findings, and in acknowledging philosophical and political differences. The article stresses the importance of tenacity in seeking funding for projects that empower practitioners to truly advocate for the needs of vulnerable populations.     

Classroom and Advocacy: A Project on the Working Poor in St. Louis

A social work seminar on employment issues was devoted to a research-based advocacy project on the working poor. All class members participated in data gathering, interviewing, and report writing. The report included national, state, and local data describing the working poor population. Particular attention was given to single mothers, the homeless, and health care issues. The project resulted in a published report by a major social welfare ad     

Social work educators and social policy: a cross-professional perspective

This article seeks to contribute to the ongoing debate within European social work on the role of social work educators in influencing social policy. It reports on a study that examined the role of social work educators in furthering social policy by comparing Israeli social work educators’ engagement in policy with faculty members in professional schools with strong ties to social policy, namely education and healthcare. While the findings show some similarities between the three groups of educators, they also underscore marked differences between educators in social work and the other professions. In particular, social work educators are more involved in, and more committed to, social policy engagement than faculty members of other professional schools are. These divergences are attributed to the greater focus upon policy practice in social work and its prevalence in teaching programmes, as well as to the profession’s focus on disenfranchised clients, who are especially impacted by social policies.     

How Children and Young People Influence Policy‐Makers: Lessons from Nicaragua

This article describes a participatory research project, which explored four case studies of children and young people's successful political advocacy in Nicaragua. The analysis combined a human rights‐based approach and a human development approach, and included concepts of multiple settings and levels, interrelated participation spaces, children and young people's citizenship, inclusion and exclusion, democracy, advocacy and empowerment. The main problems faced by children and young people seeking to influence policy‐makers were identified as adultism, dependency and lack of accountability. The research identified pre‐conditions, participation spaces and ways of organising for effective advocacy, and facilitation methods that had proved effective. It concludes that children and young people who achieve effective advocacy are generally self‐empowered, but can count on effective adult support and facilitation. They work through coordination with the authorities and not by clashing with them, but need to ensure effective follow up if they want politicians to keep their promises.     

A mission beyond journalism: advocacy and media practices of award giving in China

Chinese media organizations do not yet have an established and widely adopted journalistic paradigm. Thus, some journalists believe they should go beyond journalism's conventional roles and participate directly in social advocacy. They practice not only advocacy journalism but also social advocacy by hosting public forums, organizing journalism training camps, and giving various awards to social activists, cultural elites, celebrities, business people, and fellow journalists. This research explores the award-giving practices of several influential Chinese media organizations. It contends that a complex array of forces and factors interact to shape the award-giving practices of contemporary Chinese media. In contemporary China, the marketized and mission-burdened media tend to use the award-giving practice as a means to build their brand image and fulfill their social mission (i.e. advocacy of values). Award giving is also intended to help media organizations network with like-minded representatives of civil society. This analysis thus demonstrates that award-giving practices help build mutual recognition between the media and a specific group of social elites in China and lead to the formation of an alliance of “the weak” when confronting the authoritarian state machine.     

Policy advocacy for women's unpaid care work: comparing approaches and strategies in Nepal and Nigeria

This article focuses on policy advocacy programmes in Nepal and Nigeria, instigated by ActionAid International with local women's rights organisations and non-government organisations, and supported by the Institute of Development Studies, UK. These programmes aimed to challenge women's unequal responsibility for care work and to influence policymakers to understand the importance of providing services to support them. One of the main components of these programmes was child care, a responsibility which most women experience 24/7 for at least two decades of their lives, and which profoundly shapes their lives and opportunities. We examine the processes through which each of the country teams have engaged with public policies on this issue, focusing on the similarities and differences in each context. Although the programme of activities has been implemented in much the same way in both countries, and each chose to focus on early child-care provision as the main policy demand, the partnerships and policy processes chosen differ greatly. Specifically, we distinguish between ‘critical engagement’ (in the case of Nepal), as compared to ‘constructive engagement’ (in the case of Nigeria). The article ends with some reflections on the challenges facing the teams during their work, and the implications and lessons that can be drawn from these two case studies.     

Endorsement for Civil Rights for Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual,and Transgender People Among Heterosexual College Students: Informing Socially Just Policy Advocacy

In the past decade, advocacy efforts to establish social policies that legally recognize same-sex relationships and protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people from employment discrimination have increased considerably throughout the country. To inform these advocacy campaigns, we investigate endorsement for LGBT civil rights among heterosexual college students (n = 1,714). Students, overall, were moderately supportive of LGBT rights. Twenty-one variables were found to be significant in the initial analyses; however, only seven retained significance in the final analysis which controlled for all variables. Results suggest that political ideology and specific LGBT attitudes are most influential. Religiosity and having LGBT extended family members are also important. Implications for LGBT advocacy efforts are discussed.     

Compassionate response: Intersection of religious faith and public policy

Much of social work practice is rooted in compassion. Addressing compassion as a virtue, this article examines the possibilities for compassion to be more explicitly and purposefully built into actions at community and policy levels. We discuss the definition of compassion, examine the religious roots of compassion, describe some ways in which religion and policy intersect, and provide contemporary examples of compassion at the interface of religion and policy. In the discussion, we conclude with further thoughts about how compassion might be elevated in our collective societal actions and address the role of social work in these efforts.     

Family Phone Therapy in University Counseling and Psychological Service Centers: A Family Systems Approach

Abstract

This paper offers family phone therapy as a method for student mental health practitioners to overcome the obstacle of geographic distance between students and their families when family therapy is the treatment of choice. The issues of confidentiality, triangulation, diversionary conversation, and mixed communication, which present unique concerns when engaging in family phone therapy, are introduced and strategies to deal with them are discussed. A case example is presented to demonstrate the utility of family phone therapy in dealing with problems that students who use university mental health services can typically experience. Finally, implications of dealing with students' developmental tasks from an individual or family systems perspective are discussed.     

Child Sexual Abuse and the Media: A Literature Review

The media play an important role in practice, policy, and public perception of child sexual abuse, in part by the way in which news stories are framed. Child sexual abuse media coverage over the past 50 years can be divided into five time periods based on the types of stories that garnered news coverage and the ways in which public policy was changed. This systematic literature review of research on child sexual abuse media coverage across disciplines and geographic boundaries examines 16 studies published in the English language from 1995 to 2012. A seminal work is identified, citation network analysis is applied, and a framework model is developed.     

Adolescent Victims of Natural Disasters: A Phenomenological Study on Lived Experiences and Behaviors Displayed after a Crisis

This qualitative study explored lived experiences and behavioral changes among 15 adolescent victims of natural disasters utilizing the behaviorism perspective. Volunteer adolescent victims participated in a semi-standardized open-end interview, and data were coded using pattern recognition, theme, and content analysis. Results identified that participants' most prevalent themes for behavioral changes were isolation, social withdrawal, increased arguments with family and friends, avoid relationships, and over-protectiveness. Prevalent themes for lived experiences were moving to a new home, changing schools, and mother or father lost job. The majority of the participants reported hurricanes as their natural disaster experience. In conclusion, adolescent victims reported multiple behavioral changes that were a result of a natural disaster such as hurricanes. Likewise, these victims reported facing many lived experiences after a natural disaster occurrence.     

Bringing the Outside In: Field Interaction and Transformation from Below in Political Struggles

This article applies field theory in order to build an understanding of aspects of social movements practice. It argues that the way social movements are positioned within their various fields of practice and the way these fields inter-relate with each other can help explain how movements arrive at their strategies and ideologies. The relationship between the fields within which social movements operate also provides a means to explain how movement participants can become agents for change.

The article discusses the case of British Jewish Israel-critical groups, an example of a movement suspended between several different fields of practice – both local and distant. The internal movement debate around boycotting Israel illustrates how movement activities are channelled by the local fields within which they contend. Their relationship with the distant Palestinian field demonstrates the importance of the influence of external fields in forming social movement ideology. This model views social movement actors – especially those within distant issue movements – as translators between various fields of practice. This provides a mechanism to explain how challengers within a field can overcome the limitations of internal field habitus and become agents for field transformation.