Familial and Social Dimensions of Welfare Receipt

Abstract

In this study we categorize welfare duration determinants into those associated with family traits and the social macro environment outside the family. Monthly AFDC-Basic data for Texas from mid-1989 through April 1993 are analyzed using an event history analysis to examine the length of time families receive AFDC benefits and to estimate the effects of the two latent traits that influence the pace of quitting welfare. Results suggest a need for reformulating welfare policies to address the disadvantages stemming from the social structural context of poverty such as urban residence and race membership.     

The Policy Transfer Model

ABSTRACT

“New” social welfare policies are often actually policies borrowed from other states or nations. This paper reviews the recent theoretical developments in understanding the processes of policy transfer and presents a “policy transfer” model that can be a useful heuristic tool for social workers engaged in policy making. It discusses how the field of social work can benefit from understanding the factors underlying successful and unsuccessful policy transfer, and argues for the inclusion of the study of policy transfer in social welfare policy courses.     

Helping People with Learning Difficulties into Paid Employment

Summary

Welfare to work policies have developed partly from policy rhetoric that argues employment as the best way of ensuring social inclusion for marginalised groups. In the United Kingdom, welfare to work policies for disabled people have developed within an enabling rather than a mandatory system, although organisation and practice have lagged behind. This article explores policies that provide this enabling context for facilitating the transition of people with learning difficulties from benefits to paid employment. It also explores the role of social workers, examining the degree to which their practice reflects the empowering rhetoric of the policy framework and of contemporary social work values.     

Social work education in Spain: evaluation and challenges for a new generation of social workers

ABSTRACT

The European social integration model was built on two main pillars: employment and access to the welfare state. European social work education was mainly oriented to training professionals in order to promote this inclusion through case management and the provision of benefits. This influence was very intense in the curricular content of Spanish social work programs. The new social risks and the European convergence in higher education have promoted curricular changes, but is it enough?. This paper aims to identify the content and limits of current social work education in Spain. To this end, a comparative analysis of social work education in public universities of Spain was performed. This information has been contrasted with professionals, teachers and social work students. The results evidence the gap of these contents with the real professional needs. This paper proposes several alternatives and approaches in new intergenerational methodologies and technological tools to train a new generation of social workers     

Assessing Public Support for State Government Social Welfare Expenditures

Abstract

This study compared two different approaches to assessing the level of public support for social welfare spending at the state government level. The first approach focuses on the degree to which the public supports state government's involvement in public welfare spending. The second approach identifies the importance the public places on social welfare spending when compared to other possible functions of state government. Using Alabama data, the paper examined changes in general and comparative public support for state budget expenditures from 1980 to 2000 in Alabama. In addition, we examined the effectiveness of sociodemographic and attitudinal characteristics of respondents as predictors of both general and comparative support for three social welfare functions of state government. Support for “benefits for poor people” grew both generally and comparatively in the 20-year period; support for programs for older people remained steady; and support for mental health services declined. Sociodemographic predictors of general and comparative sup port were generally consistent with a self-interest model     

Social capital: A useful concept for social work?

Abstract

In recent years, Australian governments at all levels have adopted social capital and related concepts to frame social policy. Hence, these ideas provide the backdrop within which much contemporary social work practice and social policy development occurs. Despite extensive coverage of social capital concepts in the social science literature there has been limited discussion of their application to social work practice. In this paper we review the origins and meaning of social capital. We then turn to a discussion of its application to progressive social work as well as a consideration of the criticisms of social capital concepts. We introduce a synergy model of social capital formation that incorporates a dual focus on local community networks and the role of the institutions of government, non-government agencies and business in the creation of social capital. The paper concludes with consideration of how a synergy approach can be applied in, and developed through, social work practice.

Karen Healy and Anne Hampshire lead a three year research project entitled: ‘Creating Better Communities: A Study of Social Capital Creation in Four Communities’. The study examines processes of social capital creation in urban, regional and rural contexts. The study is jointly funded by The Australian Research Council and The Benevolent Society     

A Comparative Study of Social Policy Transfer

Abstract

Both the United Kingdom and Australia engaged in social policy transfer of anti-discrimination policy for people with disabilities in the 1990s with the adoption of new legislation whose structure and approach originated in the United States a decade earlier. This paper focuses on the extent of the convergence of disability policies between each country and the USA, and the variables that affected social policy transfer in each nation. By using a comparative approach, this paper allows for a better understanding of the processes and constraints involved in transferring social policy across nations.     

The Value of Adoption

ABSTRACT

Recent work shows that the governmental cost of adoption is about half the cost of long-term foster care for children whose birth parents' rights have been terminated. Because adoption is also associated with greater accumulation of human and social capital, the total savings to government in areas such as special education and criminal justice is of the same magnitude as the child welfare savings. The private benefit to adopted children in terms of additional income earned over their working lives is similarly large. In all, a dollar spent on the adoption of a child from foster care yields about three dollars in benefits.     

Paid Maternal and Parental Leave Legislation and Primary Prevention

Abstract

For child development, the first three years are crucial to foundations for emotional and mental health, for toilet training and vocabulary development, and for the precipitation of conscience and essential inner controls. For this reason, these are also the primary prevention years during which marital intactness and paid maternal and parental leave benefits are of crucial importance. A comparative social policy review of the status of parental leave legislation in North America and in Europe confirms that the United States is far behind.     

Impact of Culture on Lactation Policies: The Case of United States and Liberia

ABSTRACT

Programs or policies that are effective in reducing social problems have several things in common: They acknowledge the realities of culture, respect the sociocultural underpinnings of the community, and are often built on an innovative understanding of the issues. Policies that are created without regard for the culture in which they are to operate are destined to fail. This study discusses cultural attributes of different motivations, benefits, and approaches to breast-feeding, depending on the development of their infrastructure, scientific understanding, reliance on myths to understand their environment, and social norms. It argues that in some cases ignorance and lack of scientific information result in policies (both formal and informal) that negatively impact breast-feeding, whereas in other cases cultural or social norms drive policy decisions. Three examples of policies that impact breast-feeding negatively are discussed in this article. Two of them relate to developing nations and the third occurred in the United States, although it could also occur anywhere people lack basic information about the impact of hormones on normal human physiology and human sexual response.     

“In Their Own Voices”

Abstract

Social policy should be informed by scientific research. Yet, the rapport between researchers and policy makers remains poor, and the translation of social research into social policy haphazard. Many researchers follow a positivist paradigm and prepare quantitative reports that are difficult for policy makers to decipher. Good research is “wasted” because policy makers consider it irrelevant to the real-life problems of their constituents. Policy research that are qualitative narratives are more readerfriendly and thus more appealing to policy makers. This article argues for the inclusion of qualitative methods into research conducted to inform social policy and offers several case examples.     

A Feminist Policy Analysis Framework

ABSTRACT

Most policy analysis models, both inside and outside of social work, approach policy in a gender-neutral manner. This fact belies the many ways our society is organized around gender, which is often regulated through policy. This article outlines a model for looking at policies through a gendered lens by framing a set of questions to be asked in a feminist policy analysis. The complexities and underlying issues inherent in such a model are discussed, as well as the model's implicit goals and values. The model provides an important framework for policy analysts and teaching students about policy.     

Teaching Note—A Call for Including Theories of Evaluation in Program Evaluation Courses Taught in Schools of Social Work

ABSTRACT

Many schools of social work offer courses on program evaluation. However, one component of program evaluation—theories of evaluation—may all too often be left out of the curriculum. This Teaching Note defines and describes evaluation theory and the benefits of including it in a program evaluation curriculum in schools of social work. Specific ideas for incorporating this content into MSW and doctoral courses in schools of social work are provided.     

The Family and Medical Leave Law

Abstract

This essay asks whether the Family and Medical Leave Law (1993) is feminist social policy, as it was touted to be by its political supporters. The study takes three approaches to feminism outlined by Lorber in her 2001 text, Gender Inequality: Feminist Theories and Politics, which considers women in their roles as mothers and workers. Data taken from a Department of Labor FMLA utilization study are then analyzed in the context of these three approaches to feminism. I conclude that the FMLA is not feminist in a substantive way despite its symbolic value.     

Social Justice,Social Policy,and Social Work

ABSTRACT

This paper argues that the models underlying the conceptualization of social work functions affect the costs of integrating policy issues into practice, and, therefore, the probability that social justice goals will be pursued. An inclusive approach to policy design is seen as lowering those costs. The nature of the costs and how they vary between the models is discussed.     

Connecting Policy to Practice

Abstract

Eight variables affect the policy process of the Section 8 housing program. An analysis of the eight variables allows for conceptualization of the factors influencing the shape and direction that Section 8 policy has taken through the course of history. Examining the variables of the Section 8 housing program can lead to an understanding of the program as a whole, the impact of the policy process on the recipients of the program, and the impact on social work practice. In addition, an understanding of these eight variables provides a useful heuristic for social workers engaged in policy changing activities.     

A Collaborative Approach to Service,Learning, and Scholarship

ABSTRACT

This article describes a research course that was a collaborative endeavor between a school of social work and a community organization. This project was guided by learning, service and scholarship goals. Specifically, the participants in this course provided a pro-bono evaluation for a community benefits district. The benefits district solicited assistance from the authors, with the caveat that district members not be involved in the data collection and analysis. The authors situate this project on a continuum of traditional versus participatory research, and propose a “mixed” model for collaborative university-community efforts. The authors suggest ways of engaging students in “real world” research that benefits the community and facilitates their own training as macro social work practitioners. Factors that facilitate and hinder such a project are also discussed.     

Social Inclusion as an Agenda for Mental Health Social Work

Summary

Following New Labour's election to office in the UK in 1997, policy initiatives have proliferated relating to mental health. Much of this policy innovation emphasises the social dimensions of mental health and distress, with an emphasis on employment and social inclusion. Paradoxically, this modernization of the mental health agenda comes at a time when mental health social work is struggling to establish its role and contribution within recently integrated health and social services. The paper considers whether New Labour's flagship programme, Mental Health and Social Exclusion, constitutes a “New Deal” for mental health, and whether it provides a perspective that will help mental health social work to define its distinctive contribution to integrated services.     

Social motivation and health in college club swimming

ABSTRACT

Objective: Participation in recreational sport clubs on campus is a popular student activity nationwide. These sport-based organizations provide a host of benefits within recognized dimensions of health and wellness. Understanding participants’ motives for engaging in these types of activities can provide insight in design and delivery and enhance participant health. This study focuses on outcomes related to the social motivations for participation in a recreational sport swim club and their potential relationship to social health. Participants: Current members of recreational swimming clubs were contacted for participation in the study from March-April 2016. Methods: A Leisure Motivation Scale (LMS) survey was sent electronically to 196 collegiate swim clubs nationwide. Aggregate and multivariate analyses from 1011 responses were conducted to examine the social motivation and motivational differences of participants. Results: Social motivations emerged as the predominate motivational construct, indicating important implications for social health improvement through participation. Demographically, results indicated no statistically significant differences in social motivation factors based on participant gender, and statistically significant differences within participant race, university affiliation and practice frequency. Conclusions: Impacts of these findings are important for practitioners and participants when evaluating the potential these programs have to influence participant social health.