Week 3:Analyzing Social Problems

Week 3:Analyzing Social Problems, In Week 3 you are reintroduced to the family case studies you have seen throughout your concentration year. You will analyze the social problems within each family and apply the skill you would use in working with these family members as clients.

You are provided with additional media for each family that allow you to use your skills to identify the policy and social problems that are impacting these families. Additionally, you explore policy advocacy skills in relation to your clinical social work skills.

This week you also will complete Part I of your Social Change Project.

Learning Objectives

Week 3:Analyzing Social Problems

Students will:

• Analyze social problems related to social work practice
• Apply policy advocacy skills to address a social problem
• Analyze the impact of social problems on social work populations
• Analyze social policies

Learning Resources

Required Readings

SOCW 6361 Webliography

These websites will be required throughout the semester. Become familiar with these websites, especially when doing research for your assignments.

Community Toolbox. (n.d). Chapter 5 Section 3: Social planning and policy Change. Retrieved from http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/assessment/promotion-strategies/social-planning-policy-change/main

Community Toolbox. (n.d). Chapter 5 Section 4: Social action. Retrieved from http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/assessment/promotion-strategies/systems-advocacy-and-community-organizing/main

Jansson, B. S. (2018). Becoming an effective policy advocate: From policy practice to social justice. (8th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning Series.

• Chapter 7, “Analyzing Problems in the First Step of Policy Analysis” (pp. 204-243)

Midgley, J., & Livermore, M. M. (Eds.). (2008). The handbook of social policy (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

• Chapter 14, “Critical Social Policy” (pp. 215–235) (PDF)

Required Media

Laureate Education. (Producer). (2013). Bradley (Episode 7 of 42) [Video file]. In Sessions. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

 

Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 2 minutes.

Accessible player –Downloads–Download Video w/CCDownload AudioDownload Transcript

Credit: Provided courtesy of the Laureate International Network of Universities.

Laureate Education. (Producer). (2013). Cortez Case Study [Multimedia file]. In Sessions. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

 

Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 2 minutes.

Laureate Education. (Producer). (2013). Levy (Episode 7 of 42) [Video file]. In Sessions. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

 

Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 4 minutes.

Accessible player –Downloads–Download Video w/CCDownload AudioDownload Transcript

Credit: Provided courtesy of the Laureate International Network of Universities.

Laureate Education. (Producer). (2013). Petrakis (Episode 6 of 42) [Video file]. In Sessions. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

 

Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 2 minutes.

Accessible player –Downloads–Download Video w/CCDownload AudioDownload Transcript

Credit: Provided courtesy of the Laureate International Network of Universities.

 

Week 3:Analyzing Social Problems

Optional Resources

Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., & Brocksen S. M. (Eds.). (2014). Sessions: Case histories. Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities Publishing. [Vital Source e-reader].

MSW home page

Use this link to access the MSW home page, which provides resources for your social work program.

Discussion: Analyses of Social Problems in Case Studies

As a social worker, often you need to use your policy advocacy skills to ensure that your clients are receiving the services that they need. Although you may tend to think of policy advocacy skills as separate from your clinical social work skills, they are very similar. Think of the skills that you would use in working with a client such as Jake Levy. How could you apply these skills to policy advocacy?

How will you use these skills to identify the policy and social problems that are impacting these families? In this week’s Discussion, you will continue to follow the Levy, Bradley, Petrakis, and Cortez families to start the process of policy advocacy.

In this Discussion, select one of the four integrated videos and identify the problems experienced by the client(s).

Week 3:Analyzing Social Problems

By Day 3

Post your responses to the following:

• Who is defining the problem?
• What values are reflected in this definition of the problem?
• What is being omitted in this definition?
• What other problems do you see that are not being acknowledged?

Be sure to support your post with specific references to this week’s resources. If you are using additional articles, be sure to provide full APA-formatted citations for your references.

By Day 5

Respond to a colleague who chose a case different from yours by addressing the following:

• Describe another way the identified problem can be defined.
• What policy advocacy skills do you think should be used to address the identified problem?
• What makes a social problem a social work problem?

Submission and Grading Information

Grading Criteria

To access your rubric:

Week 3 Discussion Rubric

Post by Day 3 and Respond by Day 5

To participate in this Discussion:

Week 3 Discussion

Project: Part 1: Identification of a Social Problem and Identification of a Policy

As an astute social worker and professional policy advocate, you must be adept at identifying social problems that exist in your community or in an agency or organization with which you are acquainted. Once you have selected a social problem, you begin the process of creating and implementing a policy that addresses that social problem.

In this assignment, you identify and describe a current social problem. You also identify a policy created and implemented to address the problem. This is the first part of your Social Change Project final assignment.

By Day 7

Complete Part 1 of your Social Change Project.

Address the following items in a 3-4 page paper:

• Describe a current social problem. How might this problem be incongruent with social work values/ethics?
• How/when has this problem been identified historically, and what were the actions taken to address this concern?
• How have the groups affected by this concern changed over time?
• Describe the policy area related to this social problem.
• Is the policy identified by your group dictated by local, state, or federal statute—or a combination thereof?
• What are the different aspects of the policy?
• How long has the current policy been in place?
• Who supports and who opposes the policy?
• What changes/amendments have been made to the policy?
• Explain how this policy affects clients you might see in a clinical setting and why, as a clinical social worker, it would be important to advocate for change.

Make sure that your assertions are supported by appropriate research and reputable resources.

Submission and Grading Information

To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading, do the following:

• Please save your Assignment using the naming convention “WK3Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” as the name.
• Click the Week 3 Assignment Rubric to review the Grading Criteria for the Assignment.
• Click the Week 3 Assignment link. You will also be able to “View Rubric” for grading criteria from this area.
• Next, from the Attach File area, click on the Browse My Computer button. Find the document you saved as “WK3Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” and click Open.
• If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click the checkbox for I agree to submit my paper(s) to the Global Reference Database.
• Click on the Submit button to complete your submission.

Grading Criteria

To access your rubric:

Week 3 Assignment Rubric

Check Your Assignment Draft for Authenticity

To check your Assignment draft for authenticity:

Submit your Week 3 Assignment draft and review the originality report.

Submit Your Assignment by Day 7

To submit your Assignment:

Week 3 Assignment

Week in Review

This week you analyzed social problems related to social work practice and their impact on social work populations. You also applied policy advocacy skills to address a social problem.

Next week you will complete a community assessment which will help you to understand your community in order to develop an appropriate policy action plan. You will also explore how public opinion influences the policy process and how that influences the direction of your plan.

To go to the next week:

Week 4