Change from within: Community social workers as local policy actors. (6th January 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gilboa, Chen; Weiss-Gal, Idit
• Is Part Of: British journal of social work. Volume 52:Number 6(2022)
• Page Start: 3540
• Page End: 3558
• Publication Date: 2022-01-06
• Subjects: community social workers -- local government -- municipalities -- policy practice; Social service -- Periodicals; Social workers -- Periodicals; 361
• DOI: 10.1093/bjsw/bcab263
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0045-3102

Abstract

Abstract: Policy 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 : The aim of this study was to better understand how social workers (SWs) affect local policies when they believe that there is a need to change them in order to help service users solve their problems. The study examined the policy engagement of eighteen Israeli local community SWs who were involved in policy practice (PP) aimed at affecting the policies of the municipalities in which they worked. By interviewing these workers, we found that they promoted various local policies, such as policies for children and adults with disabilities or those relating to physical infrastructures. They employed diverse strategies, among them cultivating personal and professional relationships with officials in the municipality's hierarchy, and organising meetings between high-level officials and residents. We found that the community SWs adopted 'collaborative institutional policy practice', which is based primarily on internal, collaborative and consensual strategies. The factors that fostered their engagement in PP comprised their professional attitudes, their sense of self-efficacy, overt organisational support for PP engagement from the heads of the local social services, demands from service users, and municipality norms and rules that enabled the participation of SWs in the local policy formulation process.