Integrating Micro and Macro Practice: An Evaluation of the Policy Advocacy Course

ABSTRACT

Policy advocacy is a professional competency in the Council of Social Work Education’s (CSWE) Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards. Therefore, preparing social work students to engage in political arenas is an integral part of social work education. This study presents an evaluation of the policy advocacy course using a pre/posttest research design (N = 154), and examines the theoretical link between the course and the change in students’ motivation to engage in policy advocacy activities. Findings indicate that students’ motivation to engage in policy advocacy and traditional resources for policy advocacy increased after the course. Path analysis demonstrated the mechanism through which these increases were achieved. The study suggests that including comprehensive policy advocacy training in the professional socialization of future social workers is a promising approach to increasing their active engagement in policy advocacy and satisfying CSWE requirements.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Professors Dr. Idit Weiss-Gal and Dr. John Gal for their support and permission to use research tools developed under their supervision and published in Schwartz-Tayri (2015).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ In Israel, obtaining a BSW is sufficient for licensing.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Talia M. Schwartz-Tayri

Talia M. Schwartz-Tayri is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley.

Menny Malka

Menny Malka is a lecturer at Sapir Academic College.

Merav Moshe-Grodofsky

Merav Moshe-Grodofsky is a senior lecturer at Sapir College.

Neil Gilbert

Neil Gilbert is the Milton and Gertrude Chernin Professor of Social Welfare and Social Services at the University of California, Berkeley.