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Abstract: Abstract A growing body of scholarly work examines the policy engagement of social workers. We contribute to this body of work by examining social workers’ policy engagement in Albania—a former communist country that has undergone a massive transformation in the last three decades, providing numerous opportunities for social workers to shape policy reforms. Our focus is on two interrelated aspects: how social workers define policy practice and the professional activities they undertake to influence social policies. The study draws on in-depth interviews conducted with a sample of 30 social work professionals employed in both governmental and non-governmental organizations, serving diverse groups across different regions of the country. Invitations to participate in the study were emailed to 32 social work professionals (response rate = 94%). The average length of the interviews was 46 minutes (range = 30 – 76 min). Thematic analysis was conducted to discern definitions and professional activities. Participants in the study associated policy practice with policy implementation and policy design. Furthermore, they characterized policy practice as a democratic practice. To influence social policies, study participants engaged in a variety of roles, serving as policy designers or co-designers, policy advisors, coordinators, mobilizers, capacity builders, activists, evaluators, advocates and lobbyists, and educators. Some professional activities were more common than others, and they varied based on organization type. The findings enhance our understanding of social work and policy practice in an understudied region and offer valuable lessons for shaping future policy practice, especially in post-communist countries. PubDate: 2024-08-05 DOI: 10.1007/s42972-024-00107-x
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Abstract: Abstract Considering the intersection in program design generosity between state-sponsored Paid Family Leave (PFL) and safety net programs is critical to understanding resources available to low-wage workers during care-related interruptions from work, given that they are less likely to have access to employer-provided paid leave. These analyses also offer guidance to state and federal governments in the design of future PFL programs and the safety net to better support low-wage workers during caregiving interruptions from work. To these ends, we examine variations in safety net generosity relevant to low-wage workers’ caregiving-related work interruptions between PFL and non-PFL states. We also compare the generosity of selected provisions within PFL states. To do so, we use publicly available data on PFL and safety net policy design from several sources. We include a diverse set of social safety net provisions relevant to caregiving, including cash welfare, Medicaid, childcare subsidies, paid sick days. and select tax credits. For nearly all provisions we consider, PFL states are more generous than non-PFL states. We also find that among PFL states, there is variation in both PFL and safety net generosity. Our findings suggest that future passage of state and federal PFL policies would bolster weaker social safety nets in non-PFL states. Our findings also suggest policy and practice implications for future PFL programs such as the need for social workers to have adequate policy knowledge of both PFL and the safety net to effectively service clients, especially those that are low-wage workers. PubDate: 2024-06-11 DOI: 10.1007/s42972-024-00105-z
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Abstract: Abstract This article describes a study of the factors impacting social work student knowledge of co-response teams designed to divert individuals with mental illness from the criminal legal system and interest in participating in co-response teams, and provides policy and educational recommendations for social work’s interaction with these teams. The data in this study was collected using convenience sampling from MSW students who were enrolled in accredited universities in the United States and Canada via an online survey in 2022 and 2023. Of 145 MSW students surveyed, roughly 75% of students had heard of co-response, over 60% agreed that they strongly supported the practice and nearly 94% believed co-response aligned with social work values. The following positively impacted student desire to join co-response teams: positive perceptions of police, knowledge of co-response, and belief that co-response aligned with social work values. Race did not impact student desire to join a co-response team. These results show support of co-response is relatively high, important given that co-response awareness for social workers is important given the different ways social workers may interact with these teams. Policy recommendations for thoughtful operationalization of co-response are discussed as a result of this research. PubDate: 2024-06-01 DOI: 10.1007/s42972-024-00103-1
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract Using a qualitative research design, this study explores help-seeking during the pandemic. It focuses on two potential sources of support beyond government aid: nonprofits and social networks. Thirty eight low-income families and individuals in New York City who lost either income or employment because of COVID-19 and were experiencing hardship were followed over the course of the pandemic, for a total of 69 interviews. We found that social support flourished during the pandemic with younger generations more likely to help older generations than vice versa. Similar to past studies, we found that people hesitated to ask for help from nonprofits because of practical barriers, whether because of lack of knowledge or prior use or faulty perceptions of who nonprofits served. Contrary to past studies which emphasize the role of stigma in refusing help, moral and ethical concerns played a larger role, as people, and, especially those experiencing hardship for the first time, considered their own need in relation to others. Suggestions are made as to how nonprofits can extended their reach, both during times of great peril and less stressful times. PubDate: 2024-02-07 DOI: 10.1007/s42972-024-00098-9
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Abstract: Abstract Universal financial access, or the ability for all to open, afford, and continuously use beneficial and affordable financial products and services, eludes the USA. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has an important role to play in facilitating financial access through its regulatory function. This paper investigated the policy goals pursued by the CFPB proposed and final rules related to basic financial products and services. The paper also examined the products and services, providers, and populations targeted. Rules proposed through its independent authority were also examined. Researchers conducted a policy mapping content analysis of all CFPB proposed and final rules from 2011 to 2023. Two researchers independently coded basic characteristics, and policy goals and illustrative mechanisms. Researchers compared codes and addressed discrepancies through consensus, and created new codes as needed. The policy goals that appeared most often were increasing consumer protection and promoting the functioning of the financial marketplace. Out of 24 proposed or final rules, the most common financial products or services addressed were remittances and debt collection, with their providers being the most commonly targeted providers by new rules. Few populations were specifically targeted by proposed or final rules. The CFPB independently proposed or finalized 16 new rules, most of which addressed the same policy goals. Rules finalized by the CFPB since its inception address some of the key financial access challenges. However, the CFPB could exercise its independent rule-making authority to further address financial access issues, particularly for financially vulnerable populations. PubDate: 2024-02-01 DOI: 10.1007/s42972-024-00100-4
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Abstract: Abstract Beginning in the 1970s, the “legalization” of domestic violence prevention was aimed at increasing the availability and severity of legal responses afforded to female survivors of domestic violence (Zorza, Journal Criminal Law & Criminology, 83:46 1992). To examine how these reforms developed and their effectiveness, we analyze cases dealing with domestic violence at the intermediate appellate courts over a 51-year period. Using these intermediate appellate court data, we examine the impact of shifting American mainstream legal thought on domestic violence, case and litigant characteristics, and policy era variables on the success of female survivors of domestic violence. This study used logistic regression to measure the impact of a state’s political context, case and litigant characteristics on the intermediate appellate courts. We used WESTLAWNEXT in each of the 50 states from 1965 to 2015 to identify cases where an intermediate appellate court dealt with domestic violence policy. The research shows that a female domestic violence litigant has a higher probability of success before the intermediate appellate court when her life is threatened, a protection order is involved, she is the appellee in the case, and the state intervenes on her behalf. This article highlights that judges are not acting like traditional politicians when deciding cases regarding domestic violence but are responding as concerned humans to human stimuli. These results suggest that when it comes to domestic violence against women, judges in the intermediate appellate courts are primarily concerned with ensuring that the law protects women who have experienced harm from an intimate partner. PubDate: 2024-01-22 DOI: 10.1007/s42972-024-00099-8
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Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract Despite decades of “acceptance of the need for evidence-based macro practice” the field has progressed remarkedly little. This commentary describes what are seen as possible reasons that macro researchers and practitioners have not been as eager or able to develop and disseminate evidence-based practices. Here, we focus on the arguments, counter-arguments, benefits, and examples of EBP in macro practice, and then narrow to the one area of policy practice. It ends with a call to action in several areas, including drawing from other fields’ literatures, filling in missing links in the EBP process, increasing our supply of theory-testing research, and writing a library of meaningful translational documents. PubDate: 2023-12-15 DOI: 10.1007/s42972-023-00097-2
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Abstract: Abstract Since September 11, 2001, local law enforcement has gained considerable de facto immigration enforcement authority. These federal-local partnerships have accelerated immigration enforcement practices and inspired a myriad of policies both supporting and resisting such partnerships. This extensive systematic qualitative literature review explores the role of local law enforcement in implementing immigration related policies. Three research questions are addressed: (1) How do local law enforcement agencies (LEAs) participate in immigration enforcement practices' (2) What might lead to some areas having more enforcement compared to other areas with less enforcement' (3) What factors might provide opportunities for empowerment, a sense of security, and/or security in the face of enforcement' Forty-three empirical research articles were identified through seven database searches and were analyzed with inductive coding. This review identifies three frameworks that shape local immigration policy, enforcement outcomes, sanctuary, and immigrant resistance and activism. These frameworks include demographic intensities, localized power structures, and institutionally formalized policy. These findings identify the inter-institutional processes underpinning local immigration policy, enforcement outcomes, sanctuary, and immigrant resistance and activism. By considering enforcement and sanctuary at multiple levels, educators and policy practitioners can better evaluate the efficacy of policy interventions and engage in advocacy efforts that support equitable social change that supports the safety of immigrant communities. PubDate: 2023-10-16 DOI: 10.1007/s42972-023-00094-5
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Abstract: Abstract Why do many liberal voters in diverse, urban areas express racially egalitarian values but oppose anti-carceral policies that would weaken structural racism' How does this manifest particularly among people whose racial groups and neighborhoods experience the omission of targeting by the carceral state—voters in majority-white neighborhoods' Based on 28 canvassing interviews conducted in 2019 in Los Angeles County, this study shows one way that the omission of carceral state targeting produces ideological schema that bolster structural racism. Specifically, I demonstrate that non-Republican voters typically use four predispositions to make sense of their opinions on a proposed jail decarceration policy: (1) conceptions of criminalized people, (2) beliefs about the purpose and effects of the criminal legal system, (3) understandings of structural racism in the criminal legal system, and (4) racialized emotions. In the absence of carceral state targeting and coherent partisan ideology, these predispositions work together to structure three commonly used schema to formulate opinions towards anti-carceral policies: dangerous, deserving, or harmed. The geographically racialized omission of carceral state targeting thus allows for these voters to use ideological schemas that bolster the continued reproduction of carceral racism in their sense-making of anti-carceral policy proposals. PubDate: 2023-09-30 DOI: 10.1007/s42972-023-00093-6
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Abstract: Abstract Historically, government workforce development programs have focused on younger individuals. The effectiveness of these programs for older workers aged 50 or older remains unclear. Therefore, this study examined the effect of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) programs in the state of Georgia on older workers. This study used WIOA performance data, including a total of 11,390 older workers between 2016 and 2020, and the American Community Survey (ACS) data. Descriptive analyses of two datasets examined participant demographics, training information, program participation outcomes, and older labor force characteristics in the state. WIOA programs were successful in serving two disadvantaged groups in employment, including older females and older Black participants. Despite a decrease in the number of older training participants over time, the most chosen training programs aligned with data on common occupations of the older workforce in the state. These programs improved the employability of older female participants but not for other disadvantaged older workers who were older in age or non-White individuals. The findings of this study emphasize the importance of addressing structural barriers to employment for older workers in employment transition, along with the improvement of the government workforce development programs. PubDate: 2023-09-04 DOI: 10.1007/s42972-023-00090-9
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Abstract: Abstract This study focuses on regional organizations (ROs) specifically the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). It assesses the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) mechanisms of the ECOWAS youth policy which was passed in 2008 for the 15 member states and how a member state like Ghana has incorporated it into the national youth policy/program. It utilized the African agency as an analytical framework based on understanding the “African solutions to African problems.” Data were obtained from multiple qualitative sources in a triangulation fashion: interviews, observations, documents and several secondary sources through a multisectoral and organizational approach. The data was analyzed thematically with major and sub-theme themes based on the main research question and other specific questions. The study found that Ghana has made a lot of efforts in integrating the ECOWAS youth policy into the national policies with many M&E mechanisms including the establishment of a data bank on youth activities and development. Another progress is the establishment of a youth ministry and other youth-based specialized agencies through public–private sector partnerships. It recommends that future research be adopted across countries and a longitudinal approach geared towards consolidating the ECOWAS youth policy and M&E mechanisms in member states. PubDate: 2023-08-29 DOI: 10.1007/s42972-023-00091-8
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Abstract: Abstract Since the highly publicized killings of unarmed and non-dangerous Americans, particularly African American men, at the hands of law enforcement, there has been heightened public scrutiny of police misconduct and calls for substantive reform. Recently, federal and state legislators began introducing police reform bills to curtail police misconduct leading to significant debate on whether reform efforts will be practical or effective. This study employed the punctuated equilibrium theoretical framework to examine the introduction of police reform bills in response to police-involved shootings from mid-2020 to early 2022 in Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, and Ohio. The states were purposively chosen since nationally prominent police-involved killings occurred within them (e.g., George Floyd and Justine Damond). These states were compared with five states without a signaling event for context. This article underscores the effect(s) that punctuated instances of police violence/misconduct have on legislative activity. The study found that the incidents of police-involved shootings from mid-2020 to early 2022 increased the punctuated equilibrium properties of the introduction of police reform legislation. Results further indicated a significantly higher frequency of police-involved shootings and legislative activity in states with signaling events. PubDate: 2023-08-07 DOI: 10.1007/s42972-023-00086-5
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