SW Z515 - Social Welfare Policy And Prog

Credits: 3

The history, philosophy, and structure of social welfare and social work within the American social system are presented in a model that students may use to understand social welfare issues, programs, and services and to enhance social work practice with clients. The role of social policy in helping or deterring people in the maintenance or attainment of optimal health and well-being, and the effect of policy on social work practice, will be explored. Students will be taught to analyze current social policy within the context of historical and contemporary factors that shape policy. Course content will include the political and organizational processes used to influence policy, the process of policy formulation, and the frameworks for analyzing policies in light of principles of social and economic justice. This course provides students with a foundation for understanding social problems and social welfare policies. In doing so, this course seeks to prepare social work students to be informed and competent providers of social services. Based on the premise that effective social work practice is grounded in a solid foundation of the larger social forces that have an impact on people?s capacity to meet basic human needs, this course will help build this understanding and provide students with basic analytic tools needed to engage in the process of changing and/or formulating policies and programs to serve clients more effectively. Principles of policy development and analysis will be examined from a strengths-based perspective with an emphasis on social justice. In particular, the course will examine the ways in which discrimination and oppression have affected the structure of social welfare policies and the impact of these policies on those who experience poverty, people of color, women, people with disabilities, older adults, and other vulnerable population groups. The impact of professional ethics and societal values on the development of social policy will be examined. The historical development of the social work profession, and its role within the social welfare system, will also be studied. This course also includes interprofessional education (IPE) experiences with students from social work, pharmacy, public health, and nursing, among other professions. The goal of IPE is to prepare health and behavioral health students to deliberately work together with the common goal of building a safer and improved, patient-centered and community-population-oriented U.S. healthcare system. IPE is based in shared professional competencies that include values/ethics for interprofessional practice, roles/responsibilities, interprofessional communication, and team and teamwork as defined by the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC). During the semester, students will be preassigned to interprofessional groups to complete an assignment related to healthcare policies in the United States. Prerequisite: Admission to the Online MSW Program or permission of program.