Macro Social Work Research Articles

Perceptions of Macro Social Work Education: An Exploratory Study of Educators and Practitioners

Social work graduate education is responsive to and reflective of larger environmental forces, including economic and job market trends, regulations by diverse organizations, and student interests. A national online survey of macro social work educators (n=208) and macro social work practitioners (n=383) explored their perceptions of the intersections between these forces and graduate social work education. Findings indicate that while there remains a consistent level of support for and inclusion of macro social work within MSW programs from both groups, macro practitioners identified a concurrent experience of negative perceptions, attitudes, and experiences toward macro social work education while in their graduate programs. We suggest that social work programs seek out opportunities to integrate macro practice content and field experiences into their curriculum, so that students can be better equipped to respond to the complex systemic challenges they will encounter while in professional practice.

The March of Scientific Knowledge in Social Work

In the Fall 2017 issue of Advances in Social Work we are pleased to present 15 manuscripts--12 empirical, three conceptual--written by authors hailing from 15 states, the District of Columbia, and four countries. Seven papers address various aspects of social work education, including three on research issues, two on child welfare curriculum, one on macro social work, and one on combined public health/social work programs. The remaining papers include three conceptual offerings and five empirical studies conducted in the field.

Working With Refugees in the U.S.: Trauma-Informed and Structurally Competent Social Work Approaches

Social workers, government, and non-governmental organizations in the United States have been inadequately prepared to address the impact of trauma faced by refugees fleeing persecution. Compounding their initial trauma experiences, refugees often undergo further traumatic migration experiences and challenges after resettlement that can have long-lasting effects on their health and mental health. Micro and macro social work practitioners must understand the impact of these experiences in order to promote policies, social work training, and clinical practice that further the health and well-being of refugees and society. Social workers are in a unique position to provide multi-dimensional, structurally competent care and advocacy for diverse refugee populations. The experiences of Cambodian refugees will be used to examine these issues. We will explore the benefits of an ecological perspective in guiding interventions that support refugees, and will apply the framework of structural competence to highlight multidimensional implications for social work with refugee populations.

Micro and Macro Social Work Practice in the Context of Tuberculosis

The study of tuberculosis (TB) in the U.S.-Mexico border involves the consideration of three key components, which are complex and interrelated: the difficulty tracking and providing appropriate TB care due to the epidemiological and pathological characteristics of TB; the border itself is a geographical and epidemiological area that interweaves two nations, two cultures, two health systems and different laws; and the need for prevention and treatment approaches to TB that involve comprehensive clinical care and prevention while also taking into consideration stigma, social context and knowledge. This manuscript describes the work of ten studies conducted in Mexico and in the U.S.-Mexico border region from 2006 to 2013. It also provides an understanding of the social and public health implications of TB, the environment and communities, as well as the identification and application of advocacy and social mobilization practices. The work presented provides an understanding of different interventions related to adherence, stigma reduction, person-centered approaches, and effective micro and macro practices in social work.

Teaching Note—Tweeting Macro Practice: Social Media in the Social Work Classroom

ABSTRACTDespite its ubiquity, social work educators are just beginning to harness social media in teaching. In this teaching note, we discuss our use of Twitter in a bachelor’s-level macro Human Behavior in the Social Environment course. We present results from a survey of 45 students designed to assess their perceptions of Twitter use in the classroom and, in particular, as a macro social work learning tool. Students appreciated using social media in the course and reported that Twitter was a valuable professional social work tool. We explore how social work educators can provide an innovative classroom experience that incorporates ethical and professional use of social media and demonstrate how we used Twitter to apply macro practice competencies.

Educator and practitioner views of professional competencies for macro social work practice

To effectively prepare students for practice, macro social work educators need to keep pace with employers’ demands. This article reports findings from a survey of social work educators ( n = 52) and macro practitioners ( n = 184) in Texas to assess congruence in competencies perceived as necessary for macro practice. Findings reveal that both groups prioritize competencies related to interpersonal dynamics and leadership, program management, and community practice, and view financial management and public relations as least important. However, findings identify differences in practice competencies (e.g. policy practice, organizational management, and development), suggesting a need to better align educational and professional priorities.

Confronting carceral power through experiential learning in macro social work practice

Founded on a rich tradition of community engagement, social work’s commitment to macro practice has waxed and waned throughout its short professional history. Despite an ethical mandate to advocate for social and economic justice, there is a retrenching emphasis on macro practice within social work education. This circumstance affects the profession’s commitment to human rights and social justice as social work students are often unable to actively engage in change-making activities. Many students graduate without the knowledge and skills needed to enact systemic change in their agencies, communities, states, or nation. This case study will explore the use of experiential learning methods to challenge carceral power through the demonstration of macro practice skills, which are essential for challenging the status quo of practices and policies that sustain oppressive systems. This case study details the organization and facilitation of ‘Know Your Rights’ (KYR) trainings, which educate community members about their Constitutional rights when confronted by the police. Through a successful collaboration between the American Civil Liberties Union, a social work program, and a dozen community organizations, the KYR trainings, conducted by over 60 BSW students engaged in three macro practice courses, were delivered in a rural community on the east coast with nearly 400 community members and students in attendance.

P.S.: I Survived: An Activism Project to Increase Student and Community Trauma Awareness

ABSTRACTSocial work students created a community activism project to raise awareness about trauma prevalence and impact. Trauma theory describes silencing as the mechanism that hinders individual and community healing. Therefore, students sought to create an interactive opportunity to heighten trauma visibility on campus. They created a physical mailbox and invited community members respond to the prompt, “I am a survivor because …” and to read others’ responses. Through the project, students were able to document participants’ trauma experiences, increase community trauma awareness, and enhance their own learning. Moreover, the authors believe that this assignment successfully fostered student integration of micro and macro social work skills.

Teaching Macro Social Work through Experiential Learning: Student Reflections on Lessons Learned in Building School-Community Partnerships

A faculty-led experiential learning project was implemented with Master of Social Work students at their field placement sites to teach macro practice skills and research methods. As part of a grant-funded school-university partnership, MSW students were placed in school social work field placements, where their practice focused on individual and small group interventions with youth. Ten MSW students participated in asset-based collective family engagement in diverse, low-income communities, using community organizing skills and community-based participatory research methods. To examine student learning, a pilot study gathered narrative data from seven of the students and three supervisors. MSW students’ learning from the project is discussed in the context of CSWE’s 2015 EPAS competencies. Participation in the experiential/service-learning project supported the ability of the MSW students to build a sense of themselves as professionals bringing value to the community, enhanced their understanding of cultural diversity and family engagement, and provided context for vulnerable students’ struggles in school and the families’ difficulties with school engagement. This project illustrates the potential of school-university partnerships involving MSW field students to help bridge the gaps in school-family partnerships, particularly in diverse and low-income communities, and highlights areas where different teaching methods can be used to reinforce competencies learned.

Revisiting the Relationship between Micro and Macro Social Work Practice

This analysis seeks to bridge the differences between micro and macro practice within the context of the shared mission of social work. The search for common ground, given decades of specialization, includes the identification of the different ways that the two forms of practice can inform each other, describes core workplace skills relevant to interventions at the micro and macro levels of organizational and community life, and explores the need for bilingual capacities to enhance communications between both domains of social work practice. It concludes with implications for future curricular changes.

The Learning Institute: Promoting Social Justice Advocacy Within a Continuing Education Program

ABSTRACTThe pursuit of social justice is an overarching framework that defines the social work profession. The goals of macro social work practice are centered on issues of social justice with strategies that include changing community conditions and creating a sense of solidarity, with particular emphasis on broadening the opportunities for marginalized populations. Given the natural alignment between social justice and macro social work practice, the exclusion of macro practice content in educational experiences should concern social workers and educators alike. The Learning Institute emerged in large part from a school’s shared concern with the micro/macro dichotomy that often characterizes the profession, as well as the faculty’s commitment to renewing the profession’s dedication to our social justice mandate. Results from this formative assessment clearly suggest that participants in the Learning Institute series may have experienced bifurcated education, exposure, and training to social justice advocacy on the macrolevel. Implications for future research and continuing education are discussed.

Debunking macro myths: findings from recent graduates about jobs, salaries, and skills

Research suggests that interest in macro social work practice is declining, a trend that has been well documented in the United States. Studies find that social work educators and practitioners may foster beliefs among MSW students that discredit macro practice and associated skills while asserting macro graduates are likely to face poorer employment prospects and lower salaries than micro counterparts as they start their careers. This study builds on and extends this literature by examining 27 skills in their current job using a five-point Likert-type scale among the early career trajectory of MSW alumni (N = 182) who graduated between 2008 and 2012 from a public social work institution in the southeastern United States. The skills included in the survey, as well as decisions about how to group them into scales, were made based on theoretical links between the skills by macro faculty members. Findings highlight the use of macro practice skills regardless of concentration focus, no differences in salary, or the time it takes to find employment between micro and macro alumni. Implications for social work education are discussed.

Formal and Informal Neighborhood Social Organization: Which Promotes Better Resident Health?

Neighborhood social organization captures how neighborhood residents differently organize to exert social control and enact their vision of their community. Whereas structural aspects of neighborhoods have been found to predict the health of neighborhood residents, we know less about whether neighborhood social characteristics, like social organization, matter for resident health. In their study, authors tested whether two types of social organization-formal and informal-were more predictive of resident self-rated health in a diverse sample of Chicago residents. They used multilevel models with survey weights, ordered dependent variables, and multiple imputation. They found that one measure of formal social organization, organizational participation, was significantly associated with self-rated health even when controlling for other types of social organization and individual participation. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications for macro social work practice to address social determinants of health and improve community health.

Reclaiming and Reimagining Macro Social Work Education: A Collective Biography

ABSTRACTThe authors focus on a collective biography of 12 women social work educators, all either tenured or in tenure lines, from five different universities at the time of the study. The participants represent several aspects of macro practice including administration, planning, community practice, and policy. Beginning with reflections about coming into macro practice, we highlight memories about first teaching experiences and examine cultural shifts discovered in our academic journeys. We feature students who inspired us and perceptions of challenges in curricular development affecting the preparation of students. This article includes comments that emphasize the themes and focus of our collective reflections. Finally, we place what we learned in the context of a report from the Association for Community Organization and Social Administration calling for the visibility of and advocacy for macro social work education.

Police shootings of unarmed African American males: A systematic review

ABSTRACTThis article describes the results of a systematic review examining police shootings of unarmed African American males. Each source was evaluated by two reviewers and coded based on topic relevance and inclusion criteria. Because of the weak external validity found among the experimental studies, the authors made a substantive decision not to synthesize studies in a meta-analysis. Social work practice implications are gleaned from secondary data obtained from coroner, medical examiner, toxicology, police reports, and the experimental studies included in the systematic review. Individual, community, and police departmental policy factors were most often reported to explain such shootings when excluding sources that examined armed African American males. Implications for micro and macro–social work practice are summarized as individual, community, and police departmental policy factors.

Attitudes Toward Advanced Licensing for Macro Social Work Practice

ABSTRACTTrends in clinical licensing and a renewed energy to strengthen macro practice are raising questions about the appropriateness of licensure for macro social work practice. This article presents findings from an online survey of macro social work educators and macro social work practitioners exploring their attitudes toward an advanced-level macro social work license. Faculty and practitioner responders agreed that there is a role for advanced-licensing of macro social work practice; however, the lack of a collectively strong response reflects a current state of ambivalence toward advanced-level licensing for macro practice. Implications from these findings on contemporary social work are discussed.

Re-Envisioning Macro Social Work Practice

This article presents 10 recommendations supporting a re-envisioning of macro practice for the 21st century. These strategies are needed to counter a generational trend of disinvestment in macro social work practice and to support the historic vision of the social work profession as equally responsive to the needs of at-risk, disadvantaged populations and the organizational, community, and policy roots of social injustice. Before describing these recommendations and discussing their implications for the social work profession, I first briefly review the challenges facing macro practice and current initiatives promoting its renewal. The goal of this analysis is to define the essential contributions of macro practice while identifying strategies for responding to current dilemmas facing the social work profession.

Модели на социјална политика и макропрактика на социјална работа со имигрирано население: одговор на предрасуди, расизам и дискриминација

Модели на социјална политика и макропрактика на социјална работа со имигрирано население: одговор на предрасуди, расизам и дискриминација

Teaching Note—Incorporating Social Innovation Content Into Macro Social Work Education

The practice of social innovation offers promising approaches for addressing social issues. Although many social innovation strategies are congruent with macro social work theory and practice, some of the insights and tactics that have emerged in the social innovation field have the potential to strengthen current macro practice. Based on our experiences with the social innovation program at the Boston College School of Social Work, we focus on 5 aspects of the social innovation cycle and suggest social innovation content that can be incorporated into macro social work curriculum.

Low Health Literacy and Older Adults: Meanings, Problems, and Recommendations for Social Work

Many older adults struggle to manage their health care problems. Low health literacy exacerbates such struggles and contributes to a variety of adverse health behaviors and outcomes. Addressing how health literacy impinges on the lives of older adults is a neglected area of social work practice and knowledge. This article explores seven areas: defining health literacy, the problem and prevalence of low health literacy among older adults, health inequalities and health literacy, a brief literature review, neglected issues in the literature, suggestions for macro and micro social work interventions to improve health literacy for older adult populations, and conclusion.