Search

The National Social Work Voter Mobilization Campaign, also known as Voting is Social Work, involved social work faculty, field educators, practitioners, and students in a nonpartisan voter engagement drive. Following the 2018 elections, researchers surveyed Campaign participants in social work schools and agencies to document their voter engagement activities. The study reported extent and amount of their involvement. The survey distinguished between the voter engagement participation of school- versus agency-based social workers, which has not been studied elsewhere. Participants also reported the benefits of political participation to individuals, communities, and the profession and perceived barriers such as organizational constraints, fears of appearing partisan, and distrust of politics. Presented in historical context, the findings highlight the need to mainstream voter engagement throughout social work education.

Objective: Adopting a business model in human service agencies has led to service delivery challenges and problematic working conditions. This article reports the initial validation of the Organizational Commitment to Managerialism (OCTM) scale, a tool designed to measure how the business model is operationalized in human service agencies. Method: Data from a purposive nonprobability sample of 2,326 workers employed in New York City metropolitan area human service agencies were collected by an anonymous electronic survey, and the sample was split to conduct discrete exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The exploratory factor analysis established the underlying factor structure of the construct; a confirmatory factor analysis examined the subsample's psychometric properties. Construct validity was confirmed by comparison with validated scales and individual items included in the parent study. Results: Exploratory factor analysis indicated that the OCTM consisted of five internally valid subscales: productivity , accountability , efficiency , standardization , and performance outcomes. Cross-validating confirmatory analysis supported this structure. In addition, OCTM scales correlated as expected with various hypothesized measures, providing strong evidence of construct validity. Conclusions: The OCTM is a useful tool to evaluate workplace factors and improve working conditions, service delivery, and the well-being of human service workers and the clients they serve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study assesses the relationship between managerialism and health among human service workers. Methods: A total of 2154 New York City human service workers participated in an electronic survey that included validated measures of a system of work organization (the Organizational Commitment to Managerialism scale [OCTM]) and a work stressor (the Effort Reward Imbalance scale [ERI]), and single items about physical, mental, and behavioral health. Controlling for demographic variables, logistic regression models were used to predict health outcomes assess the potential role of ERI as a mediator. Results: Managerialism was associated with increased risk of high blood pressure, neck and back pain, gastrointestinal difficulties, sleeping disorders, anxiety, and depression. Mediation analyses suggested that the effects of managerialism on health were partially explained by ERI. Conclusions: Managerialism in human service agencies significantly increased the risk of adverse physical and mental health. Increased levels of a work stressor helped to explain part of this association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the mid-1970s, neoliberal policies have relied on privatization and other tactics to down-size the state, transforming human service organizations in the process. The impact of this approach, also known as managerialism, has not been examined in addiction treatment, where the opioid epidemic has intensified the need for services. Using qualitative semi-structured interviews, we explore how managerialism has affected the workforce, service delivery, and the quality of care in New York City addiction treatment programs. Front-line and managerial staff identified threats to working conditions, including high caseloads and productivity demands; threats to service quality including standardization of practice, loss of professional discretion and serving only those most likely to succeed; and threats to worker well-being marked by stress, burn-out, and low morale. The contradictions between the goals of managerialism and addiction treatment threaten the ability to meet the needs of people struggling with addiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Welfare reform has placed the lives of clients, the jobs of social workers, and the mission of agencies in jeopardy. Based on interviews with senior staff at 107 nonprofit human services agencies, this article documents the largely untold story of how nonprofit agencies' workers responded to the impact of welfare reform on their clients, their jobs, and the delivery of services. Workers reported less time for social services because of welfare-related regulations, penalties, work mandates, crises, and paper work. They also reported more service dilemmas including less control of the job, more ethical conflicts, less efficacy, and increased burn-out. Even so, workers felt that they were making a difference, and agencies indicated increased advocacy. Relying heavily on the voice of social workers, the article illuminates the experiences and feelings of agency staff as they try to do their best for clients in difficult times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a response to social work educationist Dean Bardill. Dean Bardill suggests that requiring social work students to be educated for social change would have dire consequences for the profession. He argues that the effort would backfire, leading social workers to be replaced by other human service workers, MBAs, and other administratively educated disciplines. Likewise, sociological research would supplant practice and become the centerpiece of social work education. While acknowledging the tension between micro and macro "changers," he reproduces the false dichotomy between individual and collective interventions that unfortunately divided the profession for most of the 20th century. As in the earlier historic debates over the relative merits of individual and social change, change is relegated to macro practice, leaving micro practice to focus on treatment and adjustment. The false polarization reflects the contradiction inherent in social work-that regardless of method, all social work practice can be directed to either preserving or transforming the psychological and sociological status quo.