Social policy formulation and the role of professionals: the involvement of social workers in parliamentary committees in Israel

Gal, John; Weiss‐Gal, Idit

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2524.2010.00955.x

Cited by 7 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Nonetheless the findings confirm those of a previous study showing levels of social worker participation that are much lower than the levels of participation in committees more overtly identified with social issues (Gal & Weiss-Gal, 2011). These lower participation levels may be interpreted as reflecting the institutional structures and legacies of the committees.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…The decision to enable the participation of experts and interested parties in the meetings is the prerogative of the committee chair. While non-parliamentarians can request to participate in the discussions, previous research indicates that (at least in the case of social workers) in a vast majority of the cases the initiative for their participation came from the committee itself (Gal & Weiss-Gal, 2011;Lustig-Gants & Weiss-Gal, in press). Given the explicitly economic focus of the issues dealt with by these committees, it is not surprising that invited participants did not include many social workers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although the study was carried out by social work scholars and addressed to social workers, no information is provided as to how many of the witnesses were social workers. Studies undertaken in Israel examined social workers' participation in all 25 Knesset committees that met in the course of two Knesset terms (1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006) (Gal & Weiss-Gal, 2011). The findings showed that one or more social workers participated in 20 of the committees, that some 14% of the committee meetings had at least one social worker in attendance and that social workers participated most in five committees that deal specifically with social issues, and least in the FC, EAC, and State Comptroller committees.…”

Section: Social Workers In Parliamentary Committeesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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‘Money makes the world go around’: Social workers in parliamentary finance committees in Israel

Weiss‐Gal

Nouman

2015

Journal of Social Work

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The study examined social workers' participation in two powerful parliamentary committees in Israel: the Finance Committee (FC) and the Economics Affairs Committee (EAC). It sought to better understand the characteristics of social workers who participated in these committees, their inputs, and to uncover differences between these findings and those on social workers in other parliamentary committees. Qualitative and quantitative content analyses were conducted on the minutes of the committees' sessions between 1999-2013.Findings: At least one social worker spoke in 50 of the FC sessions and in 26 of the EAC sessions. These sessions dealt with a wide range of subjects, including national and local social services budgets, social problems, and vulnerable populations. The social workers expressed opinions on deficiencies in social policies and made recommendations for dealing with social problems. Their opinions conveyed support for social provision in a period in which the neo-liberal discourse was in ascendant. They also provided information on diverse aspects of current social policies. Most of the social worker participants were employed in the government sector.Implications: In terms of theory, the study augments our knowledge of social workers as policy actors. In terms of practice, it shows that finance committees are relevant and accessible arenas of social work activity. Awareness of the inputs and the roles identified can enable social workers to better understand their potential contribution to the discussions of such committees and conceptualize their possible roles in them.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Social Workers In Parliamentary Committeesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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‘Money makes the world go around’: Social workers in parliamentary finance committees in Israel

Weiss‐Gal

Nouman

2015

Journal of Social Work

Self Cite

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“…operating under the law, but belonging to different social-and-cultural groups. In the end, on the one hand, "cultural diversity endangers the model of society welfare" [13], and on the other it creates the culture as practice [14]. The practice of this legislation depends on the social-and-cultural environment of a particular region (mining regions of Russia or China) and on mentality, legal awareness, environmental awareness, etc.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The problems of correlation the life quality and interpersonal dialogue in legal practice of mining regions

et al. 2017

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Abstract. The paper presents an analysis of the impact of life quality at the level of interpersonal dialogue in legal practice of mining regions as the ratio of different subjects there characterizes social-and-cultural environment in general. The attention is given to the fact that the development of social-and-economic potential and independence of the subjects in mining regions in the Russian Federation and other countries makes important the social and cultural factor influencing the development of social stability. The attention is given to the fact that law enforcement on nature and environmental issues depends on the social-and-cultural environment of a particular region and from mentality, legal and environmental awareness, etc. of a particular subject. It was determined that the slowdown in economic growth and an increase of the interests in environmental pollution problems have led not only to the reassessment of the role of coal in China's economic policy, but also touched the problems of social policy, including issues of life quality and law enforcement.

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“…These questions have yet to be systematically studied, but various trends related to the development of social work worldwide suggest that the answers to them are complex and equivocal. On the one hand, the profession has always emphasized its commitment to social justice and change (Gal & Weiss-Gal, 2011). Moreover, it is grounded, at least declaratively, in the "person-in-environment" perspective (Weiss-Gal, 2008), as well as in ideas of empowerment and self-determination (Cheatham, Abell, & Kim, 2015).…”

Section: Social Work and The Models Of Disabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions towards disability among social work students in Israel: Development and validation of a new scale

Holler

Werner

2018

Health Soc Care Community

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Over the last decades, the disability movement has been advocating for a paradigmatic shift in how disability is perceived and managed: from a medical or individual perspective focusing on the person's body and mind to a social perspective emphasizing the context and barriers of disability. However, we still know little about the perceptions of helping professionals, particularly social workers who work closely with disabled people. Thus, the aim of the current study is to develop and validate a scale-Perceptions Toward Disability Scale (PTDS)-to measure how social workers view disability: as an individual or social category. This paper describes the three phases of the scale's construction. First, scale items were formulated and its content validity was examined. Next, a pilot of 30 social workers completed a questionnaire and an initial exploratory factor analysis was conducted. In the third and main phase, the final draft was completed in 2016 by 565 Israeli social work students to assess its psychometric properties. Both exploratory and confirmatory factorial validity and discriminant validity analyses were conducted. The results of a confirmatory factor analysis revealed two distinct factors: an individual perspective of disability comprised of eight items (α = 0.77) and a social perspective of disability comprised of ten (α = 0.66). Subsequent analyses supported the scale's discriminant validity as indicated by the lack of an association between the Attitude Toward Disabled Persons Scale (ATDP) and the social model subscale (r = .13, p = .19) and by the weak negative relation with the individual model subscale (r = -.25, p = .01). These findings show that the PTDS possesses promising construct validity and provide support for its utility. This easy-to-administer instrument offers several practical benefits and can serve as a framework for further empirical research regarding social work practice with disabled people.

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Social policy formulation and the role of professionals: the involvement of social workers in parliamentary committees in Israel

Cited by 7 publications

References 38 publications

‘Money makes the world go around’: Social workers in parliamentary finance committees in Israel

‘Money makes the world go around’: Social workers in parliamentary finance committees in Israel

The problems of correlation the life quality and interpersonal dialogue in legal practice of mining regions

Perceptions towards disability among social work students in Israel: Development and validation of a new scale

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