Strategies of Social Workers’ Policy Engagement—a Qualitative Analysis Among Swiss Social Workers Holding Elected Office

Abstract

While ethical documents all around the globe call upon social workers to actively participate in policymaking processes, there is little evidence of their actual engagement in this type of practice. In particular, the fact that social workers also engage in party-politics by running for or holding elected office has been neglected in most of the existing research. Therefore, this article focuses on this very specific route of policy engagement by examining strategies for influencing policymaking processes used by Swiss social workers holding political office. To do so, 31 social workers holding elected office in the German-speaking part of Switzerland were invited to write a book chapter in an edited volume. The authors were explicitly asked to describe in detail their strategies and methods for influencing policymaking processes, and to place social work issues on the political agenda. Based on a qualitative content analysis of the book chapters, the following strategies were identified: (1) bringing social work’s professional expertise into policymaking processes, (2) doing good and talking about it, (3) presenting facts and figures, (4) organizing the profession, (5) networking, and (6) “normalizing” policy engagement in social work. The findings suggest that political content should be strengthened in social work education and further promoted by professional associations. This would empower more social workers to run for political office and enable them to contribute their specific skills, knowledge, and expertise to policymaking processes.

The policy engagement of social workers: a research overview

“…Studies have shed some light on the strategies adopted by SWs in elected offices. Kindler and Amann (2022) examined the strategies used by 31 Swiss SWs in elected offices for influencing policymaking processes. It emerged that the SWs were involved in bringing social work's professional expertise about social problems into policymaking processes, both by case-study storytelling and by presenting data and figures.…”