Strengthening the Social Work Voice:
The NASW
Social Work Policy Institute
Presentation to Idaho Social Workers
April 8, 2011
Joan Levy Zlotnik, PhD, ACSW
Director, Social Work Policy Institute
NASW
jzlotnik@naswdc.org
Why Develop a Social Work
Think Tank?
Code of
Ethics
Social Work
Perspective
Social Work
Congress
Imperatives
Social
Justice
Social Work
Reinvestment
Initiative
Influence
©2010 National Association of Social Workers. All Rights Reserved.
Why Develop a Social Work
Think Tank?
Social Work Reinvestment Initiative
Goal: Secure federal and state investments in
professional social work to enhance societal wellbeing.
Why Develop a Social Work
Think Tank?
Practice
Relevant
Research
EvidenceInformed
Care
Advocating
for Policy
Dissemination of
Findings
Social Work Policy Institute
• Division of the NASW Foundation
• Established October, 2009
• www.SocialWorkPolicy.org
Social Work Policy Institute Mission
• To strengthen social work’s voice in public
policy deliberations
• To collect and disseminate information on
social work effectiveness
• To create a forum to examine current and
future issues in health care and social
services delivery
SWPI Mechanisms
•
•
•
•
•
Position papers and briefs
Symposia
Listening sessions
Briefings
Web-based resources and tools (e.g., social
work effectiveness)
• Collaborations with key stakeholders
Year One: SWPI Priorities
• Solidifying Research/Practice/Policy Connections
– Organize Information on Social Work Effectiveness
• Promote Social Work Role in Psychosocial Interventions
–
–
–
–
Social Work & Comparative Effectiveness Research
Social Work Role in Hospice
Addressing Health Disparities
The Social Work Role in Long Term Care
• Enhance Social Work Voice in Improving Child Welfare
Service Delivery
Highlight of Activities
• Hosted Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) Symposium
and developed report and brief
• Hosted Symposium on Hospice Social Work: Linking Practice,
Policy & Research and developed report and brief
• Created Research to Practice Brief on impact of caseloads on
worker turnover and service delivery
• Participate in CDC Knowledge to Action Think Tank
• Advisor for National Child Welfare Workforce Institute
• Analyze British SW taskforce report relevance for U.S.
• Planning for Supervision: The Safety Net for Front-Line Child
Welfare Practice
©2009 National Association of Social Workers. All Rights Reserved.
Convening Power of SWPI
Practitioners
Government
ACTION STEPS
RELATIONSHIPS
Providers
POLICY CHANGE
Foundations
National
Organizations
©2010 National Association of Social Workers. All Rights Reserved.
FUNDING
OPPORTUNITIES
SWPI Initiative 1:
Comparative Effectiveness Research
 Growing attention to what works for whom under what
conditions
 $1.1 billion in the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act
 CER supports research assessing the comparative
effectiveness of health care treatments
 Conduct and synthesize research
 Develop registries
 Generate and obtain outcomes data
CER: How Does Social Work Fit?
• Review available information
• Convene stakeholders
–
–
–
–
Federal staff
Social work researchers
Providers
Funders
• Identify opportunities and challenges for social work
• Develop and disseminate action steps
Recommendations for Action
CER Recommendations are Targeted to:
• National Organizations
• Academic Settings
• Practice-Research Linkages
• Engagement with Government Agencies
• Enhancement of Research Methodology
©2009 National Association of Social Workers. All Rights Reserved.
Recommendations for Action
National Organizations
Convene a large-scale social work-led
summit on CER.
Enhance relationships with NIH,
AHRQ, and other research entities.
Educate practitioners on CER through
continuing education strategies.
Increase efforts to strengthen the link between social
work research and practice. For example:
• Explore establishing awards and events that link
practitioners to researchers.
• Explore establishing field-of-practice specific
clearinghouses.
• Encourage replication of effective interventions and
translation of research to practice by endorsing
practices evaluated through CER.
©2009 National Association of Social Workers. All Rights Reserved.
Academic Settings
Regarding research excellence:
• Train faculty to expand their research
capacity to include CER methodologies.
• Add CER methodologies to the social work
curriculum.
• Train researchers and practitioners to include
economic evaluation in intervention
research.
Regarding practice excellence:
• Reinforce the importance of remaining up to
date on research outcomes in BSW and
MSW curricula materials.
• Encourage collaboration between health and
human service agencies and university-based
researchers.
Regarding academic publications:
• Encourage researchers to seek
interdisciplinary publication opportunities.
• Present practice relevance of the research in
journal articles.
Recommendations for Action
Collaboration with
Federal Agencies
Encourage NIH and AHRQ to:
• Enhance social work research
• Recognize the value of social
workers on interdisciplinary
research teams.
• Engage more social workers on
scientific review committees.
• Promote economic evaluation as
part of the research study
design.
Ensure inclusion of existing
databases of social work research
in the CER “horizon scanning”
efforts.
Increase dissemination of already
available systematic reviews of
social work interventions.
©2009 National Association of Social Workers. All Rights Reserved.
CER Methods
Practice-Research Linkages
Continue to build the research
base of “effective social work”
interventions.
Further develop
researcher-practitionerconsumer linkages.
Promote community-based
participatory research (CBPR)
methods.
Train practitioners to use
research to inform
practice.
Enhance methodologies for
researchers to:
• Compare interventions to
make determinations of
effectiveness.
• Address both short and longterm effectiveness outcomes.
• Consider effectiveness across
multiple study sites.
Foster research
collaborations in real
world settings.
Consider new techniques for data
collection.
Include economic evaluation
and considerations of dosage,
duration, and rigor in
effectiveness research.
Encourage organizations
to support practitioners’
production of research.
Encourage practitioners
to publish results of
evaluations and
outcomes of practice.
Hospice Social Work: Linking
Policy, Practice and Research
SYMPOSIUM GOALS
• To promote high quality psychosocial care in hospice
• To explore social work’s contribution to building comprehensive
End of Life (EOL) care
• To identify research on social workers’ roles and intervention
practices
• To understand hospice regulations and the regulatory development
process
• To engage key stakeholders in dialogue and action planning
©2009 National Association of Social Workers. All Rights Reserved.
Hospice Social Work:
Action Agenda Highlights
To Enhance Social Work’s Contribution to Quality Hospice
Care
• Value and promote hospice social work credentials, competitive
salaries, social work supervision and peer support and professional
development opportunities.
• Promote social work role on interdisciplinary team (IDT),
including enhanced IDT research and training.
• Engage patients and family members in care planning.
©2009 National Association of Social Workers. All Rights Reserved.
Hospice Social Work:
Action Agenda Highlights Cont’d.
To Enhance Social Work’s Contribution to Quality Hospice Care
• Enhance relationships and information exchange between the social work
community and CMS.
• Promote culturally-competent care and outreach to diverse populations.
• Ensure social work input into quality improvement and assessment strategies.
• Strengthen attention to EOL and palliative care in the social work curriculum.
• Enhance linkages between hospice social workers and other health care social
workers.
©2009 National Association of Social Workers. All Rights Reserved.
Hospice Social Work:
Action Agenda Highlights Cont’d
To Strengthen Research-Policy-Practice Bridges
• Enhance social work research on EOL care supported by NIH and AHRQ
• Build visible practice- and policy-relevant dissemination tools of research
findings.
• Ensure practice relevant and practitioner and consumer/family -engaged
research.
• Enhance involvement of social workers in interdisciplinary EOL research.
• Pursue systematic reviews of hospice psychosocial research.
• Advocate for increased funding for EOL research.
• Promote partnerships among national and local social work and hospice entities.
©2009 National Association of Social Workers. All Rights Reserved.
Hospice Patients
and Family
Members
Hospice
Agencies
Advance the Role of
Hospice Social Work
and Address
Practice Issues
National Hospice and
Social Work
Organizations
Enhance
Diversity in
Hospice Services
Promote
Collaborations with
Federal Agencies
ENHANCING
EXCELLENCE
IN
HOSPICE
CARE
Federal Agencies and
Other Funders
Promote Research
on Hospice Social
Work
Promote
Interdisciplinary
Team Functioning
Hospice
Social
Workers
Promote ResearchPractice Linkages
Hospice Researchers
Interdisciplinary
Team Members
NASW Activities:
End-of-life and Palliative Care
• Develop Comments and Letters to Influence Policy
– Submitted comments to CMS advocating inclusion of advance
care planning in Medicare annual wellness visit (2010)
– Submitted comments advocating for inclusion of end-of-life
and palliative care as a topic area in Healthy People 2020
(2009)
– Congressional letter & member action alert to oppose hospice
rate cuts (2008–09)
– Submitted comments to CMS opposing downgrading of social
work qualifications in revised Medicare Conditions of
Participation (2008)
©2009 National Association of Social Workers. All Rights Reserved.
NASW Activities:
End-of-life and Palliative Care
• NASW 2010 Annual Practice Conference
Social Work’s Critical Role in End of Life Care
• NASW Standards for Palliative and End of Life Care
http://www.socialworkers.org/practice/bereavement/stan
dards/standards0504New.pdf
©2009 National Association of Social Workers. All Rights Reserved.
NASW Activities:
End-of-life and Palliative Care
• Joint Commission: Participate in PTAC for Home Care
(includes hospice)
http://www.jointcommission.org/AboutUs/Fact_Sheets/advisory_groups.htm
http://www.jointcommission.org/AccreditationPrograms/HomeCare/
• Hospice Foundation of America (HFA): Support live
teleconference
• Mayday Fund: Endorsed chronic pain report (2009)
http://www.socialworkers.org/practice/aging/2010/010610b.asp
• Aging with Dignity: Promoted translations of Five Wishes (2007)
http://www.socialworkers.org/practice/aging/2008/alzheimers.asp
©2009 National Association of Social Workers. All Rights Reserved.
•
NASW Activities: End-of-life
and Palliative Care
• National Healthcare Decisions Day:
• Alzheimer’s Association Dementia Care Practice
Recommendations: Supported development of two sets
of recommendations
– Phase 3, EOL care in assisted living & nursing home settings
(2007)
– Phase 4, home care (2009)—included extensive information on
EOL care
http://www.socialworkers.org/practice/aging/2010/010610a.asp
©2009 National Association of Social Workers. All Rights Reserved.
NASW WebEd
www.naswwebed.org
Free web-ed courses for social workers and other social service
professionals.
Membership in NASW is not required.
Courses take approximately 90 minutes to complete;
Learners can earn one CE for completing the test at the end of the
course.
©2009 National Association of Social Workers. All Rights Reserved.
NASW WebEd
www.naswwebed.org
•
•
•
•
•
•
Understanding Cancer: The Social Worker's Role
Understanding End of Life Care: The Social Worker's Role
Understanding Aging: The Social Worker's Role
Understanding Cancer Caregiving: The Social Worker’s Role
Achieving Cultural Competence to Reduce Health Disparities in
End of Life Care
Promoting Adherence to Cancer Oral Medications: The Social
Worker’s Role
©2009 National Association of Social Workers. All Rights Reserved.
Discussion
• Ensuring social work’s place at the policy table
– Strengthening research and policy connections
– Identifying and reporting on social work effectiveness
– Addressing critical policy issues for social work action
• Supporting the Social Work Reinvestment Initiative
– Optimizing the role of social workers in practice
– Assessing challenges and opportunities to quality training and
education
SWPI Reports
• Comparative Effectiveness and Research and Social
Work: Strengthening the Connection (full report, 2 page
brief and executive summary
http://www.socialworkpolicy.org/events/social-work-researchand-comparative-effectiveness-research-cer-a-researchsymposium-to-strengthen-the-connection.html
• Coming soon to SocialWorkPolicy.org –
Hospice Social Work: Linking Policy Practice and Research –
Report and 2 page brief
©2009 National Association of Social Workers. All Rights Reserved.
For More Information
• Social Work Policy Institute
http://www.socialworkpolicy.org
• Social Work Reinvestment Initiative
• http://www.socialworkreinvestment.org
• NASW Center for Workforce Studies
• http://workforce.socialworkers.org/
©2009 National Association of Social Workers. All Rights Reserved.
For More Information
Contact:
Joan Levy Zlotnik, PhD, ACSW
Director, Social Work Policy Institute, NASW
jzlotnik@naswdc.org
Stacy Collins, MSW
Senior Practice Associate – Health
scollins@naswdc.org
Chris Herman, MSW
Senior Practice Associate – Aging
cherman@naswdc.org
©2009 National Association of Social Workers. All Rights Reserved.