Browsing by Author "Carrilho, Rita"
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- A participação política dos assistentes sociais em PortugalPublication . Branco, Francisco José do Nascimento; Carrilho, RitaA presente comunicação decorre de uma investigação acerca da policy practice (Carrilho, 2018) que procurou compreender qual o nível de envolvimento dos assistentes sociais em Portugal em atividades profissionais visando influenciar as políticas de bem-estar, bem como os fatores potenciadores ou limitadores desse envolvimento. O apuramento e análise dos dados recolhidos revelaram um baixo nível de envolvimento em atividades de policy practice e um desligamento entre os profissionais e as estruturas do sistema político, aferido pela falta de confiança nas instituições, pela perceção de que os responsáveis políticos não consideram a opinião dos Assistentes Sociais e pela fraca participação em movimentos políticos. Verificando-se uma baixa participação política por parte dos Assistentes Sociais, coloca-se a questão de perceber os impactos que essa fraca participação tem no papel do Serviço Social na capacitação dos utentes para a cidadania. Assim, emergiu da pesquisa referida a questão: de que modo poderão os assistentes sociais motivar os utentes a participar na vida cívica e política de modo a consubstanciar os seus direitos de cidadania, quando os próprios Assistentes Sociais não o fazem? Atendendo a que noutros países os Assistentes Sociais são um grupo profissional com um maior nível de participação política, quando comparado com o nível de participação médio dos cidadãos em geral, o estudo sugeriu a necessidade de aprofundar a questão da participação política dos Assistentes Sociais em Portugal numa perspetiva comparativa com o nível de participação política dos portugueses em geral. A hipótese subjacente a este projeto é a de que a um maior envolvimento dos profissionais na esfera política, poderá corresponder a melhoria da qualidade do seu envolvimento no processo das políticas públicas e, eventualmente a diminuição do aparente desligamento entre a natureza política da profissão e o sistema político em que atua.
- Social workers affecting social policy in PortugalPublication . Branco, Francisco; Carrilho, RitaPolicy practice has been gaining a growing interest in social work literature, since it is considered that such practice may promote social policies committed with the furthering of social welfare and justice, but more research is needed on how policy practice is embedded in social worker’s professional practice and which factors may enhance or constraint such kind of practice. This communication is based on the first extensive study trying to ascertain if and how Portuguese social workers incorporate it in their daily professional work, by developing activities focused on influencing social policies, bringing some light on the level of involvement of social workers in policy practice in Portugal. The study approach was quantitative, based on a snowball sample of 265 valid answers to an online survey. The conceptual model was supported in the Civic Voluntarism Model (Verba, et al, 1995) on political participation, and on the Policy Practice Engagement Model (Gal & Weiss-Gal, 2015) which described the main predictors for engaging in policy practice in social work. The findings led to the conclusion that the social workers showed a low level of engagement in policy practice activities, especially those which imply a greater public exposure, acting with the media, policy makers or public officers to share opinions, make a proposition or report a problem. Considering as main factors the socio-political context, the professional context, the organizational context and individual factors, the findings showed that the last explained most of the differences in the social workers involvement in policy practice, especially when considering interest and efficacy. The study pointed out the need to further research in this area. Given that policy practice implies acting in the political structures, political participation may work as a strong predictor for engaging in policy practice. The study showed that social workers are not politically active and distrust the main political institutions. Although in other countries social workers are more politically active than the average citizen (Hamilton & Fauri, 2001; Ritter, 2008) the level of distrust and disaffiliation shown in this study suggest the need to further studying social worker’s political participation. Professional associations and academia are the main stakeholders in the reinforcement of policy practice. The professional associations may work as actors by proxy once social workers recognize the importance of having strong professional associations that allow them to avoid the direct exposure to the political structures. Regarding the academic background, results show that social workers acknowledge that to influence social policy is part of their professional purpose, however they don’t seem to know how to do it and need to develop the required skills for a better performance in this field. Therefore, Academia can play a lead role in the reinforcement of social workers activity in the social policy, through training, research, and expertise.
- Social workers’ involvement in policy practice in PortugalPublication . Carrilho, Rita; Branco, FranciscoThis article presents the results of the first survey-based study in Portugal about the level of involvement of social workers in social policies, aiming to determine if policy practice is embedded in Portuguese social workers’ professional practice and which factors may enhance or constraint such practice. Combining the Civic Voluntarism Model by Verba and colleagues and the Policy Practice Engagement Model by Gal and Weiss-Gal, which were considered as the main predictors of social workers’ engagement in policy practice, this study followed a quantitative approach, based on 265 valid answers to an online survey obtained through snowball sampling. The findings showed a low level of engagement in policy practice activities among the social workers, especially those requiring a greater public exposure and acting with the media, policymakers, or public officers to share opinions, make a proposition, or report a problem. Considering the main factors of the socio-political context, the professional context, the organisational context, and individual factors, the findings showed that individual factors explained most of the differences in the social workers’ involvement in policy practice, especially when considering interest and efficacy. This study pointed out the need for further research in this area.