Courses
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SSW WP 703: International Social Welfare Policy
This course is designed to familiarize students with social problems and social policies cross-nationally. It contrasts problem definitions and policy responses among nations at similar levels of economic development. The course presents descriptive materials on social policies in different nations and contrasts, and traces factors leading in recent years toward welfare state retrenchment and away from welfare state expansion. -
SSW WP 704: Social Policy and Programs on Aging
This course explores the development and scope of public policies directed toward older persons. It reviews the provisions and workings of current programs, with special attention to implications for social work practice. Program areas investigated include acute and long-term health care, housing and community-based services, and the formal service structure and its relationship to informal service provision. Finally, the course explores emerging policy innovations in aging, such as public and private insurance for chronic-care needs, life care programs, and proposals for more progressive public policies affecting older Americans. -
SSW WP 705: Mental Health and Social Policy
This course provides an understanding of mental health policy and service delivery in the United States and of the impact of mental health policies on social work practice. It reviews multiple perspectives on mental health and mental illness and the history of social policies influencing mental health care. The class examines current trends in service delivery and financing (such as managed care and health insurance reform) and explores legal and ethical issues in the provision of mental health care. Models of family and consumer advocacy and empowerment are considered. -
SSW WP 706: Social Welfare Policy and the Family
Profound changes in the structure of American society and in the makeup of the family have stimulated debate about the appropriate role of government in family maintenance and child rearing. This course reviews major social and demographic changes in the family and critical issues in the construction of a national family policy, particularly in the areas of income distribution, child welfare, social services, employment, and health care. -
SSW WP 707: Social Welfare Policy and Programs on Children
This course analyzes emerging issues and ideas about children and how these affect social policy and practice. It reviews major social and demographic changes in the family that affect the development of national policies designed to protect and provide for the care of children. The course emphasizes policies in such areas as income provisions, adoption, substitute care, neglect and abuse, social services, and employment. -
SSW WP 710: Family Law and Children's Rights
This course provides a framework for understanding law and social policy. It examines the impact of law on the social work profession. The class discusses issues of marriage and divorce, child custody and support, children's rights, and legal research. -
SSW WP 711: Substance Abuse Policy
This course in alcohol and drug policy is designed to provide students with a forum to acquire and synthesize knowledge of policy, research, and service organization in the field. The course will include topics such as alcohol and drug research, social problems that interface with alcohol and drug policy (e.g., poverty, gender, and race discrimination), key issues, controversies and trends, ethics and values issues, and the role of social work in the field of alcohol and drug policy and research. -
SSW WP 719: U.S. Housing Policy
This course builds on the historical context and policy analysis skills developed in WP700 and WP701 to provide an in-depth examination of the structure, development and debates in housing policy in the U.S. Focus on the workings of housing markets, analytic tools useful in exploring housing policy as well as current research concerning public housing and dispersal programs will be featured prominently in the course. -
SSW WP 900: Social Program Analysis and Evaluation
This course prepares doctoral students in the application of analytical methods as a basis for improving public and organizational decision making in social welfare. The political, value, and technical aspects of policy formation and implementation are considered. The course emphasizes the formulation of empirical hypotheses and assessment of the hypotheses against available data. -
SSW WP 901: Sociology of the Social Work Profession
This course explores the development of social work as a profession. It examines the historical roots of, and key trends in, social work. Readings are taken from sociological literature on professionalization and comparison of several professions within social work. Discussion includes a critical evaluation of the function of "experts" in contemporary American society. -
SSW WP 903: Perspectives on Social Welfare Policy
Focusing on theory, process, and substance, this course exposes students to different understandings of the American political institutions as they relate to social welfare policy. Attention is paid to institution and other factors shaping and constraining the development of social policies in the United States.
