ADVANCED CURRICULUM COURSES ADVANCED POLICY COURSES (Prerequisite: SOWK 600) Course selections are determined by the student’s concentration and specialization. SOWK 704—Social Work and the Law [3 credits] Social Work and the Law is an introduction to the structure and operations of the legal system as it affects social work practice. The course covers several areas closely related to social work: family and domestic matters, child welfare, juvenile justice, mental health, education, and advocacy. Emphasis is on analyzing legislation and court decisions as social policy. The focus includes legal issues relating especially to minors, women, people of color, and other disempowered groups. The course also provides an overview of legal issues bearing upon professional responsibility (such as malpractice, privileged communications, and confidentiality) and offers an introduction to the development of skills used in courtroom testimony. SOWK 706—Mental Health and Social Policy [3 credits] This course examines the growth of community mental health in the United States and its relationship to sociological and psychological approaches to various communities and cultural groups. Approaches to mental health, mental illness, problems of service delivery, professional roles, and the possibilities and problems of community mental health are discussed. SOWK 708—Integrated Behavioral Health Policy [3 credits] This course is an introduction to U.S. health and behavioral health care policies and programs. This course is designed to prepare students to analyze, develop, and implement health and behavioral health policies across a range of settings, including prevention/promotion services, primary care, acute care, chronic care, and long-term care. It examines the financing and organization of health and behavioral health systems, including the historical and contemporary forces that have shaped their development. We will pay particular attention to evidence-based models that aim to integrate physical and behavioral health services. The role of social workers in health care will be addressed throughout the semester, including the need to work effectively with cross-disciplinary teams of providers. A major focus will be the impact of policies on excluded, marginalized, and vulnerable populations, and the evaluation of policies based on the social work profession’s ethical criteria such as fairness, social justice, antioppression, self-determination, and human dignity. The course will also examine diversity dimensions, including ability, age, class, culture, ethnicity, family structure, gender, gender identity and expression, relationship status,
national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. SOWK 710—Legislative Processes in Social Welfare [3 credits] This course has two basic purposes. The first is to provide students with an understanding of American legislative processes with particular reference to the social welfare policy formulation system. The federal system of policy and legislative process also will be examined. The second aim is to develop an appreciation and understanding of the range of social work involvement in the policy/legislative process. Throughout the course, attention is given to the role of human service advocacy organizations active in influencing social welfare legislation and the role of social workers in social action. The course is also offered as SWOA 710 for those wanting an advanced macro methods course. The major assignment for the course will vary according to the designation chosen (Advanced Policy or Macro methods). SOWK 713—Social Policy and Health Care [3 credits] This course is designed to prepare students to assess and understand the impact of American medical and health service programs and policies on human well-being. It has several purposes: (1) to understand the political process through which health service delivery policy evolves; (2) to provide students with background on the organization of health care services so that they have some understanding of the origins and current directions of health care programs; (3) to understand the relationship of medical care and health care programs to other community programs and their impact on various communities; and (4) to enable students, as future social workers, to assess and evaluate program directions and proposals for change. SOWK 715—Children and Social Services Policy [3 credits] This course identifies challenges contemporary American families are experiencing and presents strategies for developing policies and services to meet these challenges. It not only examines specific policies and services that most affect families but also considers broader questions concerning power and its distribution, allocation of resources, and the role of government in promoting individual and family well-being. The theme of advocacy on behalf of children and families at all levels is stressed throughout the course. This course will help students build on the knowledge of the evaluative concepts of social policy analysis developed in prior research and policy courses. SOWK 718 —Equality and Social Justice [3 credits] This course examines concepts of equality and inequality, justice (or equity), and injustice, and how they have been or could be applied to the development and implementation of social policy, with a particular focus on the U.S. The
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