MSWPG7214 Advocating for Individuals, Families, Groups and Communities

Introduction

In a healthy society, social action and advocacy work together to promote the values of human rights and social justice. Social workers activists as a part of the organised movement have always offered advocacy services, especially in the health sector in Australia. Advocacy and social action are the two key elements of social work. In practising social work, advocacy and social action are used as the structural approach that assumes that the resources and opportunities are distributed unequally (Lewis et al., 2011, pp. 5-16). The social worker also assumes advocacy and social action are the direct practice to provide support to deprived and vulnerable members of the society. 

Advocacy, in particular, ensures that the deprived and unprivileged people are able to get their voice heard on the issues that are important to them, they can defend their rights, and their views are taken into considerations before imposing a decision on them (Loue, 2013, pp. 1039-1043). Advocacy service provides support in enabling people to express their views, access the information, and explore options and choice. On the other hand, social action refers to working alongside the community (Surooprajally, 2018). Social actions help in developing a sense of awareness. To advocate a case, it is important to comprehend and handle different social situations. However, working with a community providing advocacy and social services helps in improving the social skills and you interacting skills with society. 

In order to have effective and successful advocacy and social action, there are certain techniques that are needed to be followed. To strategically advocate, it is important to identify and frame the issue being raised. Once an advocate understands the raised issue, further research can be done to collect more information. In order to take social action, a social work forms alliance, network, involve media and plan the campaigns against the cause to build pressure on the representative body (Rasmussen et al., 2018, pp. 139-164). In this way, the advocacy flows systematically and results in achieving the desired results. In addition to that, to achieve the desired outcomes, a social worker should follow the key principles in people-centred advocacy. A social worker or advocate must listen to the people carefully, participate in counter questioning in order to gather details. A social worker is supposed to have considerate knowledge about the acts, information and techniques to strategically advocate the issue for the successful advocacy (Rasmussen et al., 2018, pp. 139-164). 

In the following comparative analysis research report, two case studies of advocacy and two case studies of social action will be studied in order to analyse the underlying theories and effectiveness of the models used in the case study. The purpose of this comparative analysis report is to analyse and compare examples of advocacy and social action, drawing on relevant theories and models. 

2 Models of Advocacy – Case Study

Case Study 1 – Self Advocacy Case

This case study is about Kirsty who filed a complaint against her community care cleaning services for not performing the job. For the floor not being mopped and dried properly, Kristy had recently had an accident. Kristy soon discussed the matter with the ADA Australia’s advocate who confirms her that she has the right to receive proper services. Along with the advocate, Kristy complained to the manager to assure the right action is to be taken timely (ADA Australia, 2018). 

In this above case, Kristy used self-advocacy model against her complain. Self-advocacy model defines individuals speaks up and represent issues for themselves, with a support of paid or unpaid authorised advocate. It is an outward facing model that aim to secure support and services for the individuals. Self-advocacy model focuses on ensuring the vulnerable person’s voice is heard. It also promotes confidence, knowledge, protection and skills of an individual (Stewart and Maclntyre, 2013). 

In this case, the applied theory of social work can be community development. The theory of community development social work highlights understanding the social relations and power dynamics that direct relationships in diversified communities. In this case study, it was important to file the complaint against the community care services for not performing the job properly in order to avoid the future consequences that can harm other members of the community. For this reason, self-advocacy was a good choice, but Kristy could have asked other members to report to take peer advocacy for this incident. 

Case Study 2 – Independent Advocacy

In this case study, a previous mental health professional, aged 53 referred to advocacy service for his depression diagnosis. However, he had been facing difficulties in his employment and finances. Being a mental health professional, he was found facing difficulties in his current diagnosis. At the time when he seeks help from the professional advocate, he states that he does not have more sick leaves from his work, even than he is unable to go to work. Initially, an appeal for “Personal Independence Payment” (PIP) was made on his behave to seek support for his cognitive function assessment and psychological support. Following the appeal for PIP, the General Physician consultation was arranged from whose referral, he consulted the psychological therapists for complete cognitive assessment. It was found out that the client is suffering from dementia. The procedure went on with support from the client’s employer. 

In this case study, the client opted for independent/professional advocacy service to raise his problem. With the help of professional advocacy, the client successfully made his psychological treatment happen. Independent advocacy enables a person to arrange for independent funding. Independent advocacy prefers a single paid advocate, rather than the group advocacy in order to avoid conflict of interests and to provide specialised support, and treatment for the person.  

Analysis of Theories and Effectiveness of Advocacy

Advocacy is likely to tangle with the different behaviours, skills and interpersonal relationships. It includes meeting human needs by creating a social institution for professional advocacy. Professional advocate play various roles in advocacy, for instance, negotiator, leader, lobbyist as well as politicians. However, social advocacy supports in accomplishments of the goals for social change. Professional advocates may require these advocacy skills in order to advocate for the individual or group of people to get their voice heard (London, 2010, pp. 224). Empowerment and advocacy is a broad theoretical framework that encompasses all aspects of the individual’s life and it is intended to help them have the power to make decisions and to act alone. The empowerment and advocacy theory has several attributes related to important policies. The policies stem from the desire to help people overcome obstacles to their goals. Strength helps customers by giving them the tools they need to make changes, express themselves, and build confidence. It also protests oppression and encourages customers to advocate their rights. Moreover, it also involves working with individuals with mutual support and social networking technology to show the barriers to their lives (Unsicker, 2017).

From the above cases, two different models of advocacy were discussed. Self-advocacy and independent/professional advocacy. The application of models of advocacy varies from cases to cases. It means that a single model of advocacy cannot be used in resolving every issue. Self-advocacy model allows the person to have highly specific knowledge, intensive experience, and support from a paid or unpaid advocate. On the other hand, independent advocate enables a person to share wide-ranging knowledge, experienced advocacy skills, professional and scheduled advocacy system (Kim et al., 2017, pp. 1335-1358). 

Self-advocacy refers to speaking up for yourself. From the above case of self-advocacy, it is clearly understood that any individual can raise his/her voice for their voice to be heard. In the case discussed, Kirsty rose up to file a complaint against the community care cleaning service when she had faced an accident because of their negligence. In this case, self-advocacy was the most effective model that could be used as Kirsty took help of the advocate to discuss the issue with the manager. From this case study, it is clear that Kirsty was well-aware of her rights, and she discussed the issue with the concerned person without involving others. 

In contrast to self-advocacy, the other case study discussed independent advocacy model used by the 53 years old mental health professional. In this case study, the mental health professional consulted a professional advocate to take care of his health matter. In this case, professional advocacy was the most effective choice since it was unclear that the issue will prolong to long-term or can be resolved in short-term (Featherstone et al, 2012). In these cases, the professional advocates play the role of bridging gaps between the two parties and to achieve the desired outcome. 

2 Models of Social Action – Case Study

Case Study 1 – Populist Model of Social Action

In the following case study, a social campaign called “changing the face of beauty” is one of the examples of the populist model of social action. This model of social action entirely relies on mainstream social power. The purpose of this approach of social action is to dominate self-reliance over dependency through collective efforts, participation, and broad thinking (Mahida, 2017). A populist movement is an ideal form of social action in which the participants experience and work together in helping themselves and strengthening each other. 

This campaign was started to make awareness in people about the fact that every child is not born the same, and they are beautiful in their own way. In this social campaign, the disabled children and normal children were made to ramp walk with the normal children to promote awareness that the children are on an equal level. Further, in this social campaign, the children were introduced to the audience without having to be discussed about their disabilities to reassure them that there is no difference between the normal children and disable children. The purpose of this social action remained to create a community ties stronger to bridge the gap over this issue of not having disabled children used as the models, and to help people in changing their attitude towards the children with disability (Walker, 2015). As a result of this campaign, newspaper articles started to talk about the disabled children appreciating them. 

Case study 2 – Institutional-Social Model

Institutional social model visualises social action by the independent institutions that paid/unpaid by the government. This model talks about supporting people and other social causes (Mahida, 2017). This model was first initiated to challenge the framework of law or social action by the NGOs. 

In this case study of “Born Free Foundation”, an independent NGO worked to free the captive whales and dolphins kept in the zoo. This campaign is an example of the institutional social model. In this case study, hundreds of zoos and aquariums were studied where these whales and dolphins were captivated away from their wild environment for the purpose of human entertainment (Walker, 2015). The purpose of this campaign/ social action was to aware people about the situation. The campaign also aimed to bring a global change towards fair treatment of these animals. The people should be made aware of the living conditions of captive animals away from their natural habitat. Thereof, this campaign said to challenge the dominant representation to inform people whether captivating wildlife is right or not. 

Analysis of Theories and Effectiveness of Social Action

Social actions are the actions taken of the past, present and future behaviours, actions, and attitude of the society. However, a social action cannot be influenced by one individual, but the group of people must recognise the need for social action in order to bring a change. On the other hand, even the group of individuals cannot bring a social change unless they interact. A social action includes meaningful comprehension of the actions of others. Thereof, social action is confined to a particular situation where the individual’s behaviour is meaningfully understood and related to the societal norm (Oyedokun, 2016). According to Max Weber, there are four forms of social actions, which are: rational action, evaluative action, emotional action and traditional action. A social worker adopts the strategy to bring social change in accordance with the case. For the discussed cases, rational action is adapted to come up with the mass awareness campaigns. In a rational action, individuals expect about the change in the behaviour of other individuals after re-educating them rationally towards solving the social issues.

Populist model of social action is usually adopted in order to confront the social issues under the category of dehumanizing structures, policies, procedures and agencies. The purpose of this model is to create awareness of about something that leads towards positive social change. It can be done through education to masses through campaigns and activities. Populist model of social action was introduced by Paula Freire, who believed that re-educating the masses could lead to a better society. This model of social action involves maximum participation of the population. This model is often used to is the issues where there is a need to highlight the need for change when the oppressed group is under pressure by the oppressing group (ESSER et al, 2016, pp. 22-36). In the case study discussed, the populist model was used in order to educate the children and masses that disable children and normal students should be treated equally regardless of their differences. As a result of this campaign, newspaper articles started to talk about the disabled children appreciating them.

In this model, social welfare is accommodated basically everybody in general public, rich or poor, and is viewed as a feature of what the general public ought to accommodate its residents. Campaigns created under this model regularly don't have the issues leftover models programs do with individuals eliminating in and as they go here and there in riches and success, however, they can be increasingly costly to direct and can get under the skin of individuals who support a restricted way to deal with the government. In certain nations, restorative consideration and post-secondary schooling, for example, school and exchange school, are likewise managed through such a model, while in Australia these administrations are commonly just accessible to the poor (Hill O’Connor & Baker, 2017, pp. 180-193). In a similar manner, the institutional social model has been used by NGOs for the case of saving wildlife. The purpose of the discussed case study of social action was to spread awareness about this social issue to people globally. For this social issue, the chosen model was effective in a way that it successfully.

Conclusion

Advocacy and social action are the two key elements of social work. Advocacy in social work is understood as the exclusive or mutual representation for the person or a social cause in a systematic manner in order to influence the decision about any unresponsive and unjust system. In a healthy society, social action and advocacy work together to promote the values of human rights and social justice. Social workers activists as a part of the organised movement have always offered advocacy services, especially in the health sector in Australia (Shenton, 2015). 

Social work and advocacy aim to promote problem-solving, bringing social change, to enhance social well-being. Social work tends to intervene at the point where people face a problem with the environment. The principle of social justice and human rights are the key functions of social work (Gibson et al., 2019, pp. 126-142). On the other hand, advocacy promotes social justice, social inclusion and equality. It supports people and empowers them to raise their voice against social injustice. Advocacy helps people to be aware of their individual rights and strengthens them to practice those rights for their better future.

Each case of social issue is unique and “one-size-fits-all” model cannot be used for the different types of cases. In this comparative analysis report, two case studies of advocacy and two case studies of social action were studied and analysed the underlying theories and effectiveness of the models used in the case study. The purpose of this comparative analysis report was to analyse and compare examples of advocacy and social action, drawing on relevant theories and models. It can be concluded from this comparative report that, neither advocacy nor social action alone can bring social change. For effective social work, a social worker needs to empower people to advocate and to take social action for their rights.