Assignment:
EXAMPLE:
A social worker wants to establish outpatient services for older citizens in a major hospital but wants to obtain their perspectives. She segments this population into ambulatory but relatively healthy older people and those with more acute rather than chronic conditions. Realizing that older people in her hospital's service area are Caucasian and Asian, she draws well older people from these two groups to form two focus groups.
The social worker develops the following broad questions:
1. What kinds of medical problems or issues do you (well older people) have?
2. Where do you currently receive outpatient medical services?
3. What problems do you experience with the services that you currently receive?
4. If you could establish the ideal outpatient agency for well older people, what would it be like?
5. What dangers or pitfalls would you advise the staff of this outpatient agency to avoid?
The policy advocate gains important insights from the older people she has consulted. For example, she finds that they value continuity of care (i.e., having a regular doctor) more than promptness of service. Armed with insights from her use of focus groups, she develops a proposal for outpatient services that she hopes will be accepted by the hospital's board of directors.
EXERCISE 1
Now imagine that you are conducting a focus group with evacuees from the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, and you want to know what they would want in terms of amenities and quality of life to induce them to return to New Orleans from another city.
Develop a set of questions that you might ask.
EXERCISE 2: Mental Behavioral Health, Warfare
Info about this issue:
Rates of trauma and mental illness are disproportionately high among American veterans, especially those of the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Barriers to care after civilian reentry further disadvantage this already vulnerable population. The United States Congress and the Department of Veterans Affairs must take steps to improve access to mental health care for these veterans.
Be sure to choose a specific policy! You will be advocating forsupportof OR rejection of this policy.
1. Find a policy or law related to mental healthcare for Veterans in your state that you think needs to be changed or created? (this helps you identify the issue). Please site the website you used to find the specific policy or law for this topic in your state.
You may want to look at a government site, senators site for your state, or any .gov site to help you find a policy or law in regard to this topic.
2. Identify the reasons why you think the law or policy needs to be changed or created? (this helps you identify current barriers that would be eliminated with changes or creation)
3. What can you do to try and get this law or policy changed or created?
(the answer to this question would identify your advocacy activities. What activities are going on in your state, city, community, senators, government, Veteran's Affair Hospital to help advocate for this population)?
4. Who might you collaborate with to help you do the activities?
5. What existing policy have you identified that has created barriers for individuals, groups, or communities?Describe what are the barriers are.