Inspiring and Training Students for Social Action: Renewing a Needed Tradition

Legislative Advocacy Days: Building Political Self-Efficacy in Social Work Students

“…The main finding from this study is that among this sample of social work students, confidence in their political skills, along with beliefs that change can occur are important predictors of future intention to be politically active. This finding is consistent with the conceptual understanding of political efficacy based on Bandura's (1978) theory of self-efficacy and research that suggests political participation can be a behavior that is developed (Haynes & Mickelson, 1997;Lane et al, 2012;Wolk, Pray, Weismiller, & Dempsey, 1996). Furthermore, the finding is consistent with research regarding factors that are associated with political involvement among social work professionals (Andrews, 1998;Ritter, 2008).…”

“…Applied policy practice exercises can build confidence in students' perceptions of their ability to affect policy change (Carey, 2007;Droppa, 2007;Lane et al, 2012;Mink & Twill, 2012). An example of this can be found in research from Tower and Hash (2013), in which two groups of undergraduate social work students engaged in an experiential learning project that encouraged students to research policy issues, write letters to the editor, and lobby legislators.…”

“…Gibbons and Gray (2005) report that students find this approach more enjoyable than a more traditional model. One example of a cross-curricular model implemented by Adelphi University focuses on the development and implementation of advocacy skills through a social action day that provides modeling, training, and structured projects (Lane et al, 2012). Lane and colleagues (2012) found that 79% of the students find the experience to be beneficial or very beneficial and almost half indicated that they were interested in continuing to be engaged in some way.…”

“…A more recent survey of 40 NASW chapters found that 75% of state chapters regularly hold lobby days (Beimers, 2015). Some social work educators have used the legislative advocacy days to prepare students to engage in advocacy (DeRigne et al, 2014;Kilbane, Pryce, & Hong, 2013;Lane et al, 2012;Manalo, 2004). NASW also engages professionals and social work students through web presence (Edwards & Hoefer, 2010) and e-mail listservs (Tower & Hartnett, 2010).…”

“…Successful mastery experiences will require advocacy activities upon which students can succeed and build, such as writing a letter to a newspaper or e-mailing a legislator about a policy issue. Using existing frameworks (Jackson-Elmoore, 2006;Lane et al, 2012;Teater, 2008) or models of advocacy practice (Hoefer, 2012) can provide a useful guide to students who are new to policy practice.…”