scholarly journals Sociodrama, Activism, and Role Training to Empower Communities

Author(s):  
Scott Giacomucci

AbstractThis chapter will highlight the use of role-playing, especially sociodramaand role trainingin community empowerment and social activist movements. Historical context will be provided for the traditions of using drama, theater, and role-play in social work and social activismincluding Jacob Moreno’s vision of the theater as a modality for societal change. The sociodramatic approach will be outlined with focus on its utility in community settings as an experiential and communal experience of social action. Multiple examples of sociodrama or role training in communities are depicted with an emphasis on its adaptability for different settings and its effectiveness at empowering people. Examples include its application with youth, law enforcement, intergenerational dialogues, domestic violence response teams, undocumented immigrant communities, social work students, and to empower advocacy with employers, insurance providers, funders, or policy makers.

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 217-232
Author(s):  
Judith Gray ◽  
Marissa O'Neill

This article describes a unique community involvement project that was used to teach BSW students in a Social Work Practice With Groups course about poverty and a qualitative explorative study of student outcomes. The project included a poverty simulation in combination with 25 hours of service learning with people currently experiencing poverty. Very little research has been done on poverty simulations, and none has included a service learning component. Twenty-one college students participated. Student reflections were analyzed, and themes that emerged reflect achievement of course objectives. A content analysis was also completed identifying empathy and social action engagement. All 21 student reflections discussed an increase in empathy surrounding people in poverty. Sixty-seven percent of student reflections indicated social action engagement.


2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-31
Author(s):  
Lydia Ogden

This teaching note describes my experience discovering and addressing challenges to graduating baccalaureate social work students' self-efficacy, particularly on the use of a substance-use-oriented evidence-based practice (EBP) in fieldwork placements. This discovery led to the development of an exercise, presented here, to proactively identify and address such challenges. The exercise consists of a structured discussion that invokes theory and professional responsibility, followed by the instructor modeling role playing for the class. The exercise culminates in dyadic role playing between students with individualized feedback provided by the professor. In addition to promoting student self-efficacy, the exercise is designed to address practice competencies specified by the Council on Social Work Education's Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards and specifically to promote the use of EBP in the field.


1997 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-96
Author(s):  
Michael H. Beechem ◽  
Jamie Comstock

This interdisciplinary study demonstrates a technique in teaching empathy skills to undergraduate social work students through the use of role playing and videotaping. An equal number of students from both the communication arts and social work programs were utilized. Dyads were established such that social work students role played social workers and communication arts students role played clients. An outgrowth of this study was the formulation of an empathy scale to measure three components of empathy - cognitive, affective, and behavioral. The study supports the position that empathy skills can be taught.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 331-353
Author(s):  
Nia Johnson ◽  
Paul Archibald ◽  
Anthony Estreet ◽  
Amanda Morgan

The social work profession is not exempt from fueling institutional racism, which affects the provision of social work practicum education for Black social work students. This article highlights how the historical and current social cost of being Black in the United States presents itself within social work education’s signature pedagogy. Social workers who hold bachelor’s degrees in social work (BSW) are more likely to be Black than those holding master’s degrees in social work (MSW; Salsberg et al., 2017). It takes Black students longer to earn an MSW degree though they are more likely to hold a BSW while also having work experience related to the social work profession; this is indicative of a flawed system. The implications of this are explored by highlighting social work’s historical context and the role privilege holds within a profession charged with working towards social justice. Critical Race Theory (CRT) is utilized to unearth how the current state of social work practicum upholds a culture of white supremacy through covertly racist requirements and practices. Case examples are utilized to demonstrate the challenges Black students face as social work practicum mimics oppressive practices and perpetuates disparities in the social work landscape. Additionally, this article explores oppression’s role in treating vulnerable social work students and how that treatment is reflected in the workforce, ultimately informing service delivery.


1970 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 85-98
Author(s):  
Rasmus Antoft

Chronic illness as biographical occurrence – a study on bypass operated individuals and their biographical work. The primary focus of this article is on bypass operated chronically ill peoples attempt to re-establish their biographical work, their everyday life. The everyday life experiences based on routines and obviousness are subjugated by the chronicle illness influence on the life narrative, its future character and the way in which it affects the shaping of identity, the biographical work. Two different themes are central in individual’s narratives about their everyday life with a chronic heart disease. These themes concern their self-presentation in inter-action with others and their anxiety directed at the future life with the illness, with the anxiety of death. This study shows that every bypass operated and chronically ill participant have experienced difficulties in reshaping their normal biographical work. Their ability to regain social action as part of the biographical work and their shaping of self-identity, has been altered significantly. In various situations this leads to potential stigmatisation, but also to a lack of acceptance in the role-playing of a chronic ill, be that in interaction with strangers or intimate social relations. This causes identity dilemmas, paradoxes in self-presentation and, as a consequence, self-deception in everyday life. The existential problem of anxiety and its subjugating character in the lifeplaning and biographical work is to be explained by the risk of reoccurrence of the heart disease, and by the latency of the possible terminal nature of the disease. The nature of the illness ruptures routines and the predictability of everyday life, thus manifesting itself in key situations of everyday life. In addition to this, the anxiety generates a lack of ability to act actively, that is, the individuals ability actively shape its lifeplaning and its biographical work.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 96
Author(s):  
Marie-Christine THAIZE CHALLIER

This paper is an empirical analysis to explore the relationships between urban conflict and both rent seeking and corruption. It examines social disturbances in medieval France through a sample of twelve towns examined over the period 1270-1399 in a real context of informational asymmetries, commitment problems, and issues indivisibilities. As regards the economic corruption class, it is found that townspeople rebel more often and more intensely against the extortion of funds carried out by policy makers than against the embezzlement of a part of these funds. As to the political corruption class, the findings highlight that abuse of power against municipalities is identified in more social unrest than influence peddling against these local institutions. Furthermore, it is shown that rent-seeking-related policies (like arbitrary actions limiting property rights, economic rules-based policies, and targeted political measures) have less influence on urban conflict than corrupt policies do. These findings produce insights that apply beyond the historical context and analysis of the paper. Situations presenting over-indebted towns despite overtaxed people disturb also modern democracies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 160940692098604
Author(s):  
L. Y. Saltzman ◽  
L. D. Terzis ◽  
T. C. Hansel ◽  
J. M. Blakey ◽  
D. Logan ◽  
...  

Project Title: Psychosocial Reactions to a Global Pandemic: A Diary Study During COVID-19. Design: The study uses a mixed methods design that includes both a cross-sectional quantitative survey and qualitative diary entries submitted online eight times by student participants. Context of Study: The study timeline spans the full shutdown, phase 1 reopening, and phase 2 reopening of New Orleans Louisiana. Objectives: The study has three primary objectives: (1) To better understand the experiences of Social Work Students during the COVID-19 pandemic; (2) To explore risk and protective factors that influences Social Work Students’ ability to cope with stressors and changes associated with the COVID-19 pandemic; and (3) to track changes over time in coping among Social Work Students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Study Population: Current Master of Social Work (MSW) Students enrolled at Tulane University during the COVID-19 Pandemic will be invited to participate in this study.


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