As an astute social worker and professional policy advocate, once you have selected and identified a social problem, you begin the process of creating and implementing a policy that addresses that soc

Running head: POLICY ANALYSIS 0

Policy Analysis

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Walden University

Policy Analysis

Politics and power can have a negative representation and reputation among “helping” professionals, to include social workers of all levels. Professionals often regard power and politics as unethical and unseemly. However, with advocacy and organization, power and politics can often be used for ethical purposes. Social workers can develop and use power resources to help stigmatized groups and unpopular causes (Jansson, 2018). In the following pages, we will reflect on the Getting Recovery Option Working (GROW) program. The GROW initiative was established to provide law enforcement and emergency professionals to periodically check on patients they helped revive using the drug Narcan (McGinty et al, 2018). This paper will discuss and detail Grow’s policy strengths and weaknesses, how this policy affects clinical social workers or the clients of clinical social workers and provide an update on the advocacy activities.

Strengths and Weaknesses

The GROW policy has several strengths. First, the program offers a timely technique for managing and solving the SUD crisis. According to the CDC (2018), there are approximately 130 opioid-related deaths in the country. This is a trend that can be traced back to the late 20th century. This implies that the current policies on SUD are not working. The structure of the GROW program promises to resolve the weaknesses of the current policies and reduce SUD cases in the nation. Second, the program makes use of medical practitioners in solving the SUD crisis. Unlike the present situation where clients can obtain SUD drugs without prescriptions, the GROW program will eradicate this problem and ensure clients are guided through their recovery process by qualified medical personnel.

Third, there is accountability and monitoring of the SUD victims and their treatment progress. Currently, the Narcan drug is administered in patients without any strong regulations. The GROW program eliminates this problem and ensures Narcan and other relevant drugs can be accounted for. Finally, the program significantly reduces the likelihood of the emergence of a new SUD problem. Easy access to drugs like Narcan may result in another drug problem if left unchecked (McLellan, 2017). This new policy eliminates the likelihood of this problem occurring.

However, there are several weaknesses associated with the GROW policy. First, there is the challenge of facilitating public awareness of the GROW services. It is vital to ensure the public not only knows about the policy change but fully embraces it. However, this might be challenging considering the clients may not want their freedom to freely access drugs like Narcan taken away from them. Second, there is the problem of finding significant revenue sources to bankroll the policy implementation. The new program requires extensive use of medical personnel and equipment to take care of the thousands of SUD victims. Such a move will require a lot of resources. Finally, there is the likelihood of funds being discontinued in the future for various reasons. A halt in the funding for the policy change might result in things reverting to the way they used to be, thus, halting the progress that would have been made until then.

How a Policy Change will Impact Clinical Social Workers and their Clients

According to Al-Abri (2007), the management of change in healthcare is a crucial activity since it directly affects service delivery. Al-Abri (2007) adds that the healthcare personnel are obligated to acquire any new skills and knowledge necessary to ensure they are effective in their roles as required by the relevant change. In this regard, the implementation of the GROW policy will not only have a huge impact on the clinical social workers but the clients as well. For starters, the policy change will affect worker attitudes. Any change that is implemented in a healthcare setting is likely to affect the attitudes of health workers. Change implies that the workers will have to adapt to new ways of carrying out their duties. Therefore, it is crucial for administrators and healthcare leaders to engage clinical social workers and make them big stakeholders in the implementation of the GROW program. If they are professionally and personally invested in the program, there is a higher probability of the workers having positive attitudes and working progressively to oversee the success of the program.

Additionally, it is crucial to engage the clients in the planning and implementation of the policy change. They are the ones who benefit the most if the program is successful. However, the clients must feel that none of their freedoms are being impeded by this move. They must view the program that suits their interests better than the current policies on SUD. Client support is crucial for the overall success of the program. Thus, it is crucial to ensure the new program does not result in the clients having to use more money to get the healthcare need they require. If this is unavoidable, they must be convinced that they will be getting value for their money.

Update on the Advocacy Activities

The GROW program calls for the Narcan drug to be used on a prescription basis only and under the supervision of qualified medical professionals. So far, this is still a proposal and requires pertinent stakeholders to hold a meeting to discuss the feasibility of this move. Pharmaceutical companies are likely to take a hit as there will be fewer drug purchases due to the need for prescriptions. The GROW program calls for medical officers to be part of the regular treatment of SUD cases so that they regularly check on patients and monitor their progress to recovery. Currently, this is also in the discussion stage. The education of the workers will be essential in this regard (Ashenberg Straussner, & Senreich, 2002). The pertinent health and social workers will not only have to be educated and brought up to speed but remunerated for their new roles as well. The GROW program requires advocacy efforts so that the public can be educated on the significance of this policy change. Israel et al. (2010) assert that without the public’s support, a policy change will not be successful. Therefore, an educative document is being prepared to detail how to address and reach out to the public so that relevant individuals see the advantages of the policy change and offer their support to it. Finally, the GROW program is to have a structure that identifies the clients with the highest need for help in managing and treating their SUD. A screening program will have to be created, which is integrated to all relevant healthcare facilities so that all SUD cases can be accessed from any point and priority given to who to treat first based on the case history recorded.

References

Al-Abri, R. (2007). Managing change in healthcare. Oman Medical Journal, 22(3), 9.

Ashenberg Straussner, S. L., & Senreich, E. (2002). Educating social workers to work with individuals affected by Substance Use Disorder (SUD)s. Substance Abuse, 23(S1), 319-340.

CDC. (2018). Understand the epidemic. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/epidemic/index.html

Israel, B. A., Coombe, C. M., Cheezum, R. R., Schulz, A. J., McGranaghan, R. J., Lichtenstein, R., ... & Burris, A. (2010). Community-based participatory research: a capacity-building approach for policy advocacy aimed at eliminating health disparities. American Journal of Public Health, 100(11), 2094-2102.

McLellan A. T. (2017). Substance misuse and substance use disorder (SUD): Why do they matter in healthcare? Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association, 128, 112–130.