LMSW Social Policy and Advocacy 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Policy advocacy differs from direct social work practice primarily because it:
- Focuses on changing conditions affecting many people rather than helping individual clients (Correct answer)
- Requires more clinical training
- Is practiced only by macro-level social workers
- Involves providing concrete services to vulnerable populations
Correct answer: Focuses on changing conditions affecting many people rather than helping individual clients
Policy advocacy aims to change laws, regulations, or social conditions that affect entire populations, whereas direct practice addresses the needs of individual clients or families.
Question 2: Coalition building as an advocacy strategy involves:
- A single organization lobbying independently for policy change
- Bringing together multiple groups with shared interests to amplify advocacy efforts (Correct answer)
- Providing testimony before a legislative committee
- Filing legal challenges to existing policies
Correct answer: Bringing together multiple groups with shared interests to amplify advocacy efforts
Coalition building unites diverse organizations and groups around a common policy goal, increasing collective power, resources, and influence over decision-makers.
Question 3: The Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 expanded health insurance coverage primarily through:
- Creating a single-payer national health insurance system
- Expanding Medicaid eligibility and establishing health insurance marketplaces (Correct answer)
- Mandating employer-provided insurance for all workers
- Replacing Medicare with a universal coverage program
Correct answer: Expanding Medicaid eligibility and establishing health insurance marketplaces
The ACA expanded Medicaid eligibility to individuals up to 138% of the federal poverty level and created state-based insurance marketplaces with subsidies for moderate-income consumers.
Question 4: Which policy analysis model evaluates a policy by examining the ratio of its financial costs to its expected benefits?
- Stakeholder analysis
- Cost-benefit analysis (Correct answer)
- Force field analysis
- Feasibility analysis
Correct answer: Cost-benefit analysis
Cost-benefit analysis quantifies and compares the financial costs of a policy against its projected monetary and social benefits to assess overall value and efficiency.
Question 5: Grassroots organizing in social work advocacy primarily involves:
- Hiring professional lobbyists to represent client interests
- Mobilizing community members most affected by an issue to take collective action (Correct answer)
- Drafting proposed legislation for legislative submission
- Forming advisory boards composed of policy experts
Correct answer: Mobilizing community members most affected by an issue to take collective action
Grassroots organizing empowers directly affected community members to become active agents in advocacy, building power from the bottom up rather than relying on established elites.
Question 6: In social policy analysis, 'universal' programs are those that:
- Target only the lowest-income populations
- Provide benefits to all members of a defined category regardless of income (Correct answer)
- Are funded entirely by the federal government
- Require means-testing for eligibility
Correct answer: Provide benefits to all members of a defined category regardless of income
Universal programs (e.g., public education, Social Security) provide benefits to all eligible individuals within a defined group without income-based means-testing.
Question 7: Which term describes the process by which a social problem is recognized, defined, and placed on the governmental agenda for policy consideration?
- Policy implementation
- Policy evaluation
- Agenda setting (Correct answer)
- Legislative drafting
Correct answer: Agenda setting
Agenda setting is the process by which certain issues gain attention from policymakers and the public, moving from recognized problems to formal consideration for governmental action.
LMSW Social Policy and Advocacy 2
Policy advocacy differs from direct social work practice primarily because it: