Description
As social workers, we are often in the position to identify problems or issues that exist within our community that are not being addressed or are not being addressed adequately due to any number of reasons. Social Work practice at the macro level allows us to not only identify and address issues that affect organizations and/or communities, but also often requires us to partner with others as we attempt to ameliorate or resolve the identified problem or issue. This assignment will build on the Macro Practice Paper (assignment #2) where you identified a problem within your community. With this assignment you will utilize the following framework to develop an intervention.
Framework for Developing an Intervention at the Macro Level
As social workers, we are often in the position to identify problems or issues that exist within our community that are not being addressed or are not being addressed adequately due to any number of reasons. Social Work practice at the macro level allows us to not only identify and address issues that affect organizations and/or communities, but also often requires us to partner with others as we attempt to ameliorate or resolve the identified problem or issue.
This assignment will build on the Macro Practice Paper (assignment #2) where you identified a problem within your community. With this assignment you will utilize the following framework to develop an intervention.
Based on the problem you previously identified within your community;
Task 1: Develop the Intervention Hypothesis
- Refine the Working Hypothesis of Etiology
- Refine the Working Intervention Hypothesis
Task 2: Define Participants
Identify the following:
- The Initiator System
- The Change Agent System
- The Client System
- The Support System
- The Controlling System
- The Host and Implementing System
- The Target System
- The Action System
Task 3: Examine System Capacity for Change
- Assess openness and commitment to change
- Determine availability of resources to sustain the change effort
- Identify outside opposition to change
- What might be the “costs” to doing nothing?
Task 4: Select a Change Approach
Select a policy, program, project, personnel or practice approach – what approach (or combination of approaches) is most likely to achieve the desired change?
Length of Paper should be 4-5 pages maximum, not including cover page or any references. APA format should be followed. Paper must be typed, with standard size font, 1 inch margins and stapled. Please utilize headings for each section you are addressing.
Social Work Macro Practice Issue Paper, Pt. I
Tracia Shaw
Fayetteville State University
Author Note
Tracia S. Shaw, School of Social Work, Fayetteville State University.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Tracia Shaw, School of Social Work, Fayetteville State University, Fayetteville, NC 28301.
Contact: tshaw10@.uncfsu.edu
Social Work Macro Practice Issue Paper, Pt. I
Problem Statement
Substance abuse have become rampant amongst children and youths of Fayetteville, NC; therefore, causing difficult challenges such as family breakages, higher crime rates, and a high rate of school dropout cases.
Brief Elaboration
Over time, children and youth have being introduced to substance abuse compared to recent past years. Research reveals that, due to peer pressure and social media many youths influence each other to engaged in substance abuse. In the Fayetteville community, the most abused substances as outlined by recent pieces of research entail tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana. These drugs are locally available in the community, promoting the rise in abuse resulting in substance abuse addiction. The disparities faced by the community shows the significant reasons why substance abuse need immediate and thorough implementation of necessary treatment factors to contain the common threat. Following increased abuse of drugs, the crime rate has highly increased leading to the youth receive criminal charges and added violence to the community. School dropout for youth cases have increased and developed substance addiction; therefore, youth need to hustle to provide to their substance addiction needs.
Fayetteville, NC Community Description
Location
Boundaries. The Fayetteville community is a city in Cumberland county, North Carolina
in the United States. It is marked as the county seat of Cumberland county and primarily known as the home of Fort Bragg. It is the leading United States army installation northwest of the Fayetteville. The boundaries of Fayetteville city cover a land area of 146.82 square miles and water area composition of 1.84 square miles.
Relationship with other communities. The Fayetteville community has mutual relationship with other neighboring communities. The community’s comprehensive educational supports Fayetteville to be a conducive place to dwell and raise families (McMahon, Barlow, Engle, Belitz, Ging, Hunt, & Kresse, 2017). Fayetteville’s relationship with other communities is grounded on mutual movement and business rates, social amenities share by all citizens, and public historical features visited by other communities.
Population demographics
Size. Fayetteville is ranked the 6th largest city in North Carolina. Based on United States the most recent census, which recorded a population of 200,564 in 2010. Fayetteville reached its highest population of 213,475 in 2021.
Age distribution. Research reveals that people under five years attributes 7.6%, five-seven years 15.7%, eighteen-twenty years four 15.7%, twenty-five-thirty-four years 18.5%, thirty-five-fifty-four years 21.0%, fifty-five- sixty-four years 10.1% and sixty-five of age and over 11.4%.
Gender distribution. Fayetteville’s population per gender shows that the female gender accounts for 51% and male gender attributes 49%
Racial distribution. The whites accounts for 38.1%, African American or black 42.1%, American Indian and Alaska citizens 0.8%, Asians 2.8%, Hawaiian and pacific islanders 0.3%, Hispanic and Latino 12.0%, two races or more 4.7%.
Religious distribution. Regarding the religious choice in Fayetteville community there is a wide variety of religious ethnicities such as Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, and Atheists.
Other diversities. Most norms that dominate the community are initiated by ancestral cultures. Sexual orientation is based on cultural norms regardless of the emerging LGBTQ. The political affiliation of the community influences and controls nearly all the community’s demographics.
Income/ Socioeconomic status
Subgroups. People of 18 years of age are referred as minorities because of low income. Women and men perform related duties for wages relating to the amount of job performed. Besides, professional qualification promotes substantial wage differences for different subgroups.
Income levels. Fayetteville has low unemployment rate of 6.3% that signifies that most residents in the community are employed. Income levels for the Fayetteville community is grouped into median household income worth $45,024, past 12 months per capita income $24,823, and persons in poverty 19.3%.
Education level. Most people in Fayetteville are educated, the population education survey that shows 91.5% of people above 25 years of age are high school graduates or higher education levels. A percentage of 26.8% achieved their bachelor’s degree or higher for people of 25 years of age and above.
Housing
Types of houses. The community has various significant types of houses such as single-family houses, mansions, apartments, multifamily houses, and condos.
Condition. The Fayetteville community policy rules and regulations governing housing, most residential and non-residential houses are kept under frequent maintenance to ensure good houses conditions.
Availability. Since Fayetteville is a conducive place for families, residential houses are available to accommodate the community’s population.
Cost. For Fayetteville, housing cost depends on the type of house. For instance, real estate homes costs range between $29,900 to $2,250,000. Cheap houses and condos for sale are available and rental houses for average income earners at an average rate of $1,326 monthly rent.
Recreational and Cultural Systems
Types. Fayetteville has ten parks including a dog park and two trails including a bike trail. The community has significant cultures and history sites such as Fayetteville Area Transportation and Local History Museum. A recreation center is a place for recreational activities usually administered by a municipal government agency. Fayetteville has 19 recreational centers, 4 public pools and 10 splash pads.
Availability and access. The municipal policy has imposed fewer access regulations to all recreational sites. However, these recreation places are evenly located; therefore, making their availability easier.
Quality. The community’s recreation areas and cultural systems provide satisfactory services to citizens. The beautiful sceneries, appealing features, and most preferred recreation activities result in increasing the average number annual visitors.
Commerce and industry
Employers and industries. The community’s high population have attracted many investors and production of more industries. There are many local business owners offering employment to citizens. Some of the biggest industries offering employment in Fayetteville are Purolator Air Filtration, the Cumberland County Hospital System, and Fort Bragg Military Base.
Unemployment rate. Over time, the unemployment rate for Fayetteville is significantly recuing due to intensified business activities. However, by age people aged 25 years of age attribute the highest percentage of the unemployed. By race, the black people contribute the highest number of the unemployed, and by gender, most females attribute the highest number of the unemployed.
Role and influence of spiritual institutions
Most spiritual institutions cultivate good morals in people and advocate for love peace and harmony in the community. These spiritual institutions influence people to follow ethic morals therefor, prompting community development.
Government Type
City manager. Doug Hewett is the acting city manager of Fayetteville since April 2016. His principal duty as described by the municipal policies is to superintend administrative tasks and consent the community to operate.
Mayor. Mitch Colvin, an innate Fayetteville is the mayor of the community. His roles are to chair council gatherings and act the city’s head during formalities and military law purposes.
City county council. The community’s city council entail nine elected members. They represent Fayetteville’s citizens on formulating and implementing municipal policies such as founding tax rates, managing effective programs, and approving and evaluating annual projects.
Influential political influence system in power. Fayetteville is dominated by democratic and republican political parties. Therefore, democracy is marked as the most influential political system in power since every citizen’s voice is considered valid.
Problem Description
Prolonged substance abuse expose victims to long-term substance addiction (Seitz, Lochbühler, Atzendorf, Rauschert, Pfeiffer-Gerschel, & Kraus, 2019). Youth who persistently abuse substances often experience a range of problems, including academic difficulties, health-related problems (including mental health), poor peer relationships, and involvement with the juvenile justice system. There are consequences for family members, the community, and the entire society. Frequent indulgence in alcoholic beverages, use of illegal drugs, reckless and sometimes violent behavior at unsupervised house parties, teen-age pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease are still problems of such magnitude in Fayetteville that they require a strategy which include a permanent, professionally managed teen center with the full range of programs it can support (Abandoning Teen Agers, 2015). Substance abuse inculcates other forms of social issues that distort community peace and harmony. Research reveals that, 5% of youths in Fayetteville have abused cocaine, 37% affirmed to abuse marijuana, and 12% addicted by alcohol.
Causal factors to substance abuse. Drug abuse survey reports shows that most adolescents engaged in substance abuse due to peer influence, easy availability of drugs, influence from abusive parents, and lack of sufficient knowledge on the harmful effects of substance abuse.
Substance Abuse History
The present pronounced substance abuse in Fayetteville has happened as a result of gradual abuse and addiction of drugs. In 2005 fourteen deaths were reported followed by an increase in 2015 to forty-one deaths reported (Pestka, Craner, Evans, Nash, Kimondo, Pestka, & Sperry, 2018). The phase has continued in 2017 where over 1884 lethal deaths as a result of substance have been reported. Currently Fayetteville is battling numerous emergency cases with over 12,000 hospitalizations due to substance use.
Impact of Substance Abuse to the Community
Substance abuse has not only affected victims but also the community at large. This menace has resulted in hindering economic growth due to people’s inefficiency. Substance abuse has led to increase of mortality rate, breakage of families, and undesired utilization of useful resources. Substance abuse has ruined Fayetteville’s reputation to known as a drug abuse infested area.
Informants utilized. Substance abuse impacts have been geared by various elements. These informants involve, the drugs abused, substance abusers, and the consequence that follows developing substance abuse addiction.
Responding Agency
Many organizations have joined up to formulate strategies to control drug abuse threat. The National Institute on Health has laid down fundamental strategies to help control drug abuse. Since most adolescents fall into drugs die to peer influence, awareness is being created through online adverts, televisions, radios, and other social medial platforms. The agency is giving first aid healthcare to the addicted victims through proving prescribed drugs and offering guidance and counselling. CommuniCare, Inc, is one of the most dependable local non-profit organizations serving youth, adolescents, adults and families. CommuniCare assists people in overcoming mental health problems and substance abuse disorders. Reclaiming Futures is an evidence-based substance abuse model that engages communities in a comprehensive way toward developing and maintaining systems of care for at-risk and substance using youth.
CommuniCare only utilizes professional staff credentialed as a Certified Clinical Supervisor (CCS) or a Licensed Clinical Addictions Specialist (LCAS) or associate level LCAS (LCASA) to conduct individual and group therapy. The goal of the substance abuse program is to educate youth, adults and their families about the long-term dangers of chemical dependency causes and to equip the youth with practical tools and methods to end substance dependency and move to life-long recovery (Cumberland County Communicare Strengthning Families & Youth At Risk, 2008).
Assessment of response effectiveness. To establish the effectiveness and efficiency, CommuniCare conducts a comprehensive clinical assessment to evaluate youth involved in substance abuse and incorporate the delivery and principals of the System of Care approach. It is family centered services and supports to determine substance use, mental health needs or co-occurring diagnoses using Seven Challenges® and the Matrix Model® (Cumberland County Communicare Strengthning Families & Youth At Risk, 2008). Present outcomes consist of 50 % of youth will abstain from substances while enrolled in substance abuse intensive outpatient program (SAIOP) as evidenced by negative drug screen results, collateral interviews, youth reports and documented court progress/court reports. Also, 60% of youth will decrease negative behaviors as evidence by fewer out of school suspensions.
References
(2015). Abandoning Teen Agers. Fayetteville: Fayetteville Observer.
Clark, Anna. “Evaluating Walkability in Fayetteville, North Carolina: Impacts of Attitudinal Preferences and Urban Form on Walking Trip Counts and Body Mass Index Scores.” PhD diss., Georgetown University, 2019.
Cumberland County Communicare Strengthning Families & Youth At Risk. (2008). Retrieved from What Are Programs Do: http://www.cccommunicare.org/index.aspx
McMahon, P. B., Barlow, J. R., Engle, M. A., Belitz, K., Ging, P. B., Hunt, A. G., … & Kresse, T. M. (2017). Methane and benzene in drinking-water wells overlying the Eagle Ford, Fayetteville, and Haynesville Shale hydrocarbon production areas. Environmental Science & Technology, 51(12), 6727-6734.
Pestka, E. L., Craner, J., Evans, M., Nash, V., Kimondo, N., Pestka, D., … & Sperry, J. (2018). Impact of family history of substance abuse on admission opioid dose, depressive symptoms, and pain catastrophizing in patients with chronic pain. Pain Management Nursing, 19(2), 115-124.
Seitz, N. N., Lochbühler, K., Atzendorf, J., Rauschert, C., Pfeiffer-Gerschel, T., & Kraus, L. (2019). Trends in substance use and related disorders: Analysis of the epidemiological survey of substance abuse 1995 to 2018. Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, 116(35-36), 585.