Social work advocacy: Professional self-interest and social justice

This study employed an analysis of the advocacy-related resources and materials available through the 50 NASW state chapter websites. Results revealed that a large number of states had no information about advocacy on their websites (42%). One third of the mission statements reviewed contained language indicating that a dvocacy was part of the chapter mission, while nearly as many included no content related to advocacy or social justice on their homepages. Nearly two thirds of the websites contained no resources,tools or links to help with advocacy practice, promotion or education.Thirteen advocacy themes emerged, which represented policy issues within the state advocacy agendas. Professional Self-Interest was the issue with the highest frequency (17%) across the 2010state chapter agendas, but the 12 other social justice issues combined dominated the legislative agendas (83%). Professional self-interest issues accounted for the highest rate of prevalence on state agendas, as it appeared on 86% of the chapter agendas analyzed.