Social Work and its roles in public debate on social policies throught the media in Puerto Rico

Abstract

Social policy processes are influenced by news media content. For its importance these media outlets have become a scenario for political action for social workers, who are called to advocate for better social policies to promote social welfare, particularly for those populations their work with. However, their participation in the public debate through the media has been little studied. This research aimed to know the Social Work roles in public debate on social policies through the media in Puerto Rico. To conduct this study, I used a sequential exploratory mixed method design. In this article, I only exposed the findings regarding this objective corresponding to the qualitative phase, in which I conducted semistructured in-depth interviews to 12 Social Workers. From the analysis of discourse, emerged one dimension associated with possible functions of Social Work professionals in the debate, those were: mediators, advocates analysts/educators. Finally, I discuss the implications of their insertion and these roles in their professional development.