Human Rights Practice in Social Work Process. an Exploratory Study on Romanian Social Work Professionals

Context: Human rights practice in social work offers a framework of action by operationalizing a rights-based perspective that provides practitioners and educators with a human rights lens, human rights methods, and human rights goals that can be integrated in their work. In Romania, this framework has the potential to improve social work higher education by adding heft and content to the National College of Social Workers’ ethical code to “respect the human rights and implement the international provisions Romania is a part of” and to the professional competencies set by the National Authority for Qualification in Higher Education. Method: an online study on 50 social workers was applied using an online platform using an adapted form of the Human Rights Methods in Social Work questionnaire (HRMSW: McPherson, 2015). There were more female social workers and practitioners from urban settings, somehow reflecting the general distribution in the field of practice. Results: in general, respondents reported a high usage of human rights methods in their practice. However, lower scores were obtained for their level of activism and micro-macro integration. Conclusions: By providing an exploratory picture for usage of human rights principles to social work practice, this study fills a gap that is currently felt by both teachers and practitioners who wish to integrate a rights-based approach into their work. This instrument also offers a way for social work educators to teach human rights practice, for social workers to integrate it, and for researchers to evaluate it.