Public Health Social Work
Explore the field of public health social work
Many of the problems faced by individuals are systemic – problems that plague society in general. Public health social workers respond to society's most difficult issues: inadequate education, unemployment and lack of opportunity, limited access to medical resources, as well as the many issues that commonly accompany poverty, such as child and spousal abuse, mental illness, and addiction.
Public health social work is different from other kinds of social work because it often involves a broader perspective and the development of solutions for larger populations. Public health social workers often create these programs based on the work they do at a local level.
Synergy of social work and public healthcare
Public health social work is the ambitious blend of public health priorities and social work. The Boston University School of Social Work terms it the “integrated transdisciplinary approach to preventing, addressing, and solving social health problems” because of the diverse expertise that cooperates in the creation and administration of these programs.
After identifying a pervasive societal issue, such as the national increase in homeless families, transdisciplinary teams comprised of medical personnel, social workers, researchers, and policymakers analyze the problems, conduct the studies, develop the interventions, and construct the infrastructures that enable significant change.
The challenge of social change is creating the financial and organizational pathways that allow money and other resources to flow into programs that affect people's lives. As an expedient measure, these programs often partner with organizations that are focused on related issues. Groups that treat diseases such as HIV might be well suited to administer a new diabetes program, or addiction treatment centers might use new techniques for treating methamphetamine users.
Education, promotion of healthy lifestyles, and research on disease and injury prevention provide the tools public health social workers use to improve the health and well-being of all people. Working to improve the health of specific as well as general populations, public health work executes interventions from national polio vaccines to handwashing instructions for avoiding the flu.
Benefits of public health social work
Public health social workers efforts over the course of U.S. history have resulted in public health initiatives that contribute significantly to the quality of life, bringing about such things as:
- Medicare;
- Medicaid;
- The fluoridation of drinking water;
- Control of infectious diseases, such as polio and measles;
- Greater motor vehicle safety;
- Safer workplaces;
- Healthier mothers and babies;
- Recognition of tobacco use as a health hazard; and
- Family planning.
Social justice, advocacy and the fight against poverty
Public health's fight to overcome the affects of poverty is founded in its mandate to pursue social justice. Social justice is based on the concept that all people deserve the right to respect, equality, and dignity, and the ability to rise out of poverty.
Read more about the fight against poverty...
These large-scale programs developed as national plans continue to be administered locally by social workers in a wide variety of settings from community centers to state and city health services departments.
These large-scale programs developed as national plans continue to be administered locally by social workers in a wide variety of settings from community centers to state and city health services departments.
Public health social workers are the dynamic force behind these successful programs – the people without whom many problems would remain unresolved and clients would go unaided. They are the first responders to trend shifts that happen as a result of social upheaval. As the frontline for interventions, these professionals continually adjust and update statistical and operational information.
Teen homelessness
For example, during a state inquiry into the increase in the number of homeless individuals resulting from the economic collapse of the late 2000's, a social worker noticed a significant rise in teen homelessness. His supervisor authorized him to research the issue to quantify teen homelessness as an increasing occurrence in his particular Arizona county over the previous five years, to develop factual hypotheses for this occurrence, and to create an appropriate intervention plan.
According to city records, there was a sharp increase in homeless teens, often called “throw-away kids” or “runaways.” Further research led him to conversations with law enforcement officials who suggested a correlation with the marked increases in the number of teen arrests for intoxication. They also noted the fact that many incarcerated teens showed signs of malnutrition and addiction.
Within the structure of an existing grant, the social worker was able to gather a team of public health social workers to manage a youth-only (under 21) shelter in the basement of a local church. Everyday they provided meals, medical attention, clothing, showers, addiction counseling, job counseling, regular therapy, and ongoing movies and activities to dozens of kids who otherwise would sleep on the streets.
Separating young people from the general population of homeless people was an innovative approach for two reasons: First, it allowed kids to have greater expression in their world – something many homeless teens never experience; and secondly, it gave social workers access to a discrete population they could study. Since street kids are notoriously invisible to authorities, much could be learned about the causes and long-term effects of their homelessness.
The research showed that during the economic downturn starting around 2008, many teens experienced difficult living conditions and left home -or were thrown out - as the despair, alcoholism, and abuse that resulted from long-term unemployment escalated. In almost every case, the teens' reasons for running away had little to do with themselves and everything to do with their home situations.
Because of the notable influx of kids from other areas of the country into this Arizona county, this public health social worker's local plan was picked up and implemented in many other cities in the southwest. The help this program provided has undoubtedly changed lives.
A day in the life of a public health social worker
Help is what public health social workers do every day. They spend much of their time in their offices, meeting with clients – homeless families, single moms, disabled seniors, discarded teens, abused women and children – people who need serious help. They listen to what their clients have to say, advising them on more positive behaviors, supporting their thoughts, and looking for resources to solve these tough problems.
As they work with individuals, public health social workers update clients' cases with notes about their activities, their successes, and their setbacks. Most importantly, these workers encourage clients to be more confident and develop initiative by linking them with new options and removing barriers to such things as medical assistance, transportation, therapy, and job counseling.
Because public health social workers address individual and community health from a broader perspective, they frequently have access to greater options for resolving clients' problems within their own communities. Their awareness of ongoing research and specialized programs that help particular groups, such as patients who need particular treatments for cancer or medications for pain, enable greater opportunities for their clients.
Some issues are so large that their solutions affect virtually the entire society, bringing significant change to social services for generations to come. One example of this type of change concerns the exploding senior citizen population, and its affects on policy that influences public health care.
Senior citizens – a growing issue
In an effort to keep older people from falling through the cracks, communities are depending on public health social workers to develop programs that increase the quality of life for more senior citizens.
One such program evolved out of input from social workers who specialize in senior populations, geriatric health care providers, and discussions with seniors themselves. This program determined that in order to continue to lead productive lives, senior citizens needed:
- healthier elder communities and community resources;
- healthier senior citizens;
- stronger economic opportunities and information for seniors; and
- the presence of children and young people into their lives.
The solutions to these items are global in their perspective and call for the strengthening of social support systems that promote well-being. They provide protections against ill health, minimize disability, and delay institutionalization. And, although the provisions are general, they are implemented on an individual level.
Public health social workers help seniors who have physical limitations to retain their independence by administering comprehensive programs of in-home companionship. By avoiding nursing homes, patients and governments save money, and seniors live more satisfying lives.
Senior health solutions address the problem of obesity because it is foundational to diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiac problems, inflammation, and a host of other serious problems. Specialized geriatric medical personnel provide preventive examinations and ongoing medical care, when necessary, to relieve the stress of ill health.
Public health social workers also administer programs that work through senior community centers providing personal nutritional guidance, classes in cooking, and exercise regimens. They also facilitate counseling and therapeutic services for individuals who suffer from depression or anxiety (see Anxiety). And, public health social workers are advocates, speaking for their senior clients and their concerns, affording them a presence and a dignity they deserve.
Public health social work addresses society's larger problems with solutions that improve individuals' lives. This engagement in the big picture is nurtured by the needs social workers see in the people they serve, and allows them to not only envision social change, but to work for it, and to achieve it in some good measure.