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| Amber Hill (Dec '16) |
“How are you?”
“How have you been?”
“The weather is nice
today.”
“So what are you
doing these days?”
“I am still personal training at the gym and I
am also pursuing a dual degree in public health and social work.”
“Oh…What is that?”
This last question is always asked with a hint of skepticism and
undertones of pity. When I first knew that I would be pursuing the MSW/MPH, I
was a little skeptical. Sure, the two disciplines seem like a perfect match.
Both strive to help others by minimizing disparities and maximizing quality of
life. However, there are very few job postings that are looking to hire an
individual that has Master’s degrees in both public health and social work.
Will I be able to find a career where I will be able to utilize the double
degrees that cost me a couple of extra semesters of tuition?
Several factors influenced my realization of what it
means to be a dual professional. First, I began to notice other
interdisciplinary professionals: journalists, advertising agents, lawyers,
professors. This awareness was comforting because it showed that
multidisciplinary careers exist outside the field that is printed on a
degree/diploma. One specific individual that I spoke with, Ms. Ilana Olin,
conveyed some helpful insight when I asked her to elaborate on her career as a
dual professional. Ms. Olin was a member of the first class to graduate from
UGA’s dual MSW/MPH degree program in 2013. She now works as a Health Programs
Specialist for Healthways. She states that even though her job deals almost
exclusively with health promotion, she still considers herself a dual
professional because of the theoretical knowledge and interprofessional
collaboration capabilities that she learned in her graduate program. Her
perspective was eye-opening for me because I realized that, while many careers
exclusively identify with one field, every job has the potential to benefit
from defining problems, finding resources, eliminating barriers, and
recognizing strengths – the skills that I am learning in my graduate program.
A second factor
that impacted my definition of a dual professional stems from the published
research regarding interprofessional collaboration. Or rather, it is a lack of
published material regarding specifically the MSW/MPH dual professional that I
find intriguing. There are countless publications that address the importance
of being able to work with individuals from other disciplines (Brownson, 2013).
Also, there are just as many that highlight the effectiveness of successful
collaboration (Kreuter & Pfeiffer, 2013). These two publications, like many
others, acknowledge the importance of being able to apply the quantitative,
action-oriented mindset of health promotion with the qualitative,
social-ecological frameworks of social work. The positive outcomes of these
facets are widely accepted but have not been addressed in the context of public
health social work. It seems like the research highlights the need for an
individual who is capable of recognizing where social services should influence
the health of communities and individuals but rather than creating a single
individual to fit this need, society is relying on pre-established norms and
boundaries to define where one profession stops and another picks up. This highlights the appeal of MSW/MPH
professionals and exemplifies their potential usefulness.
I was also able to
shape my idea of what it means to be a dual professional by juxtaposing the
course content from both my public health and social work classes. The goal of
graduate education programs is to prepare individuals to be professionals. The
curriculum of the programs reflects what is considered required knowledge for
individuals getting into the profession. After only two semesters in the
program, I have encountered multiple situations where social work classes have
emphasized the importance of public health influences and vice versa. For
example, in order for a change in social policy to occur there must first be a
demonstrated need for that change which is often shown through a community
needs assessment. Another example occurs when health specialists need to find
the best method to distribute resources equally amongst various demographics
and exploit social and cultural differences to decide on the most effective
intervention. These examples demonstrate just a few of many instances that suggests
these particular fields are naturally intertwined and a dual professional competent
in both would be able to most effectively combine the aspects of each.
The last large
influence on my perspective of what it means to be a dual professional occurred
in my foundation placement. I am placed at Goodwill Career Services where I
provide job readiness training, personal social adjustment training, and
various other tasks that address unemployment in the community. Every individual working in the career center
has a background in social work but there has not been a single day where I did
not encounter a public health issue. Specifically when dealing with
unemployment, disabilities and weaknesses must be addressed and while this
appears to be a social work type of problem, most of the solutions lie in
public health policy. For example, many participants in the program are
concerned that their social security benefits will be effected if they are
employed. Additionally, there is a lack of resources and jobs available for
individuals with learning disabilities. While health issues often cause
unemployment, the reverse is also true: unemployment leads to multiple
health-related side effects. This internship made me question how social work
and public health could ever be effective without relying on each other and
also made me aware of the need for dual professionals.
I am now in my second semester of the program and most
of my concerns have dissipated. The most valuable lesson that I have learned is
that a dual professional is not someone who has both the words “public health”
and “social worker” in his or her job title. It is not a career where 20 hours
a week are spent in health promotion and 20 hours are spent leading therapy
sessions. It does not mean that for every needs assessment there will be both
chronic illness prevention and social policy changes. A dual professional is an
individual that is qualified through degrees, experiences, and licensures to
utilize the strengths of two fields in order to maximize the effectiveness of
both fields in specific situations. In this case, a public health and social
work dual professional is an individual who has obtained degrees in both
fields, interned in positions that incorporate aspects of both professions, and
perhaps passed the Certified in Public Health and Licensed Master Social Worker
exams and draws from these qualifications to advocate for a better quality of
life for both communities and individuals.
Learn more
about Amber Hill.
References
Brownson,
R. C. (2013). Evidence-based decision making: transdisciplinary problem solving
to improve the health of the public. In
Haire-Joshu, D. & McBride, T. E., Transdisciplinary
Public Heath (249-263). New Jersey: Jossey-Bass.
Kreuter,
M.W., & Pfeiffer, D. (2013). Transdisciplinary problem solving for
integrating public health and social service systems to address health
disparities. In Haire-Joshu, D. & McBride, T. E., Transdisciplinary Public Heath (154-184) New Jersey: Jossey-Bass.
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