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| Brandon Baird (Dec '17) |
Society likes to compile and
categorize occupations to fit a mold. It’s usually a straight path where tasks
and activities are clear. Becoming a dual-degree professional is a challenging
journey that can lead you down multiple roads because the relative newness of
dual-degree programs still carries a uniqueness into the workforce. The
combination of the master of public health (MPH) and master of social work (MSW)
has grown to become a solid partnership. Public health inevitably creeps into
social work as if it were the friend that always was welcome in your home;
social work can also lend a hand to public health, even if the reciprocity is
not always apparent. Dr. Joseph Telfair, a dual-degree wizard as he has been a
piece in starting several MSW/MPH programs around the country, explained that
every challenge has multiple factors at play, stressing the importance of
understanding the levels of the ecological model from the individual to the
environment.
A public health social worker
(PHSW) is a professional that can understand and help meet the needs of the
individual to support the population’s well-being. By using interpersonal
techniques of social work in the framework of public health knowledge, a PHSW
can read between the lines to have a greater understanding of an individual’s
needs and how to reach those needs. Although this may seem complicated, a
clearer picture is painted when you identify the common values between the two
disciplines: elimination of health disparities and promotion of social, economic,
and environmental justice (Sable et al., 2012). These shared values and ethics
between the disciplines show how to accomplish goals from both sides that seem
one-sided.
My realization of the integrative
nature came when I shadowed a social worker at a low-income health clinic in
Atlanta. My usual tasks included calling patients in order to help them
schedule appointments from regular check-ups to mammograms to a number of other
health services. The people I came in contact with usually did not know how to
schedule their own specialty appointments or navigate the Medicare or Medicaid
system that was more of a burden on their shoulders than a boost under their
feet. I felt good about myself, but I also came to realize the nature of the
hierarchy of needs. Most people I helped had some form of income and a house to
call home. However, I also helped a mother who did not have a place to stay
other than her daughter’s dorm room. This could have built into a bigger
situation, but I was able to use my resources with United Way to find some
temporary housing for the mother to stay. The spectrum of situations that can
arise in the setting I was in was long spanning, and none of these situations
could be labeled as simply public health or social work.
Although research is limited, the
identity of public health social workers in the workforce is beginning to be
evaluated. When comparing dual-degree graduates to MSW-only graduates, Ruth et
al. (2006) found that both groups had high employment and career satisfaction.
However, the flexibility of the kind of job was apparent as 80% of MSW-only
graduates held strictly social work occupations compared to just one-third of
dual-degree graduates. A more recent study focused on the kind of education PHSWs
would benefit from by analyzing what skills the dual-degree graduates used most.
Sixty-three percent of the graduates labeled themselves as PHSW and used both
skill sets while only half said they had the ideal integrative job (Ruth et
al., 2015). This speaks to the workforce not exactly being prepared for
dual-degree professionals, but dual-degree professionals still finding ways to
utilize the skill sets that were learned with both degrees.
Even with the skills from both
areas being used, Dr. Betty Ruth of Boston University believes that dual-degree
professionals have a chance to better integrate more disciplines. She wrote
“MSW/MPH programs are not just educational enhancement; they have the potential
to become the profession’s building blocks for transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary
collaboration” (2015, p. 193).
Similar to interdisciplinary
collaboration, transdisciplinary collaboration integrates components such as
perspectives, concepts, and theories while also using these components to be
creative by generating strategies and techniques to address, and hopefully
solve, problems (Stokols, et al., 2013). This kind of collaboration goes through
a fluidly sequential set of four phases: development, conceptualization,
implementation, and translation. Although collaborative groups would like to
flow through these phases in order, there are times where you have to take a
step back and make some corrections to your original strategies.
The role of the PHSW in this kind
of context is to be able to bring a greater holistic view of the situation at
hand. First, the PHSW should go through a collection of steps in order to
identify the problem. The three pieces that go into fully understanding the
problem is identifying the locus of the problem, identifying key modifiable
contributing risk factors, and identifying key issues related to adoption,
which leads to an effective solution (Johnson-Reid, et al., 2013). These three
pieces are important because it will help the PHSW identify what community
partnerships need to be mobilized in order to help advocate for policy changes,
provide and increase access to services, educate the community, and evaluate
the efficacy of the intervention or program as a whole (Hall & Rounds, 2013).
Consider you are trying to reduce
the rate of violence among adolescents. Possible collaborators may include
medical personnel, law enforcement, social services, teachers, parents, and coaches.
With so many perspectives and ideals that can present themselves in this
hodgepodge, leadership is crucial for reaching the intended goal as the
separate entities that make up the group have their own agenda and limited
power in which to make change. However, dynamic delegation can bring out the
best of the group by having each entity do what they can do best in order for
the group to strive at full capacity (Dow, et al., 2013). Sometimes polarizing
figures will be at the same table with stakeholders that will disagree about
plans of action the majority of the time. No one likes to have their toes
stepped on, especially when people feel like their way will make a lasting
impact. The key is to avoid the crunch and hopefully just give the toes a tap. With
leadership, the PHSW can help find the middle ground because understanding how
to work through disagreements is critical for the growth and success of the
collaboration group.
I am not sure where my journey
will take me, but I do know my dual-degree education will mold me into a
versatile professional. Of course my attractiveness in the workforce will be
boosted, which does matter. By the same token, the multiple perspectives I
bring to the table as well as understanding the perspectives of other’s that
are at the table will increase the probability for effective and meaningful
change. That is what matters most about being a public health social worker.
-Brandon Baird, MSW MPH Student (December 2017)
Visit Brandon's LinkedIn profile.
References
Dow,
A. W., DiazGranados, D., Mazmanian, P. E., & Retchin, S. M. (2013).
Applying organizational science to healthcare:
Framework for collaborative practice. Academic Medicine, 88(7), 952-957.
Hall, W. J. &
Rounds, K. (2013). Adolescent health. In R. H.
Keefe & E. T. Jurkowski (Eds), Handbook for public
health social work
(pp. 58-80). New York, NY: Springer.
Johnson-Reid, M., Drake, B., Weaver, N., & Constantino,
J. (2013). Transdisciplinary approaches to violence and injury prevention and
treatment among children and youth (Chapter 10). In D. Haire-Joshu & T.D.
McBride (Eds), Transdisciplinary public
health: Research, education, & practice
(pp. 217-247). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Ruth, B. J., Marshall, J. W., Velasquez, E. E. M., & Bachman, S. S.
(2015). Teaching note: Educating public health social work professionals:
Results from an MSW/MPH outcomes study. Journal of Social Work Education, 51,
186-194.
Ruth, B. J., Wyatt, J., Chiasson, E., Geron, S. M., &
Bachman, S. (2006). Teaching notes:
Social work and public health: Comparing graduates from a dual degree program. Journal of Social Work Education, 42(2),
429-439.
Sable, M. R., Schild, D. R., & Hipp, J. A. (2012).
Public health and social work. In S. Gehlert & T. Browne (Eds.), Handbook of health social work, (pp.
64-99). Hoboken, NJ: WILEY.
Stokols, D., Hall, K. L., & Vogel,
A. L. (2013). Transdisciplinary public health: Definition, core characteristics,
and strategies for success (Chapter 1). In D. Haire-Joshu & T.D. McBride (Eds), Transdisciplinary public health: Research, education, & practice (pp. 3-30).
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
