Historical Perspectives on Social Work

1
Historical Perspectives on Social Work Public
Health

• Center for MCH Leadership in Public Health Social
  Work
• Graduate School of Public Health
• University of Pittsburgh

2
Early Challenges for Public Health

• Sanitation
• Housing
• Infectious Disease

Tenement Rookeries, Washington, DC, 1908, Lewis
Hine
3
Challenges for Public Health

• Child Labor
• Poverty
• Injuries
• Environment

Sole Water Supply, Wilder, Tennessee, 1942,
courtesy of Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Digital
Archives
4
Early Public Health History

• Federal Public Health Infrastructure History
• Public Health Service
• Large Cities Efforts
• State Health Boards
• Scope of Responsibility

U. S. Public Health Officers, San Francisco, c.
1908, Courtesy of National Library of Medicine
5
Early Public Health History

• Establishment of first Boards of health (1860s)
• American Public Health Association (1872)
• Well-child clinics/safe milk stations

Landing at Ellis Island, 1902, courtesy of
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Division
6
Social Work and Public Health Common Origins and
Themes

• Holistic View of Health Welfare Issues
• Roots in Social Reform and Settlement House
  Movement
• Focus on Addressing Problems Through Policy
  Change

Rural public health worker. c. 1920. History of
Medicine Division, National Library of
Medicine.
7
Common Origins and Themes

• Participation at Community and Neighborhood Level
• Emphasis on Advocacy and Political Action

Public Health Service nurse. c.1920. History of
Medicine Division, National Library of
Medicine.
8
Holistic View of Health Welfare Issues

• Physical Health
• Mental Health
• Housing
• Sanitation
• Working Conditions
• Environment
• Poverty

Public health nursing available through child
welfare services, c.1936, courtesy of Franklin
D. Roosevelt Library Digital Archives
9
Settlement House Movement

• Hull House- Chicago
• Henry Street- NYC
• Hudson Guild- NYC
• Addressing Wide Range of Community Issues/Urban
  Problems
• Generating Leadership

Hull House Chicago Commons, 1902
10
Characteristics of Settlement Houses

• Holistic approach
• Social reform and advocacy
• Community roots
• Strengths orientation
• Capacity building
• Multiple dimensions

Infant Welfare Society, 1930, Wallace Kirkland
11
Addressing Problems

• Addressing community problems and strengths
• Developing policy and program interventions
• Monitoring enforcement and quality

At the Close of the Day, 1911, Lewis Hine
12
Community and Neighborhood Focus

• Direct involvement at neighborhood level
• Educating and empowering residents
• Establishing coalitions and partnerships

Six black workers in the Alexandria Glass
Factory, Lewis Hine, 1911
13
Advocacy and Political Action

• Mobilizing public opinion
• Influencing legislators and policy makers
• Writing legislation
• Insuring monitoring and enforcement

Spinner in Whitnel Cotton Mfg. Co., N.C., 1908,
Lewis Hine
14
Limitations of Settlement Houses

• Apartness from the community
• Reliance on charismatic leadership
• Occasional focus on irrelevant issues

Mrs. Annie De Martius and Children, 1911, Lewis
Hine
15
Limitations

• Reluctance to engage in strong advocacy
• Social control and paternalism
• Lack of grass roots community organizing

Spinner in Whitnel Cotton Mfg. Co, 1908, Lewis
Hine
16
Critical Milestones

• Pure Food Drug Act
• White House Conference on Children
• Childrens Bureau
• Sheppard -Towner Act
• Social Security Act

17
Divergence of Public Health and Social Work
Traditions

• Emergence of social work as a discipline
• Emphasis on hospital based and psychiatric social
  work
• Specialized social work education
• Public health focus on physical health issues
• Public health systems move away from direct
  services
• Resource allocation and funding issues

18
Emergence of Social Work in Public Health Settings

• Direct services to underserved
• Maternal child health programs
• STD services
• Client advocacy and case management
• Planning and management

19
Characteristics of Public Health Social Work

• Emphasis on prevention
• Orientation to populations rather than
  individuals
• Focus on the epidemiology (distribution,
  characteristics and risk factors) related to
  health and social problems
• Orientation to long-range strategies, systems
  change, policy and legislation

20
Roles and Functions of Social Workers in Public
Health

• Social workers perform a
• variety of activities ranging
• from direct service to
• population-based public
• health planning and program
• administration

21
Functions of Public Health Social Work

• Assess health status of the community (community
  and population needs and resources)
• Participate in program planning and policy
  formulation
• Advocate for change in policy

22
Functions

• Community organizing and social planning
• Consultation and education, professional training
• Program evaluation, monitoring and assurance,
  research

23
Roles of Social Workers in Public Health

• Psychosocial assessment and counseling
• Family treatment interventions
• Client advocacy and education
• Case management

24
Roles

• Consultation with staff and community
  organizations
• Community organizing and advocacy
• Professional training
• Coordination of community health assessment and
  evaluation activities
• Enforcement and policy development

25
Types of Programs

• Maternal and child health
• Family planning
• STD/HIV/AIDS
• Home health
• Communicable and infectious diseases
• Environmental health
• Health education/promotion

26
Photographic Sources

• 1. Children of rehabilitation clinic in
  Arkansas. 1935. Franklin D. Roosevelt Library
  Digital Archives
• 2. Hine, Lewis Wickes. Tenement rookeries,
  Washington, DC. 1908. George Eastman Digital
  Archive
• 3. Sole water supply, Wilder, Tennessee. 1942.
  Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Digital Archives
• 4. Group portrait of U.S. Public Health and
  Marine Hospital Service officers. San Francisco.
  1907. History of Medicine Division, National
  Library of Medicine.
• 5. Landing at Ellis Island. 1902. Library of
  Congress Prints and Photographs Division
• 6.Rural public health worker. c.1920. History
  of Medicine Division, National Library of
  Medicine.
• 7. Public Health Service nurse. c.1920. History
  of Medicine Division, National Library of
  Medicine.
• 8. Public health nursing available through child
  welfare services. C. 1936. Franklin D. Roosevelt
  Library Digital Archives.
• 9. Chicago Commons. 1902. Allen B. Pond, "The
  'Settlement House,'" part 2, The Brickbuilder 11,
  no. 8 (August 1902) 163.
• 10. Kirkland, Wallace. Infant Welfare Society.
  1930. Jane Addams Memorial Collection, University
  of Illinois at Chicago Library.
• 11. Hine, Lewis Wickes. At the close of the
  day. 1911. National Child Labor Committee
  Photographs, Library of Congress Prints and
  Photographs Division
• 12. Hine, Lewis Wickes. Six black workers in the
  Alexandria (Va) glass factory. 1911. National
  Child Labor Committee Photographs, Library of
  Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
• 13. Hine, Lewis Wickes. Spinner in Whitnel
  Cotton Manufacturing Company. 1908. National
  Child Labor Committee Photographs, Library of
  Congress Prints and Photographs Division
• 14. Hine, Lewis Wickes. Mrs. Annie De Martius, 46
  Laight St., N.Y.C., nursing a dirty baby while
  she picks nuts with three other children. 1911.
  National Chuild Labor Committee Photographs,
  Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
  Division.
• 15. Hine, Lewis Wickes. Spinner in Whitnel
  Cotton Manufacturing Company. 1908. National
  Chuild Labor Committee Photographs, Library of
  Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
• 16. Reid, E.S. A lifelong jobthe constant
  protection of their health. c.1936. Works
  Progress Administration Poster Collection,
  Library of Congress.