Date of Award

6-2020

Document Type

Project

Degree Name

Master of Social Work

Department

School of Social Work

First Reader/Committee Chair

Janet Chang

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to understand Masters in Social Work (MSW) student and professor perspectives on the connectedness of public health and social work, and inquire about their opinions of barriers and facilitators to further merging these two areas in practice and education. The study was formulated on the knowledge that social well being directly impacts health outcomes, and public health and social work share many target objectives and populations. The study implements a qualitative design using face to face interviews with five advanced year MSW students, and two MSW professors at California State University, San Bernardino. The key findings include the shared sentiment that the connection between public health and social work is under discussed in masters level education, and the majority opinion within the sample group that our education could benefit from bringing in professionals or speakers with backgrounds in public health. Interdisciplinarity in higher education has the potential to better prepare social workers to recognize and address the unique challenges faced by our client population, and advocate for systemic reform.

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