Weekly Reflection #3

The third chapter of this book primarily discusses the need for primary prevention and talks about social work in primary care settings. Primary care intervention is the idea that society must try to prevent people from habitually engaging in health behaviors that tend to contribute to chronic diseases. “Primary prevention implies the elimination of the sources of distress and “disease” in our social structures, such as poverty, racism, pollution, poor education, and the general lack of a nurturing environment” ( Fort Cowles, 2003, p. 77). Major settings of social work in primary prevention include public schools, workplaces, recreational settings, social agencies that provide social support and skills training and education, and health settings. Social work practice in primary care in the health field requires knowledge of health behavior, illness behavior, social aspects of illness, generalist social work practice, medicine, psychopathology, organizational theory, epidemiology, the etiology of illness, psychosocial dysfunction, the sociology of medicine, the WHO concept of health, empowerment and the strengths perspective, individual and environmental research methods, and the biopsychosocial model of health care. A health care social worker requires specific knowledge in many different areas in order to be successful. The model curriculum for social work in primary care is recommended by the Michigan Prevention Training and Curriculum Development Project. This curriculum provides a student of social work to be trained in all the different areas needed. I found an article that discusses that the social work program at Columbia University is run by ex-cons who served time for murder, attempted murder, and robbery and assault. I found this article to be very interesting as it relates to the social work curriculum: Columbia's Cons: Ivy League social work program run by team of former prisoners

References:

Fort Cowles, L.A. (2003). Social Work in the Health Field: A Care Perspective (2nd ed.) Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Press.