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University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
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The State Relief Administration social worker: an analysis and survey of the educational background, professional training and experience, and functions of one hundred social workers in the State R...
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The State Relief Administration social worker: an analysis and survey of the educational background, professional training and experience, and functions of one hundred social workers in the State R...
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TEE STATE RELIEE ADIIINI8TRATICN SOCIAL WORKER A j% JlK[ALlfE]:S A L Ü T D EiU FTVlElf C )E T C E IG IüC%J(}jiTI()fJALlj ]B kl{3IO C lR O TJlG I), PR0ÉES8I0NAL TRAINING AND EZl-'ERIENCE, AND FUNCTIONS ()IT (I I H G ]knjNI)RED SDCiULJu W D R I Œ Ü R t j ÎX N . T 7 E E STATE RELIEF ADMINISTRATION A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Social Work University of Southern California In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of science in Social Work by Diana Rivlin June 1939 UMI Number: EP66128 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Bissertation MwblisMng UMI EP66128 Published by ProQuest LLC (2014). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 This thesis, w ritte n under the direction of the candidate's F acu lty Comm ittee and approved by a ll its members, has been presented to and ac cepted by the F acu lty of the School of Social W o rk in p a rtia l fu lfilm e n t o f the requirements fo r the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE IN SOCIAL WORK Di .. F a c u lty C om m ittee jy j i C h airm an / y ( X m AJi S L h ^ AGENOWLEDGEÏimrT It is with sincerest appreciation that the investigator wishes to express her gratitude to the supervisors and workers in the many district offices of the.Los Angeles County Relief Administration where the questionnaire employed in this study was so cordially received, and assistance and cooperation so freely given. There were no refusals by any of the offices to permit the submission of the questionnaire to the workers, nor by the workers to complete it. General permission to distribute the ques tionnaire was obtained through the courtesy of the Los Angeles County Relief Administrator to whom the investigator is indebted for the cooperation and support accorded. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM AND DEFINITIONS OF TERMS USED.................................. 1 The problem . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Statement of the problem............ . . 4 Importance of the problem . .... ........ 5 Definitions of terms employed ......... 8 Training..................... 9 Experience........■...................... 10 Routing.................................. 10 o R A ...................................... 10 SRA social worker....................... 10 Scope of the study......................... 11 Educational and professional background. . 12 Details of activities ................... 14 Source of the materials................... 14 Procedure ............. . . . . . . . . 16 II. REVIEYf OF THE LITERAIURE...................... 21 III. DISTRIBUTIONS OF AGE AND S E X.................. 32 IV. PROFESSIONAL STATUS.......................... 42 V. ACADEMIC EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND ......... 58 Degrees h e l d ............................ 68 il CHAPTER PAGE Major and minor academic subjects . . . 70 Institutions attended............ . 85 VI. PROFESSIONAL EDHCATIONAL BACKGROUND .... 93 Degrees and credentials held in social w o r k ............................ 93 Professional work curriculum. .... . . . . 95 Institutions attended ................. 110 Fields of social work........... 113 Attendance at extension courses .... 118 Degrees being sought ................. 124 VII. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE IN SOCIAL WORK . . 129 State Relief Administration experience 129 Social work experience in other agencies 133 VIII. PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS . 142 .Professional affiliations ............. 142 Employee organizations 149 IX. THE STATE RELIEF ADMINISTRATION DISTRICT OFFICE PERSONNEL................. 151 Aides............................ 151 Case workers.................... 154 Field intake investigators..... 157 Out-of-town inquiry workers . . . . . . 158 The B-I-R Worker............... 158 ill CHAPTER PAGE Case reader.......................... 159 Sub-executive positions .............. 160 X. THE FUNCTIONS OF THE SRA DISTRICT OFFICE SOCIAL SERVICE PERSONNEL .............. 163 XI. SUIJIARY................................... 174 Summary.......... 174 Conclusions........................ 176 Recommendations ...................... 179 BIBLIGGRAPHY..................................... 182 APPENDIX......................................... 188 LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE 1. Distribution of social Workers According to Classifications............ 13 II. Education of 195 Social Workers: American Public Welfare Study . . . . . . . . . . 33 III. Sex'and Age Distribution of Emergency Workers and Aides for Chicago Social Workers, 1935. 34 IV. Distribution of Social Workers by Age Groups Among 4260 Social Workers....................36 V. Age and Sex Distribution of One Hundred Social Workers ............................ 37 VI, Distribution of Classifications by Principal Groups of Office Personnel for One Hundred Social Workers .............. 42 VII. Occupational Distribution of Administrative Employees of the S R A .......................44 VIII. Salary Tabulations for One Hundred Social orkers.....................................47 IX. Salary Tabulations for Unit Supervisors, Case .Supervisors, and Social Workers . . . 51 X. Distribution of Monthly Salaries for Execu tive, Sub-executive, and Staff Member Positions.............................. 54 TABLE XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. V PAGE Classification of Social Workers Holding no Academic Degree for One Hundred Social Workers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Distribution of Degrees Among Ninety-Three Social Workers .......... 62 Degrees Held by One Hundred Social Workers . 64 Number of Years of post Graduate Work Com pleted for Classified Social Workers . . 65 Average Number of Years of Graduate Work Completed by Social Workers According to Professional Classification for One Hundred Social Workers , ............... 68 Academic Education of Emergency Workers and Aides Among Chicago Social Workers, 1935 . ........................... . . Major Subjects in the Undergraduate Curri cula for One Hundred Social Workers . . Percentages of Social Workers Who Took Majors Undergraduate Work in Psychology, Social Studies, and Sociology for One . 76 Number of Years of Undergraduate Work Devoted to Sociological Fields ........ 78 Minor Subjects in Undergraduate Curriculum 79 69 72 TABLE XXI. XXII. XXIII. XXIV. -XXV. XXVI. XXVII. XXVIII. XXIX. XXX. Major Subject in the Graduate Curriculum Number of Social Workers with Majors in Psychology, Social Studies, and Social Work.................................... College or University Where Undergraduate Work Was Taken for One Hundred Social Workers......................... .. College or University Where Graduate Study Was Done by Sixty-Five Social Workers Distribution of Universities and Colleges Where Undergraduate and Graduate Study Was Done by One Hundred Social Workers . Teaching Credentials and Certificates Held by One Hundred Social Workers ........ Classification of Social Workers Holding Social Work Certificates or Degrees . . Number of Years of Social Work Taken in the Graduate Curriculum ............... Professional Education of Emergency Workers and Aides Among Chicago Social Workers, 1935 .... ........................... Institutions Where Graduate Professional Work Courses were Taken by Seventy-three of One Hundred Social Workers ........ Vi PAGE 81 84 85 88 89 91 94 96 109 111 TABLE XXXI. vil PAGE XXXII. XXXIII. XXXIV. XXXV. XXXVI. XXXVII. XXXVIII. XXXIX. XL. XLI. Schools of Social Work Attended by Fifty- Two Social Workers Who Took Profession al Social Work Training ............... The Field of Social Work in Which Gradu ate Professional Courses in Social Work Were Taken for Seventy-Three of One Hundred Social Workers ............... Field of Interest in Social 7/ork........ Number and Classification of Social Workers Taking Extension Courses . . . Comparison of College Attendance .... Number and Classification of Social Workers Seeking Higher Degrees .... Length of Time of Employment ........... Paid Social Work Experience ........... Classification of Social Agencies . . . . Social Work Experience of Emergency Workers and Aides Among Chicago Social Workers . ........................... Comparison of Length of Employment in Social Work with General Education and with Graduate Social Work ............. 112 114 117 120 122 125 131 135 138 139 141 Vlll TABLE XLII. Professional Affiliations and Membership in Professional Social Work Organize- . tions and Societies ................. XLIII. Membership in Trade Unions and Employee Organizations ........ ....... 144 148 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE . PAGE 1. Comparisons of Age Distributions for Social Workers in the State Relief Administration 40 2. Salary Ranges for Social Workers. ....... 48 3. Comparison of Salary Schedules of the Leader ship Group in the American Public Welfare Job Study, 1938, and Social Worker in the State Relief Administration ............... 55 4. Distribution of Education of Workers in Group A Surveyed in American Public Welfare Job Study 99 5. Distribution of Education of Workers in Group B 100 6. Distribution of Education of Supervisors in Group A ......................... 101 7. Distribution of Education of Supervisors in Group B ...................................... 102 8. Distribution of Educational Backgrounds for Social Workers................. 105 CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM AND DEFINITIONS OF TERMS USED Years ago the work of aiding others was regarded as carrying its own recompense in personal satisfaction. No qualifications except an interest in humanity was considered pertinent to relieving distress. With the introduction of a more scientific attitude toward the problems of social wel fare, the need for persons with adequate training and back ground became recognized. Agencies conducting programs of social welfare became aware of the necessity of engaging specially trained individuals to serve their clients. The complex problems involved in social service can be attacked only by people who have training and understand their field. It is recognized that the service rendered by social workers is commensurate with their professional education and ex perience. It is to the best interests, then, of both the community and the agency to secure as their agents highly trained specialists. When the unprecedented waves of unemployment swept the country, public and private social agencies found that there were not enough trained social workers to fill the emergent vacancies on their staffs. Public social welfare personnel standards were dependent on those of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration when that organization v;as directing the straight relief program for unemployment.^ Prior to that situation, relief in California was principally dis pensed through the boards of supervisors. This was especi ally true of the smaller counties and areas in the state. So inefficient was the direction of this project, and so lacking in standardization was the administration and per sonnel that regular supervisors were placed in charge of the districts. When the California Emergency Relief Administra tion was launched in May, 1934, to deal with the unemploy ment problem here, the personnel standards of the social service division were dependent on the requirements of the federal program. When federal monies were v/ithdrawn from the direct unemployment relief programs in 1935, California made no drastic changes in its personnel requirements for social service staff. In the large counties and heavily populated sections of California, social service directors were appointed to supervise the work of the relief program. In the more thinly populated areas a .case supervisor was placed in charge. Field case supervisors were then appointed to assist and guide the directors and case supervisors. To aid the supervisors, junior and senior case workers and case aides were appointed. Case workers were supposed to supervise the case aides, and b Social Service Division Manual, Los Angeles County Relief Administration, March 1, 1935 3 to be assisted by them. Such duties as the handling of ap plications-, making of investigations, qualifying applicants, and dealing with special problems were detailed for the jun ior and senior case workers. The more routine file work was routed as the function of the case aide. Since the California State Relief Administration has apparently admitted that unemployment is a permanent problem by its deletion of "Emergency" from its administrative title, the personnel responsible for the dispensation of this form of direct releif assumes importance. This study was under taken as a result of the variance in comment by and of the social worker anent his professional status, background, training, and general fitness for the job. There has been political discussion as to whether the dispensation of di rect relief in an unemployment situation should not be a clerical job. Some believe that the unemployed person should not be subjected to case work methods since his unemployment is due to technological, rather than individual pathology.^ Opposing this school of thought are those who feel that attendant on the problem of unemployment are family situa tions which the worker is called upon to face each month on his required calendar call, and that for their solutions the 2 Dr. Glenn Frank, Los Angeles Times Editoria-l February 14, 1939 4 visitor must have social case work training. Moreover, the Social Service Division of the California State Relief Ad ministration has implied a stress on social work training by its continuous record of completion of social work courses. And finally, workers themselves, confronted by the routine of their daily job, have questioned their own professional status and training. I. THE PROBLEM During the past five years most surveys concerned wdth the qualifications and duties of social workers have failed to consider the relief worker as falling within this category This study deals exclusively with the relief worker in the State Relief Administration. To render a more complete pic ture. of this individual, this study will attempt to appraise the relief worker in terms of (l) his qualifications, (S) his functions. Statement of the problem. This thesis deals with an alyses of the professional training and experience of the State Relief Administration worker employed in the Social Service Division of that organization. In order to fully appraise this relief agent as a social worker, comparisons were made with the educational-professional qualifications of socail workers in agencies accepted by description and 5 definition as social agencies; to complete the picture, a study was projected of the job routine to ascertain the social work aspects of the position. It is the purpose of the study to investigate the general and specific character istics of these workers ; analyze their functions; and deter mine the need, if it exists, of a specialized training pro gram to achieve greater efficiency and better service. Importance of the problem. During the past year a steady influx of new workers has been swelling the staffs in the district offices of the State Relief Administration. These workers may be untrained and unqualified for the work into which they are being thrust so unceremoniously. A large proportion of these workers may not have had either profess ional training or education, and in spite of this handicap, have been assigned to full case loads in the past, with com plete responsibility for this assignment. Case aides have been sent into the field directly after their arrival at a district State Relief office. It is important to appraise these workers to determine their background and adequacy for the job they are expected to perform. At the present time, there is no county-wide standardized program for in-service training of the initiate. There is no pre-service training program at all. Prior to August, 1934, all formal training of case 6 aides was initiated by case supervisors who instructed case aides under their supervision during the regular course of work. In September, 1934,the State Relief Administration in stituted a training program for all its workers, both ex^ perienced and inexperienced case aides. Instruction was pro vided in universities, special training centers, institutes and also in the district offices. In May, 1935, the insti tutes and district training programs vvere discontinued and the training restricted to the University of California and the University of Southern California for university train ing; later two special social work institutes were located in Los Angeles and Riverside. In 1934 to 1935 the Extension Division of the University of California extended training to eight California cities. About six months after the in auguration of this program the work was suddenly suspended ; first, because of the difficulties experienced in securing classrooms in which to hold the classes, and secondly, be cause it was found that the social workers were unable to continue the expense of the tuition. As a regular training program the extension courses were discontinued but some of the classes continued to function. Some of this instruction was transferred to regular class meetings conducted in the various district offices. This latter type of training was carried on by the State Relief Administration, .courses of in struction in case work technique and public welfare adminis- 7 tration being-the main emphases. By May, 1935, there were 4,406 workers enrolled.^ In June of 1935, classroom as well as district office instruction in Southern California was discontinued; these were replaced with two training centers, one in Los Angeles and one in Riverside. In the northern cities of California, the district training program was not discontinued until August, 1935. At this time, due to the reduction in general relief and the reduction of staff, the training centers in Southern California were also discontinued. In Alameda alone a training center was retained until the close of that year. It is interesting to note that in 1936, 1937, and 1938, the State Relief Administration used a Re-certification Department as an introduction to SRA investigation work for new social service employees. In this department, the in vestigator examined the validity of the certification to the Vv'orks Progress Administration of former SRA clients; the validity being based on SRA standards of eligibility and in cluding a thorough investigation of income and resources of the family. No emphasis was laid on social aspects of the situation but, at least, the visitor became acquainted with ^ Review of Activities of the State Relief Adminis tration of California, 1933 to 1935, San Francisco, April, 1936. 8 SRA procedure and forms. Although this year the Re-certification project has been shifted to Works Progress Administration as their re sponsibility, it served as an 'interesting suggestion for possible pre-service training for workers in the regular so cial service division of the State Relief Administration. In Los Angeles County at the present time, the recruit who is detailed to a district office may be the holder of an A.B. degree in physics, mathematics, or domestic science, and have had not one course in sociology, nor any training in so cial work. He is chosen on the basis of his college degree, appearance, and oral interview (i.e., impression of his char acter and personality). The only training which the new worker receives con sists of occasional group meetings with the district super visor, intake supervisor, case supervisor, business manager and the medical aide. The problem of preparation for the job will be analyzed later in view of the material collected from the workers in the distributed questionnaires. II. DEFINITIONS OF TERMS E&dPLOYED Educational-professional background. With few excep tions, the social worker employed by the State Relief Adminis tration possesses an academic degree. By the educational background, we refer to the academic training of the worker, 9 either in the under-graduate or graduate curriculum. The humanities, the physical and biological sciences, the liber al arts, as well as training in fields other than social work were grouped under the head of educational background. Train ing in engineering, law, medicine, dentistry, domestic science, education or any other specialized field other than social work, were therefore also tallied as academic rather than pro fessional background. Professional background refers specifically to social work education. The study of sociology, however, when taken as part of an undergraduate curriculum is not included in this category, but in the academic. Where sociology courses were taken in a recognized school of social work, they were counted as professional training. The accomplishment of a profession other than social work was not considered as professional ed ucation; training in the medical, psychiatric, or legal as pects of social work was included because of their close re lationship to the social welfare field. Therefore, by the educational-professional background shall be meant the total of college training, excluding vo cational training other than that of social work. Training. Such preparation as is taken in trade schools, business colleges, and colleges and universities for specific vocational purposes, including teaching and social 10 work, were grouped under the single term of training. Experience. When experience is referred to, only so cial work experience in some recognized social work agency, or in the social service division of the State Relief Admin istration shall be meant. No other experience is included, whether it be teaching, business or other vocation. Routine. The routine of the SRA social worker con sists of all his duties and activities during the perform ance of his job. This includes not only those operations which pertain directly to his function, but also to those de tailed activities and experiences v/hich make up his work-day. SRA. This is the accepted abbreviation of the State Relief Administration, the public agency dispensing unemploy ment relief in California. SRA social worker. This term refers to the agent of the California State Relief Administration who supervises and aids in the dispensing of unemployment relief. Thirteen dif ferent classifications of SRA social workers are considered here, some of whom are in executive positions. Case aide, probationary case aide, case worker, executive and sub executive are the main categories of social workers accord ing to salary distinctions. 11 III. SCOPE OF THE STUDY This study, as already indicated, is intended to sur vey only the SRA social worker. The following classes only were considered: 1. The Probationary Case Aide 2. The Case Aide 3. The Case Worker 4. The Sub-executive Time did not permit an exhaustive study, and so the survey was restricted to the Los Angeles County area. Seven district offices of the State Relief Administration were chosen as representative of the thirteen county areas. Fif teen schedules were submitted to each of six of the offices; thirty were submitted to Belvedere District office (being the home office of this investigator) for increased control of the schedules.' It was felt that no discrepancies in re sults of the statistics returned, from the various district offices would arise, since personnel is sent to the district offices wherever a vacancy occurs, frequent transfers being made this past year as well as large increases in staff num bers. Workers are not sent to districts because of specific qualifications but because of the exigencies of the situation. The attempt was made to have as many social workers in sub executive positions answer the questionnaires as was possible 12 in order to have a fair basis of comparison. The proportion of the different types of workers varies from one district to another, so it was not possible to determine exactly what the ratios of the different classifications should be to approximate an average office. On page 13,Table I, shows the distribution of social works for the district offices circu lated . The study sought to collect and enumerate data relat ing to the two following topics: 1. The educational-professional background of the SRA social worker. 2. The details of the activities connected vjith his job. The educational-professional background. The follow ing data were collected in connection with the background of the individual: (l) sex, (2) age, (3) professional status, (4) degree held, (5) postgraduate work, (6) major subject in the undergraduate curriculum, (7) minor subject in the under graduate curriculum, (8) college or university attended for undergraduate work, (9) college or university attended for graduate work, (10) special credentials or certificates, (11) institution granting certificate or credential, (12) under graduate courses taken in the sociology curriculum, (13) gradu ate courses taken in the field of social work, (14) institu tions attended for professional social work courses, (15) worker^s special field of interest, (16) extension work being 13 TABLE I DISTRIBUTION OF SOCIAL WORKERS ACCORDING TO CLASSIFICATIONS IN SEVEN DISTRICT OFFICES OF THE STATE RELIEF ADMINISTRA TION OPERATING IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY, 1939 Classi fication of worker Compton Adams Office Office Vermont Office Alham bra Office Metro. Urban Office Bel- vedere Office Boyle Of- f ice Probation ary Case Aide 33 36 24 28 35 18 15 Case Aide 17 26 19 5 19 - 16 19 Case Worker 26 25 28 21 29 25 19 Case Supervisor 4 4 4 4 5 4 4 Head Intake Supervisor 1' 1 1 1 1 1 1 Assistant Intake Supervisor 3 2 3 0 3 2 2 Totals 84 94 79 59 92 66 60 14 pursued at the present time, (17) degree sought, (18) amount of paid social work experience, other than SRA, (20) name of social work agency supplying paid social work experience (other than SRA), (21) professional affiliations in social work organizations, (22) employee organizational affilia tions . Details of activities. The galaxy of different duties and activities which comprise the routine of the social worker is astounding. In a single day, this individual may perform over one hundred distinct and different tasks, each one repre senting a separate unit of the routine. An account of these activities is taken up in more detail in a later chapter. It is sufficient here to merely tabulate the general classifi cations into which all of his activities may be catalogued: (l) field interviewing, (2) office interviewing, (3) tele phone contacts, (4) consultations and conferences, (5) desk work on forms and instruments, (6) desk study, (7) dictation, (8) meetings, (9) outside activities. IV. SOURCE OF MATERIAL One hundred and thirty questionnaires were distributed among social workers in seven different district offices in Los Angeles County. One hundred and five of these were re turned, and of this number five were discarded because of 15. incompletion. Exactly one hundred questionnaires were em ployed in the study. Seven district offices of the State Relief Administra tion were visited, and the forms handed out to social workers who were found in the offices. The purpose*of the study was explained to them, and the request was made that the question naires be completed as soon as possible, and returned to the person distributing them. On the whole, the questionnaire was well received and completed immediately by most partici pants. ( A word here in regard to the response of the par ticipants with respect to his willingness to cooperate in filling in the questionnaire, may not be amiss.) The forms were received with much interest and there was considerable evidence of enthusiasm by those completing the forms. Social workers having the following status were solic ited for participation: Aides Probationary Case Aide Case Aide Case Workers on the Files Problem File Worker Failure to Provide File Worker Case Workers in Intake Field Intake Investigator Out-of-Tovm-Inquiry Worker Intake Worker on the Bureau of Indigent Relief Re ferrals Qualifier Case Reader Receptionist 16 Sub-execut ives Case Supervisor Intake Supervisor Head Supervisor Assistant Supervisor The seven district offices of the State Relief Admin istration from which the materials were obtained are located in Los Angeles County. At the time the schedules were dis tributed, they were located at the following addresses: No. 13 Adams District, 1720 South Flower Street, Los Angeles No. 3 Alhambra District, 27 West Huntington Drive, Arcadia No. 16 Belvedere District, 124 North Townsend Avenue, Los Angeles No. 15 Boyle District, 126 North Soto Street, Los Angeles No. 17 Compton District, 3840 Broadway Place, Los Angeles No. 7 Urban District, 660 East. 22nd Street, Los Angeles No. 12 Vermont District, 6714 McKinley Street, Los Angeles IV. PROCEDURE In order to obtain the material requisite to this study, a questionnaire was prepared for distribution among social workers employed in the State Relief Administration. As previously indicated, this schedule had twenty-two main questions, designed to secure as complete information as possible regarding each individual * s educational and pro fessional preparation for the job in which he finds himself. 17 Preparatory to composing the questionnaire, many per sons were consulted regarding their background, educational training and experience in order to obtain preliminary data for the first part of this schedule. Invaluable aid was se cured from a study group of Boyle District workers, them selves interested in gathering educational-professional back ground data of social workers in. their own district. Their results have not been collected as yet, but suggestions for classifications of group questions were gratefully received. Personal interviews were made with thirteen different groups of social workers employed by the State Administration. Each group represented a definite classification: probation ary case aides, case aides, categories of field case workers, and so forth. Each of these groups were broken down into the constituent classifications such as: the out-of-town-inquiry worker, field intake worker, special file worker, and quali fier. Excluding the district supervisor, there are thirteen distinct positions, each with their own title, rated within thé Social Service Division of the Los Angeles County Relief Administration. In order to obtain data in regard to the activities and functions of the personnel, about fifteen personal interviews were made, scattered about the different district offices. As complete a list as possible was recorded of the different separate activities engaged in by each group of social workers, 18 and a classified tabulation made of these activities. These data were completed by adding information obtained th ro u g h personal observation of, and actual participation in the activities under discussion; it was further verified by study ing personnel functions stated in state bulletins, manuals, reviews, and reports. In particular, th e Social Service Di vision Manual^gave some interesting material. Since the re lease of this manual, however, much of its material has become obsolete as changes have been made in th e administra tion of the agency; th e changes are available for study in bulletins and circular letters rather than integrated into a new manual. A n o th e r source which contributed materially to the compilation of functions was the R e v iew of Activities.^ The Job Analysis made in the Hollywood District also acted as a guide.^ Two of the workers conducting that project were available for consultation and some valuable material vjas ob tained from that source. The schedule was unusual in form and some discussion ^ Manual-Social Service Division, 1955, Los Angeles County Relief Administration ^ Analysis of Hollywood D i s t r i c t Office, S o c ia l Audit of the State Relief Administration, Los Angeles County, December 1938 ^ R eview of Activities, State Relief Administration, San Francisco, 1935 19 o f it in detail is in order.; The schedule consisted of twenty-five sections of tally boxes, each one being divided up into the detailed answers possible w it h in that category, with one space left for an answer tbat m ig h t not have been e x p e c te d . Spaces for the answers were grouped in one continuous row at the right hand side of th e page, s e c tio n being divided only by an emphasized line. Most participants in this investigation were able to answer this long schedule in less than five m in u te s because of this complete check system of tallying. Questionnaires were distributed b o th by the investi gator and assistants in the different offices. The parti cipants were requested to o m it t h e i r names, and since the schedules themselves were to be destroyed after tallying, as the face sheet of the schedule announced, the partici pants felt more free about giving accurate, albeit at the time, identifying information. When the questionnaires were collected, the narrow vertical, band of columns were cut out, four pages at a time, on a paper-cutting machine. Each column had previous ly been identified by a le t te r , and could them be reassembled into a single strip by transparent, glue cellophane. The one hundred strips were mounted on a large flat panel, again using transparent c e llo p h a n e to hold the lines in place. Each subject could th e n be treated separately by noting 20 the corresponding checks in the basic divisions. For in stance, the first two squares were tallied as sex; the en tire group could then be checked for this factor. When the next tally was made, the entire strip could be lifted, and regrouped into th e d e s ir e d division. In this way, the labor of tallying was considerably reduced because of the way the strips could be reshuffled and reclassified. The results of the survey are to be found in sub sequent chapters and treated in two main sections: 1, the background; 2,. the routine activities. CHAPTER II REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Surveys, analyses, or studies of job routines in con nection with relief workers and public welfare workers are lacking in our professional literature. It is distressing to note that comparatively few studies in qualifications and job routine have been made in regard to social workers in general. One would suspect that during recent y e a rs concurrent with the expansion of the federal relief projects and th e unprecedented number of persons u n d e rta k in g s o c ia l work training and actively engaged in social w o rk, that numerous studies would have been conducted dealing with the qualifications and duties o f social workers. Of those studies which have been made, the federal or state social worker has not been given special attention, notwithstanding the fact th a t he constitutes the majority among presently employed social service workers. Of the few studies w hich have been u n d e rta k e n during the past few years, th e re is little evidence that the relief worker has been classified apart from other social w o rk e rs , a lth o u g h his status and duties are distinctly d i f f e r e n t from that of other social workers. This unusual situation may be explained by the fact that in some states the relief worker is rated solely as a relief a g e n t or dispenser of relief with no interest 22 in social problems other th a n adjustments of the budget. In other states he is given no classification or identify ing title. In the State of California he is classified as a social worker, and his experience in unemployment relief is considered valid s o c la l-a g e n c y. This experience in public-unemployment relief programs entitles him.to eligibility for registration as a social worker by the Department of Registration and certification of the Calif ornia Conference of Social Work.^ ils was previously mentioned, the social worker in the service of unemployment relief deserves special consideration principally because of his large majority. Whether or not he is a q u a l i f i e d social w o rk e r , by reason of his training, in constant contact with a group of persons who have been ec onomically dislocated, he cannot b u t come into contact with social problems. A census of social workers in the State of California^ was .conducted in April, 1938, in which 325 social agencies participated. It was estimated that more than 90 per c e n t of all social workers in California were included in th e in v e s t ig a t io n . Of the 325 agencies, 221 were private social agencies and 104 were public agencies. The State ^ Erie Eiske Young, The Case 7/or k e r' s Desk Manual {Los Angeles: Social Work Technique, 1937TT pp. 15-16. P Census of Social W orkers in California, California Conference o f Social Work, San Francisco, 1938, p. 7. 25 Relief A d m in is tr a tio n was the agency with the greatest num ber of social workers. Forty-six welfare agencies co operated in the census, representing about 30 per cent of the total number of agencies in that category in California. 3 An interesting fact re v e a le d in this census is that the number of those administering the work of the State Relief Administration constitute 40.1 per cent of the whole, evi denced by the 1707 workers in ^^Unemployment Relief. The county and municipal social agents represent the next high est group v/ith 39.3 per cent. Twenty-nine and one tenth per cent of the whole are engaged in " P u b lic Assistance Work." Comparing the total number of State employees participe ting in this census with those employed in the field of Unem ploym ent Relief, it was found t h a t 98 per cent of the State employees were employed in th e latter program. In view of the fact that the social w o rker in unem ploym en t relief represents so large a c la s s, it is discon certing to emphasize the fact that so very little investi gation has been done with reference to his qualifications, personnel standards, background, activities, and analysis of his job. In 1935, a study was made by Merrill F. Krughoff which consisted of an examination, analysis, and survey of the Ibid. , p. 8. 24 4 - social workers in Chicago, Illinois. The survey included emergency workers, case aides in the public unemployment relief agencies, as well as those in the transient d i v i s io n s . 8ince this investigation o f fe r e d a comparable group of w o rk e rs , it was extensively used in th e body o f the in vestigator-'' s s tu d y. Krughoff s tu d ie d the ranges of salaries for various groups of workers and their professional quali fications for the performance of their jo b s. In addition, Krughoff s tu d ie d the qualifications possessed by w o rkers in private social service agencies; personnel standards and practices of social service agencies were a ls o included in his study. One interesting factor noted in the educational backgrounds of the social workers in the public agencies in Chicago at that time was that o n ly 55.2 per cent of the 5 staff members had academic or professional college d e g re e s . The preponderant majority of the w o rk e rs were in a young g ro u p , approximately two t h ir d s o f all categories lying within the range of twenty to thirty y e a rs of age. The salaries for workers ranged from $75 to ^110 per m onth. Merrill F. Krughoff, Salaries and Professional Qualifications of Social W o rk e rs in Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1935, ^ I b i d . , p. 1 2 . ^ I b i d ., p. 15. Ibid. , p. 20. 25 Since t h is study was made at th e beginning of th is era of extensive relief programs initiated by governments, it remains as an interesting landmark by w hich to gauge pro gress in th e field if any exists. Q Three Masters’ Degree theses prepared at the Univer sity o:f Chicago reported on similar studies in 1933 and 1934. As noted by the t i t l e s , only Warren’s investigation was based on a similar body of workers as considered in this investiga tion, and hers was made prior to any substantial state programs of relief. Several summaries also appeared in Chicago regarding professional training, education, and s a l- 9 aries of social workers in 1933 and 1934. In 1935, th e State Relief Administration published a r e p o r t , b O reviewing the activities of the administration Margaret Warren, "Salaries and Professional Education of Social Workers in Family Welfare and Relief Agencies in Chicago,1933," (unpublished Master’s thesis. University of Chicago,1933); Esther H, Powell,"A Study of Personnel and Sal aries in Medical Social Work in Chicago, April 1, 1933," (Un published Master’s t h e s is . U n iv e r s it y of Chicago, 1934); Caroline Wiener Meis, "Personnel S ta n d a rd s and Salaries of Social Workers in th e Children’s Agencies in Chicago, 1934," (unpublished Master’s thesis. University of Chicago, 1934). 9 Helen R. Jeter, "Salaries and Professional Education o f Social Workers in Family Welfare and Relief Agencies in Chicago," Social Service Review, VII, 1933, pp. 225-53; Merrill F. Krughoff, "Personnel and Salaries of Medical and Psychiatric Social Workers in Chicago," Social Service Review, V o l. V I I I , 1 9 3 4 , p p . 3 2 6 -3 4 3 . 1 o Review of Activities of the State Relief Adminis tration of California, 1933-1935, San Francisco, April, 1935. 26 from 1953 to 1935. This review was made under th e direc tion of Charles I. Schottland, then State Relief Adminis trator. It included a survey and census of th e e d u c a tio n and experience of all case supervisors, and junior and senior case w o rk e rs then employed throughout the state, and employed by the State Relief Administration in .those counties in which that organization then operated. Four hu nd red and eighty-four persons participated in this study, 213 super visors, and 271 case workers. C om plete c o m p ila tio n of t h is study indicates th a t the educational background was tabulated in terms of the degrees held, the possession of social work certificates, and a more generalized college background. Social work experience in other agencies was tabulated in terms of 0 to 10’years or more service; e x p e rie n c e in the State R e l i e f Administration was tabulated in terms of 0 to 24 months experience, th e fullest extent possible at the time for that organization. Since this r e p o r t was m ade, no f u r ther surveys have been made in California with the State Relief Administration or its personnel as subjects. No other job routines or studies have been conducted by the State Relief Administration either since this first one re v ie w e d h e r e . In 1936, an interesting study appeared in the Univer sity.of Buffalo Etudiés, entitled, "Recruits for Social 11 Work ;" by Helen Fairbairn Southard in w hich a selection evaluation, and analysis of the home relief investigator was made. (The home relief investigator was the term employed to designate th e status now held by the case aide in Calif ornia under the State Relief A d m in is t r a t io n .) This study comprised a very comprehensive report of the recruits and social workers in the Emergency Relief program with refer ence to their training, academic resources, vocational i n t e r e s t, recreational interests, use of leisure tim e, work experience, fa m ily and home background, and personality. T h is study attempted to appraise the social w o rk e r from the standpoint of h is f it n e s s for th e profession because of cer tain p e r s o n a lit y and academic qualifications. The American Public He1fare Job Study was undertaken in 1938 by the staff of the ümerican Public Welfare Association 12 under the leadership of Ella Weinfurther Reed. A broad field of social workers was studied, materials having been taken fro m many counties and cities in Illinois, rural as well as urban areas being surveyed. The study covered private and p u b lic agencies, d raw in g its material from federal, state, and municipal agencies. ■ 11 Helen Fairbairn -Southard, R e c ru i t s for Social Work, University of Buffalo Studies, Buffalo, 1936. A Public Welfare Job Study, American P u b lic Welfare Association, Chicago, 1938. 28 In addition to studying the personnel qualifications and standards, basis of selection of workers, use of evalua tions, amount of professional education and training, it also was interested in those activities connected with staff development, such as attendance at institutes, courses pur sued, in-service training, reading programs, attendance at state, regional, and national conferences. Material was gathered on administrative operations, office routines, kinds of dictation, policies and procedures, travellogs--the fac tors affecting the entire routine of the worker. The ques tionnaire used to collect the material sought to obtain data which would answer such questions as: Who are the people now in social work jobs? What education do they have? What experience do they have? What salaries do they receive? What are their ages? How are they recruited for their jobs? The study covered selected organizations,and areas, and further selections were made by considering the data from cer tain standpoints of merit, such as leadership in social wel fare planning, sound recruiting policies, and agency standards. All data from the collected questionnaires were classified into three distinct groups, rated on three different scales of merit. Group A, the first of the three groups, was the 29 leadership group and included five local Cook County units w hich served a metropolitan area; Croup B comprised agencies serving metropolitan and r u r a l a re a s - in the categorical aids, for the most part ; th e third group comprised agencies o p e r a t in g in rural districts, controlled by local boards, and service limited to local problems. O nly the first two groups had merit or civil service systems as controls of promotion and advancement of the staff. Since this s tu d y was used as a base for comparison in the discussion o f the findings of this investigation, the details will be discussed later. In the early part of 1938, the California Conference of Social Work conducted a census of social workers in 13 California. The attempt was made to include all social w o rk e rs engaged in full-time em ploym ent, p a r t - t im e w o rk, or temporarily un em plo yed . Four thousand two hundred sixty questionnaires were studied and the findings recorded. The s tu d y was conducted by the Board of Examiners of th e Depart ment of Registration and C e r t i f i c a t i o n of the California Conference of B o c ia l Work, under the direct'supervision of Harry F. Henderson. Public and private agencies throughout California w ere included in the survey,,including the State Relief Ad ministration. Social workers w ere classified according to Census o f Social Workers in California, California C o n feren ce of Social Work, San Francisco, 1938. 30 age, sex, academic and professional education, length of professional experience, type of agency where experience was acquired, position held, and s a la r y received. In December of 1938 the E o c ia l A u d it case workers made a job analysis of the workers in the Hollywood District 14 Office under the s u p e rv is io n of Mrs. Mary V an Deusen, then Assistant Director o f the Eocial Service Division of the State Relief Administration In Los Angeles C o u n ty. It con sisted of an analysis of th e routine of each department of the office in terms of activities and time devoted to each part of the job. Some of the workers kept logs for them selves, and some, like the clerks, and the receptionist whose routine consisted of many details, were observed by the in v e s t ig a t o r s making the s tu d y . Careful search of the literature revealed no further analyses h a v in g been made which are in d i r e c t relation to the subject of this study. T h ere is in progress now, u n d e r the auspices of th e Rockefeller F o u n d a tio n , an investigation of the qualifica tions o f the workers now a d m in is te r in g the state relief pro grams throughout the country with the view o f recommending a training program which v/ill adequately equip the worker so employed to cope w ith his problems. However, this s tu d y was Job A n a ly s is o f Hollywood District O f f i c e, Social Audit of State Relief Administration, Los Angela s County, . December, 1938, (unpublished report). 31 begun in March, 1939, and no findings had been published prior to th e preparation of t h i s survey. 15 Burke lists numerous studies on job analyses and classifications of social workers as published prior to 1926. Due to the special em phasis on o u r subject matter, that of examination of the social worker in the State Relief Administration, it was felt that only the most recent material on the subject could justifiably by considered pertinent to this s tu d y. Hence, it has been w ith purposeful intent that surveys and other a p p a r e n tly related material published prior to the inception of the public unem ploym ent relief programs have been neglected. However, a list of th ose s t u d ie s, listed by Burke and related to this s u b je c t m a tte r is included in the b ib liography for th o se who care to r e f e r to them for t h e i r own purposes. 1 5 W. W. Burke, Administration of P r iv a t e Social Service Agencies, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1927 CHAPTER III DISTRIBUTIONS OF SRA WORKERS BY AGE AND SEX Although the number of social workers here considered is a small part of the total now employed by the State Relief Administration, consideration of th e age groups would have significance because of the ’spotting’ of the schedules used in gathering the material. Since workers are placed in district offices wherever a vacancy may occur, and sub sequently transferred as need arises, and not on the basis of any special qualifications they may possess, the group may be granted representation of the average Los Angeles County SRA social worker. In s tu d y in g the results of the tallies within this distribution, it is interesting to note the comparisons of age groups studied by this investigation, and those found by the California Conference of Social Work^ and Merrill Krughoff in his Chicago survey.^ In Table II on page .35 will be seen th e distributed frequencies of age groups for th e public welfare workers in Cook C ou nty, Illinois; Table III on page 24 shows th e age distribution for this study: ^ California Conference of Social W ork, Census of Social Workers in California, 1958, p. 18. ^ Merrill Krughoff, Salaries and Professional Qualifications of Social W orkers in Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1935. 33 TABLE II EDUCATION OE 195 SOCIAL WORKERS: AîvŒRIGAN PUBLIC WELFARE STUDY® Education Number Per cent College degrees 145 74.4 College degree plus additional graduate work in schools of social work 104 53.4 M.A. in social science 8 4.1 Certificates from recognized schools of social work 12 61.5 No college degrees 50 25.6 Four years of college, no degree plus some social work courses 1 0.5 Three years of college, plus some social v/ork courses 14 ■ 7.1 Two years of college plus some social work courses 4 2.1 Two years college, no courses in social work 8 4.2 One year of college, no courses in social work 10 50.2 High school graduation onl3^, no courses in social work 11 50.7 Two years of high school, no courses in social work 2 1.0 ®Derived from tabulations Welfare Study, p. 14. in the American Public 34 M M M < E - i t-1 M O O GO O o M ë 00 M O M <4 p <4 CQ pq P4 o E S : I f ) CO | > H 0> p i H @ - cb oo « m I S o | k . { ^ O 0 M t-t B M Q ë <4 1 M CO «rJ 1 (D 1 1 O 1 C6 1 1 4^ 1 cd 1 <D Q) c ! 1 r H t o t o CO CO H r H O O o rCj 1 cd CM - H 1 0 1 <D A p ; 1 . N I o cd 1 1 q -i 1 o j 1 4^ I i H 1 —1 00 CO t o 1 — ! CO W 1 —1 C J t o to C Î 1 Cd 1 — ! C\2 r - | t o <D CD t L i . •rH *rH I Ü O Q 1 M B 0 1 . Cd ! 0) Cd 1 4^ l O r H 00 00 4 ' 44 CO r H 02 t o % A 1 O 1 — 1 CO 1 — 1 CO -=4+^1 E-t 1 1 i 1 * 1 CD 00 1 r H c0 4 CV2 0 i H O C T > 0 t o l O 1 * 1 Cd m r H c - 4 CO r H 4 1 A 1 H 02 02 t o • 1 (D P I p 1 rcJ 1 0 ! Xd 1 «-H C0 t£ > C t2 c D P 4 0 vJC O r H cr> j cd 1 cd CÛ H CO 1 —1 i H LO H CM 1 p 1 1-1 i • 1 <d 4 ' o 4 * t f ) C 0 r H r H ( O P P 1 4 ^ ' W t o O t o 4 CW H o 1 • 1 O CO CO r H 05 i O 1 E h 1 1 1 Q> 1 r H to 1 Cd O P P C 0 4 C O O O t o I f ) (D 1 8 t O 1 —1 4 * CO 1 —1 r H t o 1 (D 02 02 t o Ü -rH 1 P Ed <4 1 (D 1 0) îîD 1 r H O ^ 4 l O H 00 P 4 4 CO l O f - i 1 Cd CN. 4 4 Od H CM 0 C O 1 g 1 —1 CO 1 Eh 1 ■ P 0 1 H I M 1 cd G ) H C \ ]4 W l f) 4 4 Oi o 1 —1 Eh 1 4 ^ CO t o C\] t o I f ) O ] H c t) . « H O 1 O CO CO r H . 05 <4 ^ 1 E h Ed 1 0 <xJ • H to 4 i c r i '4 0 ^ 4 0 t )4 ' a s Eh 0 r H Eh CM M CO CO 4 4 u o ( f ) - H 0 0 0 1 » 1 1 1 1 1 1 4-3 Eh 4^ 1 Î5 Û 0 O l O O l O O t O O l O o o o 1 -4 >-* CM W CO CO 4 4 If) m P P Eh )| 35 and on page :3B is Table IV showing the distribution found by the California Conference of Social Work. The Chicago survey showed 72.9 per cent of workers employed were younger than thirty-five years of age; in the California Census of 1938, 58.9 per cent of the groups considered were under the age of thirty-six years; while this inves tigation shov/ed 74 per cent of the workers falling within the age group under thirty-five years of age. Private as well as public agencies were considered in the California census, so that the figures for the Chicago survey are more nearly comparable with those of this study than the former. The other departments of the relief administration in Chicago show 82.9 per cent of the Cook Public Welfare, and 82.0 per cent of the Transient Division aides falling within the group of less than thirty-six years of age. Among both Emergency and Public Welfare Division workers in Chicago, 5.3 per cent were over forty-four years of age; the Transient Division had 13.6 per cent in the oldest group. In this study 9 per cent of the workers were in the group of over forty-five years of age. As is im plied in the percentage of younger workers studied in the California Conference investigation, that study showed the largest percentage of older workers, 18.7 per cent. Neither of the comparable studies seen has classified its subject matter in categorical groups. Table V on page 1^7 36 TABLE IV DISTRIBUTIO N OF SOCIAL WORKERS BY AGE GROUPS A&iONG 4260 SO C IA L WORKERS SURVEYED BY THE CALIFORNIA CONFERENCE OF SOCIAL WORK, 1938 Age groups Number P e r cent 25 y e a rs and u n d er 722 1 6 .9 2 6 -3 5 1791 4 2 .0 3 6 -4 5 944 2 2 .2 46 y e a rs and o v e r 795 1 8 .7 Unknown 8 .2 T o t a l 4260 1 0 0 .0 '37 co E l H O O M • P O CM P o PA m m E t C J i o î > 5 E l 0 1 —t P o O CM B >H ' tO p > o Eh O S B P EH o LO o CM CO CM £ > - m o H* • M t CQ 00 Pi M P E M P î > 3 o r —4 o O' 1 —1 kn HH M M • >* C5 CQ E GO < î > 5 P ( —1 P 1 —1 CM p Is CO O M O 05 P m 1 P A to p CM p O M S 0 CO >H M o o E t P P % • P i z ; 05 r a H [O 0 E p £ h 05 bO >5 *4 r - 4 *4 p p en CM P CO m pq LO 1 —i pq P ' S CO {> P P M t p P o o P o O CO P pq pq CO o M < B: o M p p 0 <4 E P pq >î o p P lO LO 00 00 D o m O CM ^ CO M CO M 1 CO o l - H CD ■ ^ CO CO CM o 00 O ^ CM p p < P a E o p O L_ M ^ M 0 O P E E P CN CD lO 00 H P >) 0 1 —1 P pq T Z S CO P LO E CM P M CM E CM P CM P M p pq P P OO CO P CO P LO O f —1 S h CM CO CO P o p p M o • r H î > = p N P +3 E E P 0 0 0 00 P Ü E 0 0 ■ 2 4 0 o ■ r H O *0 T) E > Q P •H O ■ r H M • 1 —! P <q> 0 W 0 > • p ■ r H P, 0 p P E W E O 0 • # N ü E lO 0 GO 0 CO M p 1 0 0 p p 1 GO CO p 0 E E p P CO o P o CO P 0 1 •H P.P <o E p CM o 0 E p P w o 0 1 —1 P 0 0 p P Eh p 0 p p 0 0 p 0 E P • r H P E P P E 0 0 P 0 P • r H S 0 « r ' E 0 O E 0 0 CO O 1 —11 P 1 —1D 0 0 CM P E P O 0 P p E 0 O O 0 0 ■ r H P P p P • r H E P 0 0 O P E E O 0 GO O E 0 P Ph 0 0 o GO 0 0 0 P P 0 O P P 0 m P P E P 0 O E P Eh O E P P •H 0 P Î 3 Û 0 P • 0 P •H Pi O E P O 0 E E P 0 0 GO O P P p E 0 O S • B 0 o 0 CO 0 1 0 0 D 0 P CM o -p 35 show8 that 85,7 per cent of the probationary case aides were less than thirty-six years old, only one in that group being more than forty-five years. Seventy-tviro and seven tenths per cent of the case aides turning in schedules were less than thirty-six years of age, and 9,2 per cent were over the forty-five mark. _ Among case workers 7.9 per cent fell in the younger category, and 13 per cent in the oldest. Opposing this decreasing percentage of young workers as the professional status increases, 80.0 per cent in the sub executive classification were under thirty-six years of age, and only one out of the fifteen persons participating was over forty-five years of age. By observation and investigation, the preponderance, of workers in the field of social welfare are female. Of the one thousand, nine hundred and seventy (1,970) v/orkers in the public agencies in Chicago surveyed in their study, only 32.5 per cent (640 pe^rsons) were male. In the present Investigation, 24 per cent were male. Of these, 7 per cent were probationary case aides; 8 per cent, case aides; 8 per cent, case workers; and 1 per cent, sub-executive. Seventeen of the twenty-four males participating (70.9 per cent) were in the younger group of employees, approximately 50 per cent (thirteen individuals) being under thirty years of age. In the much larger group of male public agency workers studied by Krughoff, 83.8 per cent were in the younger 39 group, and only 4,7 per cent In the category of those over forty-five. Two per cent of the males aiding in this sur vey fell within that latter classification. In pictorial fashion, the graph on page twenty-nine shows the similarity in age distribution between the Chicago public welfare agency workers and this investiga tion of the social workers in the State Relief Administra tion. On the other hand, the California Census perhaps by including v/orkers in agencies other than the State Relief Administration has a greater percentage of workers in the maedial age group of thirty to forty years. All three agencies have approximately 32 per cent of their workers in the social service divisions within the age classification of less than thirty years of age. Since from the distri bution of ages and status categories it is obvious that the policies of the State Relief Administration are the respon sibility of a comparatively young group of workers, their qualifications for positions requiring a variety of skills becomes of paramount importance. This subject will be dis cussed in a later chapter, but is an interesting specula tion at this point. im N o. 6201, U n iv e rs ity Book Store. Los Aneeles CHAPTER IV PROFESSIOmL STATUS OP SOCIAL WORKERS Of the 100 social workers participating in this investigation, thirty-three were case aides; thirty-one were case-workers; and fifteen were in sub-executive posi tions. In the seven district offices contacted, the actual distribution of workers during the first week in March, 1939, was as follows: 189 probationary case aides, 121 case aides, 173 case workers, and fifty-one sub-executives. At the time the survey was made, 100 social workers represented approximately one fifth of the total employed in the seven district offices, the total being 534 in the social service divisions. In this study, the approximate percentages of each category actually investigated v/ere a trifle disparate. Eleven and one tenth per cent was the proportionate number of probationary case aides; case aides w ere proportionately 25 per cent; case workers were approximately 20 per cent; and sub-executives were 33 1/3 per cent, Distribution of the numbers of each classifica tion in each district office is shown Table I, page 13, Chapter I. Distribution of workers into the special categories within each classification is shov/n in Table VI, page forty-two. According to the present division of ser vice routines, the main classification is broken into its 42 TABLE VI D ISTR IB U TIO N OF CLASSIFICATIONS BY PRINCIPAL GROUPS FOR OF FIC E PERSONIŒL FOR ONE HUNDRED SOCIAL WORKERS FOR SEVEN D IS TR IC T OFFICES OF THE STATE R ELIEF ADMINISTRA TION OPERATING IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY, 1939 Classifications Distribution by groups Distribution by sub-groups Probationary Case Aides. 21 21 Case Aides 35 33 Case Workers problem File Worker 2 31 Failure to provide Worker 1 Field Intake Investigator IV Out-of-Town Inquiry Worker 1 B-I-R Worker 2 Qualifier 5 Case Reader 1 . Receptionist 2 Sub-executives Case Supervisor 11 15 Head Intake Supervisor 1 Assistant Intake Supervisor 5 Totals 100 100 43 component categories. Thus the classification of case worker is broken down into 'problem file worker, failure to provide worker, field intake investigator, out-of-town inquiry worker, BIR worker, qualifier, case reader, and receptionist. The classification of sub-executives ac tually is composed of three distinct categories, each com manding a different rate of pay: Case supervisor, assist ant intake supervisor, and head intake supervisor. Of the 534 social service workers employed in the seven district offices contacted in this study, 917 per cent were in sub executive positions. Earlier in the history of the California State Relief Administration, social workers were classified in other categories, some of them representing advancement within the classification on the basis of experience, and others representing promotional distinctions. Table VII, page forty-four , shows the distribution of administrative employees in the California State Relief Administration in April, 1935.^ According to this table, the social service personnel were classified as case supervisors, junior and senior case workers, and case aides.. Case aides received ^ Review of Activities of State Relief Administra tion, 1935, San Francisco, 1935. 44 TABLE VII OCCUPATIONAL D ISTRIBUTIO N OF ADMINISTRATIVE EkiPLOYEES OF THE STATE RELIEF ADMINISTRATION FOR A P R IL, 1935 O c c u p a tio n A l l Em p lo y e e s S ta t e o f f ic e s o n ly T r a n s ie n t D iv is io n A l l C o u n tie s E x e c u tiv e s 639 .143 165 331 A d m in is tr a to r s and a s s is t a n t s 68 18 50 D iv is io n and D ep artm e n t C h ie fs 571 125 165 281 S o c ia l S e rv ic e P e rs o n n e l 2880 12 111 2757 Case S u p e rv is o rs 329 16 313 S e n io r Case W orkers 144 12 30 102 J u n io r Case W orkers 145 55 92 Case A id e s 2262 12 2250 T o t a ls 7038 310 552 6176 %5 one hundred dollars per month ($100); junior case workers received ten dollars more per month;.senior case workers received $120.00 per month, and case supervisors received $140.00 per month. Case aides were advanced to junior case workers after six months* experience, hut the senior case worker was a promotion to a special type of file or inves tigation. In the summer of 1937, case aides were initially paid $120.00, and case workers $130.00 per month. Prior to that time, they were paid ten dollars less. Early in 1936, case supervisors were differentiated into unit and intake supervisors, the latter category paying ten dollars more per month, or $150.00. Within the last four months, two major changes in personnel classifications have been made. A nev/ social worker is on trial for ninety days at a monthly rate of one hundred dollars, and if retained longer must be re-classified as case aides. They may also he re-classified before the end of the ninety day period at the discretion of the district supervisor, if their progress should appear to warrant it. Intake departments in most of the district offices have been expanded to' permit closer supervision of the application investigation by appointing one to three assistants to the intake supervisor, and at the same time raised the salaries of the head intake super visor from $160.00 to $170.00 per month. The monthly rate 46 of pay for case supervisors is $150.00 per month..^ This discussion of salaries is included to show the rated value to the State Relief Administration of.the various personnel categories in the Social Service Division. The graph on Table VIII, page 'forty-eight,shows the present differentiation in salaries for these classifica tions in Los Angeles County. Perhaps because public relief on a large scale is still a comparatively young institution, the pay does not appear to be commensurate with the cost of the college education required for the job, and the skills involved. A truck driver in the employ of the state receives as much as a case supervisor. More pertinent to this inquiry are the possible comparisons between the salaries paid social workers in the California State Relief Administration and those paid by other public welfare agencies. Brown in her discussion of the salaries of social workers as compared with those of other professional workers, however, indicates that the salaries of social workers as an indication of their status has been a trouble some factor in the development of social work as a p Esther L. Brown, Social Work as a Profession, New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1935, pp. 65-68. ^ See Table Table VIII, p. 47. . 4 = 7 TABLE VIII SALARY TABULATIONS FOR 100 SOCIAL WORKERS IN SEVEN D I8 T IC T OFFICES OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY MARCH, 1939 C l a s s i f i c a t i o n Number o f w o rkers J a la ry P ro b a tio n a r y Case A id e Case A id e Case W orker Case S u p e rv is o r 21 33 29 11 $ 1 0 0 .6 0 120.00 1 3 0 .0 0 1 5 0 .0 0 A s s is ta n t In ta k e S u p e rv is or 1 6 0 .0 0 Head In ta k e S u p e rv is o r 1 7 0 .0 0 : I Î : i È im N o. 6201, U n iv e rs ity Book Store, Los Angeles 49 profession. In a study made by Ewan Glague in 1932, quoted by Brown, there was a two thousand dollar differ ential between the salaries of social workers with two years of graduate social work and that of high school teachers. And that same discrepancy is apparent in this state now in comparing the salaries of case workers with those of the probationary high school teachers who get $1750.00 initially, with steady increases each tenure year In the Chicago study of the Leadership group of agencies there appears another factor related to any dis cussion of salaries and that is the spread between the salaries paid the worker with each promotion.^ In one city the average of the case v/orker was less than that paid here, but in all three cases sub-executives received more pay. The range for social v/orkers in the aggregate group was seventy to 170 for social workers, and 130 to $233.00 for the unit supervisors. In the places where salaries started at the lowest rates, it was possible to reach by advancement the equivalent of the Los State Relief Administration rate for case workers. One group which started at $120.00 contained the possibility ^ Table VIII, p. ^ Ibid., p. : 4 5 ' . 60 of advancement to $170.00 within the same category. There has been much discussion regarding the value of advancement oh the basis of experience and performance, rather than change of classification. It has centered about the fact that usually the worker trained to cope with individuals in situations of maladjustment cannot expect promotion except on an executive basis; inferring that the executive skill is not an integral part of the equipment necessary to an efficient social worker, and yet there is an implied penalty involved where this quality is lacking, or where the prefer ence of the worker lies in the continuance of his profession as a case worker rather than as an executive. Table IX on page 51. shows in graphic detail the differences in salary ranges possible in other public agencies other than the State Relief Administration. The latter organization is compared with the ranges possible in three cities studied for Leadership Groups in the American Public Welfare Job Study. The black line used to indicate the State Relief Administration shows the small range between jobs, salary increase on a promotional basis only showing a range of one hundred dollars. City v/, indicated by the mauve curve, has a range of from $115 to $250 for the district supervisor; City X, shown by the blue line, ranges from a midpoint of $118 for the social worker to $330 per month for the district supervisor; the third comp arable agency, in City Y, shown in tangerine, indicates a 51 TABLE IX SALARY TABULATIONS FOR UN IT SUPERVISORS, CASE SUPERVISORS, AND SOCIAL WORKERS FOR CERTAIN SALARY ZONES IN THE . ALIERICAN PUBLIC WELFARE STUDY FOR 1938 Salary zone Unit Supervisor range General Case Supervisor Range Social Worker Average Leadership group C it y V $140 - $1 74 $ 75 - $135 $ 9 0 .5 0 C it y W 130 - 150 $250 70 - 135 8 6 .0 0 C it y X 150 - 233 333 108 - 150 1 1 8 .0 0 C it y Y 180 250 110 - 125 1 1 4 .4 0 City z 210 120 - 170 1 3 3 .3 0 Average group Group A 142 - 175 .233 98 - 140 1 1 4 .1 0 Group B 130 - 150 200 80 - 120 9 7 .6 0 Group C 167 - 233 -- 75 - 125 9 1 .0 0 Group D 145 200 80 - 105 9 5 .5 0 Group E 135 - 140 —- 85 - 125 1 0 3 .2 0 Group F 140 - 160 — — 90 - 125 1 0 8 .6 0 52 salary range of eighty-six dollars to $250 for the top position. Although the probationary workers in,the State Relief Administration may start at a lower salary than within this last group do the newest workers, still no category in the district offices of the State Relief Administration can equal the top range in salary of $250 per month. This prevalence of disparity between the remunera tions of case workers and executives occurs even in agencies where civil service is a factor in promotion as is evident in the Group B studies made in Chicago by Krughoff.^ In most cases there was a spread of fifty dollars between the salary of the average social worker and the case supervisor, as well as between the latter and the general case supervisor. It would appear that in spite of the initial emphasis on a college education, and the strong pleas for training made by schools of social work, that in practice agencies place a premium on the executive and administrative skills. Table IX on page hl‘ gives these tabulations, in detail. Another interesting study of salaries v/as made on the California Census of 1938. Their tabulations were ^ Merrill V/. Krughoff, Salaries and Professional Qualifications of Social Workers in Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1935. 53 made on the basis of total count, rather than agency so that their graphs show only the spread between and within categories, rather than differentiation between place of service. Again there appears the wide range of salary paid 7 by different agencies for the same classified position* Staff members were paid from under one hundred dollars to amounts ranging to three hundred dollars per month. Seventy- one and two tenths per cent of the staff members were in the range of one hundred to $124. In considering the study, it is well to emphasize that approximately 40 per cent of the persons participating v/ere employed in the field of unemployment relief. Of the 534 persons employed in the social service departments of the seven district offices contacted, 90.5 per cent were being paid from one hundred to $130 per month. Fifty-eight and one tenth per cent of this group were receiving less than $120 per month. Sub executives in the California census showed a salary range of under one hundred dollars to over three hundred dollars, 45 per cent falling in the range of one hundred and $174 per month. This range is the equivalent of that prevalent in the State Relief Administration for that category. The graph on page fifty-five shows three different curves. The curve representing the sub-executive category ^ Table X, page 54. 54 EXECUTIVE, OF AND TABLE X MONTHLY SALARIES FOR EXECUTIVE, SUB STAFF m iB E R POSITIONS AMONG 4260 SOCIAL WORKERS SURVEYED BY THE CALIFORNIA COÎ^ FERENCE OF SOCIAL WORK, 1938"' Salary Total Position Executive Sub-Executive Staff Membe: Under $100 46 2 4 40 $ 1 0 0 -1 2 4 2185 10 35 2140 1 2 5 -1 4 9 440 18 50 372 1 5 0 -1 7 4 629 59 210 360 1 7 5 -1 9 9 194 38 80 76 2 0 0 -2 2 4 140 55 52 33 2 2 5 -2 4 9 51 16 21 14 2 5 0 -2 7 4 56 40 12 4 2 7 5 -2 9 9 9 7 1 1 300 and over 59 53 6 Total 3809 298 471 3040 ° Tab le excludes : 141 persons with partial or full maintenance in addition to salary; 114 employed part-time ; 10 honorarium; 102 salary or position unknown; 84 tempo rarily not employed in social work. :es E l : ! : E O : N o. 6201, U n iv e rs ity Book Store, Los Angeles 56 shows the preponderant nnmber in this category receiving $137 to $187; the majority range for the staff members is nnmistakeably one hundred to $137. 'Since within the State Relief Administration there is no salary range in any classification, each category remaining at a fixed rate for the time being, the second type of curve repre sents a range of salary within an agency, rather than with in a classification. In this the extension of the curve along the x-axis has no correlative significance, as it did in connection v/ith the California Census study of the ranges of positional salaries. However, it is interesting that the interceptive point of the salaries of probation ary case aides coincides with approximately 32 per cent of the staff members participating for the entire state, and the starting salary of the former parallels 4 per cent of the social welfare sub-executives. The case aid salary parallels 8 per cent of the indicated sub-executives, and approximately 47 per cent of the staff members. At the points opposite the remuneration for case workers, are ap proximately 26 per cent of the staff employed in social welfare agencies in California, and 10 per cent of the executives. Case supervisors compare with 12 per cent of the staff members, and 30 per cent of the generalized sub executives. Assistant intake supervisors compare in their salaries with approximately 11 per cent of the staff 57 members and 43 per cent of the sub-executives. Eight per cent of the staff members, and 38 per cent of the sub-ex ecutives are receiving the same rate of pay as the head intake supervisors in the State Relief Administration, Although no district supervisors participated in this study, their salary of two hundred dollars per month was plotted on the graph to study the comparisons with a state-wide census of recent date. Approximately 1 per cent of the participating staff members received that same rate of pay, and 14 per cent of the sub-executives paralleled them. It is interesting to note further, that in social welfare agencies other than the State Relief Administra tion it is possible for staff members to earn as much as the value placed by the State Relief Administration on its sub and major executives. In the former situations, the administration had apparently recognized the value of ser vices received to the extent of paying professional salaries. It is also true, of course, that the majority of the persons working in public welfare agencies were receiv ing less than the case worker in the State Relief Adminis tration, but equally true is the fact that the classifica tions receiving less pay within the aforementioned agency are preponderantly larger than those getting paid the higher salary. CHAPTER V ACADEMIC EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND One of the major objectives of this study is con sidered in this chapter, namely, the educational back ground of the workers employed in the Social Service Division of the State Relief Administration. In any in vestigation of a group of persons engaged in a specific type o f enterprise, an evaluation of their services has no significance except as compared with their qualifica tions for that job. So in this case, it is necessary to survey the amount and kind of education of the participât ing employees in order to consider the type of employee wanted for the position by implication, and to judge his qualifications for the position he fills in relation to the duties entailed. Degrees held. Since its inception, the State Relief Administration has laid emphasis on the need of a 1 degree, although in 1935 the Social Service Manual ac cepted two years of college and two years of work in a social agency or in an allied field of endeavor as pre requisite to the position of case aide. No written ^ Manual Social Service Division of Los Angeles County Relief Administration, 1935. 59 change in personnel standards has been made since that time, but social service employees without college de grees are not hired now, except in cases where the ex perience of the applicant,has been especially desirable and applicable to the desired position. Promotion of workers from the position of case worker to that of super visor is no longer made in the cases where the candidate has no college degree. With this emphasis on the value of a college educa tion to the SRA social worker, it is interesting to note that seven of the one hundred v/orkers participating in the study were tallied as having no degrees. Two of these workers were receptionists, which classification is not that of a social worker, but whose duties have latterly been considered important enough for a case worker to assume. There has been a growing feeling in the district offices that the handling of clients should be the job of a social worker, from the initial contact with the agency on through the intricacies of application and acceptance. Certain trial adjustments have been attempted in the several district offices, and for this reason the clerical job of receptionist was included in this study. One of the re ceptionists had had one year of college, and the other participant had had three years. One case supervisor, and one each in the classifications of probationary case aides. 60 case aide, problem file worker, and failure-to-provide worker were recorded as having no college degree. It is possible that some error was made in answering the schedule, since b o th the case aide and probationary case aide tallied their questionnaire as having had fo u r years of college. At any rate, in an agency which has functioned for n e a r ly five years on the basis of increasing emphasis on training, it is significant that a supervisor and, two workers handling very special files are functioning without any collegiate academic degree as b a c k g ro u n d. The graphic distribution of these figures can be studied from Table XI on page 61. From the g ra p h ic distribution of the academic degrees held by the social service employees surveyed in this s tu d y , as seen on page 62, Table XII, several interesting d e t a i l s may be gleaned. If the tally of those without degrees can be taken as correct, the twenty-two degrees counted within the classification of probationary case aides s h o u ld indi cate that two members had more than one degree each. In the same fashion can be deducted the information that four case aides had more than one degree ea ch ; one BIR worker must have had two degrees, as was also tr u e for one case super visor and one assistant intake supervisor. The remainder of the group tallied 100 per cent in the possession of one degree each, except in those instances a g a in where a worker had indicated that no degree was held. Among the ninety- 81 TABLE XI CLASSIFICATIO N OF SOCIAL WORKERS HOLDING NO ACADEMIC DE GREES FOR ONE HUNDRED SOCIAL WORKERS IN SEVEN OFFICES OF THE STATE R ELIEF ADMINISTRATION OPERATING IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY Classification Years of college completed Frequency Probationary Case Aide 4 1 Case Aide 4 1 Problem File Worker 2 1 \ Failure-to-Provide Worker Field Intake Investigator 3 1 Out-of-Town Inquiry Worker R-I-R W orker Qualifier Case Header Receptionist 1 and 5 2 Case Supervisor 2 1 Head Intake Supervisor - ' Assistant Intake Supervisor Totals 7 62 TABLE XII DISTRIBUTIO N OF DEGREES AMONG 95 SOCIAL WORKERS EMPLOYED IN SEVEN D IS TR IC T OFFICES OF THE STATE R E LIE F A D M IN IS -. TRATION OPERATING IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY, m R C H , 1939 Classification Degrees Probationary Case Aides 21 22 Case Aides 33 6 Problem File Worker 2 Failure-to- Provide Worker 1 1 Field Intake Investigator 17 6 Out-of-Town Inquiry Worker 1 B IR W o rker 2 3 Qualifier 5 5 Receptionist 0 0 Case Reader 1 1 Case Supervisor 11 11 Head Intake Supervisor 1 1 Assistant Intake ' Supervisor 3 4 Totals 100 102 63' three workers Indicating the possession of degrees, 102 degrees were distributed. Nine social workers par ticipating in this survey, therefore, had more th a n one college degree. On the w h o le , then, this group appears to have a high percentage of completed academic back grounds . Table X III .on page 64 ' furnishes a f u r t h e r break down of the k in d of academic training which was completed by this group of workers. Seventy-three individuals re corded Bachelor of Arts degrees; nine, Bachelor of Science; four. Bachelor of Education. Of th e ninety-three persons holding degrees of some designation, eighty-six had had at least four years of college completed for a degree. This distribution also indicates a variation of interests among th e group as under-graduate students, as noted by the three types of Bachelor's degrees claimed , Among those t h i r t e e n individuals who had gone on to acquire Master's degrees, three had a Master's degree in Social Work; nine had Masters of Art degrees; and one had a graduate degree in Education. Although o n ly one hundred persons partici pated in this study, two were found to have Bachelor of Law degrees. One individual did not find th e degree he possessed listed among those offered for tallying purposes in the questionnaire. The degree of Doctor of Philosophy was included in the list because from personal knowledge. H M M X g p q g § M E - i S E H 03 M I —1 M e n < M e n r —t M M - tU M g g M 3 <3 ; B >H CO EH M B e s >H î 7 3 « g « M M O ^ï* 03 O 3 P 4 03 PH p ; c) ^03 « M O o ^ M P H O a o Eh O O 0 3 H pq Q Eh M CO pq M O O I m M r 5 I z ; 0 M g 1 I § 6% El 0 fl 0 0 P» 0 * A qq P4 PQ 0 H A A , < • ^ tQ , H 0 A C3 ^ 0 A 03 , M 0 A PQ , 03 • A A PQ , <4 C- 00 1— 1 02 PQ A tQ 02 tQ 0 Tj •iH 0 0 0 j q 0 0 -rH î > » P> E l 0 0 Ü 0 0 •P 0 "0 A •P P rH -P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A P 0 0 A 0 O o o o o o E l ( U ( D M •X 3 A r H O t> es o E l 0 > Pu I —I I •r H O Ph - e> g m Q> E i «H pi rû r —4 o 'H A co p q | = A O o o fH o O O O r H 0 0 0 0 O O I —I r~ { 02 M I —I O rH O O 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 O O rH O o rH o o I —I I —I CQ I —I O O o o I —I o o o o o o to o C D - F > s q E l CD ^ C D E l nc 5 > O rH Ü fe: 0 M N D- rH C V ! tO rH 02 rH < — I rH rH * r - 4 p î c r ^ E l s q o M - E > c ü î q w ^ •IH O 40 E - 4 02 t Q E l 0 q q E l (M qq o E l o E l 0 E l ^ 0 0 cd ^ r H 0 < E t pq pq -H 1 rH 0 M cd 0 I 2 0 pq o"o E l O 0 •H > 0 El qq 0 0 Pi-p P S j q 03 M 0 n c l 0 0 0 0 pq O pq + 3 0 • r H E i O •iH -P A 0 O 0 q q 0 -P El s q El o E H o .2 4 ^ l > s q El 0 0 -P A 0 A q S -H q S 03 0 03 0 < î î 0 • r H E 0 O e n I —i t Q e n o c - o o 0 I —I 0 p » o ËH 6# there are employed at the present time in the State Relief Administration several persons possessing this ad vanced degree. None of them happened to be among those completing the schedule, however. Prom this distribution of college degrees, it would appear that many of the em ployees in the social service department of the State Relief Administration have acquired an academic education not especially intended as preparation for that job. Either because the administration has emphasized the need for special training, or because the workers themselves are interested in acquiring further education, 65 per cent of the participating group have taken post-graduate work. The complete distribution of the amount of post-graduate work done by these workers can be studied on page Sixty- six , Table XIT.. According to the calculations studied earlier regarding the degrees held by this group, it would appear that sixty-five of the eighty-six persons having Bachelor's degrees, having continued their schooling. This figure represents 75.6 per cent of those with a four year degree. Thirteen of the probationary case aides had con tinued their college education into post-graduate years, representing seven tenths of a year per person in that classification. This same average is present for the case aide classification. Field intake investigators have 66 TABLE XIV NUIvlBER OF YEARS OF POST GRADUATE WORK COMPLETED FOR C IA S S I' FIE D SOCIAL WORKERS: OIŒ EUMDRED SOCIAL WORKERS IN SEVEN OFFICES OF THE STATE R ELIEF ADMINISTRATION OPERATING IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY Classification i y r . 1 yr. l i yrs. 2 y rs . 2-&yrs .3 y rs .O v e r 3 yrs Probationary Case Aide 21 4 4 1 1 2 Case Aide 33 7 6 2 3 I I Problem File Worker 2 Failure-to- 1 Provide Worker 1 Field Intake Investigator17 4 2 2 2 Out-of-Town In quiry W orker I I R - I- R Worker 2 2 Qualifier 5 1 2 1 1 Case R ead er 1 1 Receptionist 2 Case Superv. 11 6 2 I Head Intake Supervisor 1 I A s s is ta n t Intake Sup. 3 2 1 T o ta ls 100 18 24 8 8 8 1 a 65 67 completed, on the average of seven tenths of a year post- 2 graduate work. Nine of the eleven case supervisors have continued their education, as have all the assistant in take supervisors. In this latter category, it appeared that the assistant intake supervisor with the Master's degree was also continuing his education. All the quali fiers and the major proportion of the remaining categories had continued their training. In this connection, however, it should be noted that some of the workers in answering this question indicated the number of years during which they had taken post-graduate work, rather than giving the equivalent in terms of semesters of work taken. This may be the fault of the questionnaire, because as the tally now stands, it would appear that much more graduate work was compileted without attaining a degree than seems probable. No further vfork was noted among the problem file workers, or among the receptionists ; as already noted, though, the classification of receptionists was included because of the recent office adjustments on the duties of the quali fiers . In this connection, the findings in 1935 among Chicago social workers as studied by Krughoff have some pertinent details. The detailed figures can be studied from the figure on page 69, Compared with the seven ^ See Table , page 66. 68 TABLE XV AVERAGE Nim3ER OF YEAR8 OF GRADUATE WORK GOlîPLETED BY, SOCIAL WORKERS ACCORDING TO PROFESSIONAL CLASSIFICATION FOR ONE HUNDRED SOCIAL WORKERS' IN SEVEN OFFICES OF STATE RE LIEF ADMINISTRATION OPERATING IN LOG AKGELEX COUNTY Classification Number in each classification Total number of years completed Average number of years per worker Probationary Case Aide 21 14.5 0.7 Case Aide 33 23.5 0.7 _ Problem File Worker 2 0.0 0.0 Failure-to-Provide 'Worke r 1 0.5 0.5 Field Intake Investigator 17 11.5. 0.65 Out-of-Town Inquiry Worker 1 2.0 2.0 R-I-R Worker 2 2.0 1.0 . Qualifier 5 6.5 1.1 Case Reader I 0.5 0:5 Receptionist 2 0.0 — — " Case Supervisor 11 12.0 1.1 Head Intake Supervisor 1 2.0 2.0 Assistant Intake Supervisor 3 7.0 3.3 Totals 100 82.0 Average = .82 yrs . per worker 69 TABLE X V I ACADEMIC EDUCATION ÜE EMERGENCY WORKERS AND AIDES AMONG CHICAGO SOCIAL WORKERS, 1955*" Academic education All emergency workers and aides C .P .W . U .R .S . Agencies for Tran sient and unattache ' High school 16 4 'Nil 1 Some college 309 123 169 17 Bachelor's degree 497 250 217 30 Some graduate work 100 32 48 20 Master’s degree 42 11 19 12 Other advanced degree 23 6 11 6 N ot reported 3 2 1 0 Total 990 428 476 86 ^Merrill W. Krughoff, Salaries and Professional Qualifications of Social Workers in Chicago, 1935, Universi ty of Chicago Press, p. S7. 70 workers without degrees tallied in this group, which on the basis of one hundred represents 7 per cent, there were 1.5 per cent of the Chicago social workers without any olaimed educational background except that o f high school. However, although the latter group showed less with the least amount of preparation tallied, th a n the SRA group, they also showed a smaller percentage with completion of college education for a degree, 55.2 per cent as.compared with 86 per cent. Also, s in c e all of the SRA social work ers had completed high school, the actual comparable per centages p ro b a b ly should be 7 p e r cent against 23, per cent of the Chicago Social w o rk e rs w ith o u t degrees. Compared with the 13 p e r cent of the SRA social service employees with Master’s degrees, only 4.4 per cent of the Chicago group had advanced college education. Since these groups are concerned with comparable agencies, it would appear that there is more emphasis on education in the public welfare agencies now th a n there was at the inception of this type o f s o c ia l service agency on a large scale. Major and minor academic subjects. Since the major ity of this group had completed their college education for a degree, and then continued as post-graduate students, their academic fields of interest have some importance. Had they planned to enter social work fro m their earlie st 71 college years, or were their main interests as under graduates in other fields of endeavor? If they were not primarily interested in social work, was their interest centered on allied fields? What were their major inter ests as under-graduates? Did the majority of this group, or any appreciable percentage of it change their inter ests as they became more mature? Table XVII on pages 72 and 73 show the distribution by classification of worker of interest in major under graduate subjects. Physical science, including the arts of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and engineering, is probably the most remote from the field of social case work, and so the persons majoring in such fields might initially be considered as least likely to enter the field of social work. Among the one hundred social workers par ticipating in this study, five majored in these subjects as under-graduate students. Language, as a major interest, does not appear to be closely allied to the practice of welfare work, yet fifteen persons majoring in English, and six in other language departments later entered the field of social welfare. Biological science in some of its as pects emphasizes the physical attributes of human beings, and in that respect might be considered more closely re lated to the social sciences than the other fields discussed; five persons majored in that department as■under-graduates. 72 TABLE XVII klAJOB SUBJECTS IN THE UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULA FOR ONE HUN' DEED SOCIAL WORKERS IN SEVEN OFFICES OF THE STATE RE L IE F ADMINISTRATION OPERATING IN LOS ANGELES COUIxfTY Classification B io - logical sciences Econ omics Educa tion Eng lish H is - to r y Lang uages Probationary Case Aide 21 1 I 2 4 3 3 Case Aide 53 4 I 4 4 2 1 Problem File ■ Worker 2 1 Failure-to- 1 Provide Worker Field Intake Investigator 17 3 3 2 2 Out-of-Town In quiry Worker I 1 R-I-R Worker 2 Qualifier 5 I 1 I Case Reader I Receptionist 2 Case Supervisorll 3 2 I Head Intake Supervisor l" 1 Asst, Intake Supervisor 3 Totals 100 5 6 10 15 10 6 73 TABLE XVII (Continued) C l a s s i f i c a t i o n psychol- ogy Phys ical science Social studies'^ S o- ciology Law All oth ers Probationary Case Aide 2 I 2 2 Case Aide 2 2 9 1 3 Problem File W orker I Failure-to-Provide W orker 1 Field Intake Investigator I 1 1 1 2 Out-of-Town Inquiry Worker B-I-E Worker I 1 Qualifier I 1 Case R eader 1 Receptionist Case Supervisor I 3 1 Head Intake Supervisor 1 Assistant Intake Supervisor . 1 I Totals 7 5 2 19 2 11 = ’ Note: Explanation page 65. 74 Theories of education have some common approaches with case work, and those majoring in that field have at least the common desire to inculcate ideas into a community of people ; ten individuals expressed a major interest in education during their college years. (Note: the division of Bocial Studies was so set up because through prelimin ary interviews taken prior to the completion of the schedule it was found that some institutions Include his tory, anthropology, economics and sociological studies - under this generalized title. In this way, the distinction between social studies and sociology cannot be made a clear one.) Economics, his tory, social studies, and psychology may be considered most closely connected with the behavior of human beings in a social milieu, outside of the actual study of this phenomenon as given in the departments of social work. The distribution of frequencies in these fields were as follows: six individuals in the field of economies, twelve in the departments of history and social studies, and seven in the field of psychology. Of the total group here surveyed, only 19 per cent were interested in sociology as under-graduate students. Since the majority of this group are classified as probationary case aides, and case aides, the fact that 50 per cent of those taking sociology as undergraduates were in these categories can not have much significance. However, 44 per cent of these 75 two classifications grouped as one, were primarily interested in these fields as under-graduates as compared to such interest manifested by 22 per cent of the grouped case workers. It would therefore appear that those with the least experience in the SRA at the present time have been more interested in socialized studies in college than the older group of workers. Philosophy was used as a heading in the schedule since it is a major department in college; as noted, however, no one in this group was a phil osophy major. Detailing those with psychology, social studies, and sociology separately to further emphasize the possibility of an early academic interest in this field, several important factors are underlined. As previously noted, social studies was made a separate heading in this part of the schedule because of its inclusive character in some colleges. As seen in the collected figures on Table XVlll, page 76, 28 per cent of this group were interested in sociology or closely allied fields. Of this number, only nineteen persons were definitely interested in sociology as early as their academic college years. This would appear to be further indication that the majority of workers now employed by the State Relief Administration were not interested in social studies as college students. To test the interoretation of their academic work as 76 TABLE XVIII PERCENTAGES OE SOCIAL WORKERS WHO TOOK,MAJOBS UNDERGRADUATE WORK IN PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL STUDIES, AND SOCIOLOGY FOR ONE HUNDRED SOCIAL WORKERS IN SEVEN OFFICES OF THE STATE R ELIEF ADMINISTRATION OPERATING IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY Classification Number Psychology Social studies Sociology Probationary Case Aide 21 E 1 2 Case Aide 35 2 9 Problem File Worker 2 1 Failure-to-Provide Worker 1 1 Field Intake Investigator 17 V. 1 1 Out-of-Town I nqu i ry Wo rker 1 R-I-R Worker 2 1 Qualifier 5 Case Reader 1 1 Receptionist E Case Supervisor 11 1 3 Head Intake Supervisor 1 1 Assistant Intake Supervisor 3 1 Totals 100 7 E 19 77 related to social studies, the group were asked to check the number of years of undergraduate work which had been devoted to sociological fields. The detailed figures can be seen on Table XIX, page 7B. These estimates do not ap pear to be related to the major interests of the workers, even where three years of sociological work was claimed. According to this tally, forty-nine persons had major interests in sociological fields as college students. The figures obtained from their check of actual major courses do not verify this estimate. Apparently the participating individuals tallied the fact that during a certain number of semesters, courses allied to the sociological field were taken as part of thst year's curriculum schedule. Even with this gross estimate, there were still fourteen persons who claimed no interest in sociology as under-graduates. The IB rcentage of workers interested in those sub jects most closely allied to the practice of social work was larger in the tally of minor subjects than in the one made for the major. This distribution can be studied from Table XX on page 79. Using the same classifications of economics, psychology, social studies and sociology, a total of 58 per cent evidenced an interest in these as minors. In this group, psychology had the highest percentage of individuals so interested. The next highest frequency was in the field of English with 14 per cent and sociology was third with 76 TABLE XIX NUMBER OF YEARB OF UNDERGRADUATE WORK DEVOTED TO SOCIOLOG ICAL FIELDS FOR ONE HUNDRED SOCIAL WORKERS IN SEVEN OF FICES OF THE STATE RELIEF ADMINISTRATION OPERATING IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY Classification One year Two years Three years Four yr; Probationary Case Aide 3 3 10 2 Case Aide 4 7 a 9 Problem File Worker 1 Failure-to-Provide Worker 1 Field Intake Investigator 3 6 3 2 Out-of-Town Inquiry Worker 1 R-I-R Worker 1 1 Qualifier 2 2 1 1 Case Header 1 Receptionist Case Supervisor 5 1 3 Head Intake Supervisor 1 Assistant Intake Supervisor 2 Totals 13 23 27 22 Average number of years devoted to sociological fields in undergraduate curriculum per worker is 228/100 = 2.28 yr; fH 0 0 0 0 Ü 0 0 0 • i H Ü M —\ • i —i 0 1 LO 0 s + 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 • ( —t 0 1 —1•H 0 Ü +3 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ü 10 0 •H m m pq 79 TABLE XX MINOR SUBJECTS IN UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULUld ECR ONE HUNDRED SOCIAL WORKERS IN SEVEN OFFICES OF THE STATE RELIEF AD MINISTRATION OPERATING IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY : > 3 ^ 0 CO Pi M tuj -p) 0 d ) A r - l 0 O 0 bu 0 - r - , w - r - , ^ O 0 O*H C D 0X2 Classification 0 0 0 0 “ o 0 OrH-HrH-^ 0 O -M 0 cd"0 00 % iH 0 -H Ü -H 0 -H 0 ^ -H P-i a 0+3 OrH 0 0flf;00 O 0 Or-) L 0 -< Probationary Case Aide 5 4 2 2 4 3 Case Aide 2 4 3 6 3 1 2 6 2 4 2 Problem File Worker 1 1 Failure-to- Provide Tfor ke r 1 Field Intake Investigator 1 1 3 3 2 3 1 2 Out-of-Town Inquiry Worker 1 R-I-R Worker I Qualifier 1. 3 2 Case Reader 1 Receptionist 1 1 Case Supervisor 1 3 4 1 2 Head Intake Supervisor 1 1 Assistant Intake Supervisor 1 1 1 Totals 4 9 8 14 7 5 2 7 22 9 11 2 80 11 per cent. Again using the same classifications of psychology, social studies and sociology as most closely allied to the field of social service, albeit emphasizing only the academic aspects of the problem, a total of 42 per cent is reached for those interested in these fields as under“graduate students. On the whole then, the parti cipating group showed a great deal more interest in the humanities in their choice of minor curricula, than they did in the major. Table XXI on page 81 tabulates the distribution of subject matter taken in the graduate curriculum by this group of social workers. As will be seen by a study of the table the same choice of subjects were given in the schedule as for the major and minor subjects in the under graduate curriculum. Of the sixty-five individuals claiming graduate work, 60 per cent were interested in the allied fields of economics, history, social studies and sociology. In this same group, twenty-four persons had majored in sociology in their post-graduate work, which is a strong contrast proportionately and actually as compared with the figures gathered for under-graduate fields of interest. It is also interesting to note that no one in this group majored in psychology as a graduate student. Another factor to be noted is that although only eighty-six persons had obtained an academic degree with Q± TABLE XXI MAJOR SUBJECT IN THE GRADUATE CURRICULUM FOR ONE HUNDRED SOCIAL WORKERS IN SEVEN OFFICES OF THE STATE RELIEF AD MINISTRATION OPERATING IN LOS ÆGELES COUNTY rH 0 c d w m 0 0 0 >> 0 Ü 0 Ü 0 0 04 1-4 0 o Ci ) w 0 Classification Ü 0 •H g O *rH ■g i>3 0 w CÜ o 0 0 Ü Ü 0 1 — 1 o rH 0 •rH Tl O rH r0 +3 o 0 O -R •rH O 0 o •rH 0 r0 •iH 0 o O rH •rH 0 1 I — 1 +3 W - rH 0 •iH Ü Ü 4-3 •r4 o Ü O % 0 0 •H >5 Ü >> o 0 Ü 1 —i •H 0 Ü 0 •rH c t i c d X20 0 01 o 1 — 1 PQ 01 PH P - t PH , ca *4 Probationary Case Aide 1 1 1 1 2 1 312 Case Aide 1 2 5 2 2 5 Problem File Worker Failure-to- Provide Worker 1 Field Intake Investigator 3 1 2 1 1 1 3 Out-of-town Inquiry Worker 1 R-l-R Worker 1 Qualifier 1 4 1 Case Reader 1 Receptionist Case Supervisor 2 6 2 Head Intake Supervisor ^ 1 Assistant Intake Supervisor Totals 2 2 6 3 4 1 5 309 24 82 indication that no further work had been done, sixty- five persons of the total group had continued their col lege education to include post-graduate training. Accord ing to more detailed distribution of figures studied in the next chapter, it will be seen that the sixty-five graduate students v/ere definitely not entirely in the group of those who had had only four years of college training. It may be possible that some of those taking graduate work in sociology were actually enrolled in the department of social case work. However, since the sched ule. was not so detailed this surmize cannot be definite. At any rate, it is of some moment that a proportionately greater number of workers in the higher categories took sociology as graduate students, than did as under graduates. For instance, eleven sub-executives were int erested in fields allied to human relationships as graduate students compared with six who were so interested as under graduates. No comparisons of findings for like distribu tions was possible, since none of the studies found had used the same emphasis. Krughoff in his survey of Chicago social workers employed in public agencies during 1935, found in the evaluation of the groups’ preparation for social work that 45 per cent of them had as background college training desirable for the practice of social work. In this 83 category was included law, economics, history, philoso phy and biology, as well as sociological work, and psy chology.^ Hot all of those who took these allied sub jects reported that they had proven of value in their social service work. It would appear, then, that the value of those fields which approach the subject of social welfare by studying the physical aspects of human rela tionships may be doubtful as compared to the field of social work itself. Studying the percentages from Table XXII on page 73 of graduate majors in psychology, social studies and sociology on the basis of the group of sixty-five individu als who had taken graduate work, it is found that 36.8 per cent of this group had shown an advanced interest in sociology. The nine persons enrolled in the allied field of social studies represent 13.8 per cent of the workers taking graduate courses. As previously noted there were no v/orkers included in the department of psychology as graduate students but in order to have a consistent schedule of choices in each section devoted to educational background, psychology was included in each part. There was ho way Of knowing that any given group would lack Merrill Krughoff, Salaries and Professional Qualifications of Social Workers in Chicago, 1935, Univer sity of Chicago Press, pp. 14-15. 84 TABLE XXII Nm,'ïBER OF SOCIAL WORKERS WITH MAJORS IN PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL STUDIES, AND SOCIAL WORK AMONG THE ONE HUNDRED SOCIAL WORIŒRS EMPLOYED IN THE STATE RELIEF ADMINISTRA TION OPERATING IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY, MARCH, 1939 Psychol- Per Social Per Sociol- Per Classification ogy cent studies cent ogy cent Probationary Case Aide 3 4.6 1 1.5 Case Aide 2 3.1 5 7.7 Problem File Worker Failure-to-Provide Worker 1 1.5 Field Intake Investigator 1 1.5 3 4. 6 Out-of-Town Inquiry Worker R-I-R Worker 1 1.5 Qualifier 4 6.2 Receptionist Case Supervisor 2 3.1 6 9.2 Case Reader 1 1.5 Head Intake Supervisor 1 1.5 Assistant Intake Supervisor 2 3.1 Totals 0 0 9 13.8 24 36.8 Percentages are based on had graduate work. 65 social workers who have 85 representation. This table merely emphasizes material discussed in relation to Table XXI on page 81. Institutions attended. Since there are several large universities and colleges located in Los Angeles County, the distribution of institutions attended by the one hundred social workers participating in this study was of some importance. Since there is a residence re quirement of one year in the state for SRA social workers, colleges attended outside of the county indicate a special preference possibly on the part of the present employee. It is recognized, of course, that residence may have been acquired subsequent to the college course and so change the major indications. Table xXlll on page 8:6 shows this distribution, indicating that the three largest univer sities in the state have the largest representation of graduates among SRA social workers. The University of California in Los Angeles showed a plurality among the under-graduates, and the University of Southern California among the graduate workers. Universities outside of the state have a 12 per cent representation of attendance in this group, which might indicate a special interest in the type of courses available at these institutions. There is not such a clear choice between the two most popular institutions indicated here, since the University of California at Los Angeles does not have complete 86 TABLE XXIII COLLEGE OB UNIVERSITY IrHERE UNDERGRADUATE WORK WAS TAKEN FOR ONE HUNDRED SOCIAL WORKERS OF THE STATE RELIEF ADMINIS TRATION OPERATING IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY , MARCH 1939 04 <0 0 o o • 1 — I 0 -p 0 Classification 0 0 >5 0 O 0 -P o ' • • 0 > •rH CiD Qn 0 0 •H 03 ' 0 o 0 0 0 0] 0 0 0 0 +3 0 0 0 m 0 0 0 O 0 r -4 0 o CO 0 0 0 • 0 0 0 tH a «H rH 04 0 0 P CO o • -0 0 î> P 04 O o 0 o > :d rH P o 0 P rH O 0 O 0 -iH •H o ■ • 0 0 P .0 O +3 p Ü 1 — 1 P P O P CO o p ’ *4 Probationary Case Aide 1 10 1 1 1 1 6 Case Aide 5 5 8 2 31 1 7 Problem File Worker 2 Failure-to- Provide Worker 1 Field Intake Investigator 1 11 1 1 2 Out-of-Town Inquiry Worker 1 R-l-R Worker 1 1 Qualifier 3 1 Case Reader 1 Receptionist ^ 2 Case Supervisor 4 1 1 1 1 1 4 Head Intake Supervisor 2 Assistant Intake Supervisor 2 1 • Totals 15 34 12 3 2 5 1 1 0 4 23 87 departments in graduate work. Table XXIV on page 88, graphing the institution attended by the sixty-five social workers showing com pletion of post-graduate work, indicates the choice made by the categorical divisions. There is not a great deal of note on this table except that there was a concentra tion of graduate v/ork at the University of Southern California among the better established workers. This might indicate that graduate work was taken by these work ers coincidental with their employment, since this school' is the only local institution offering a complete curriculum in graduate fields. Since the SRA has not yet seen fit to permit its staff leaves of absence for further training or education, there can be no choice if the employment can not be voluntarily resigned. Table XXV on page '89 shows the comparison of figures for attendance at the various universities by this group of SRA social workers during their under-graduate and graduate attendance at these -institutions. Material for this table was gathered from the two previous ones already discussed but shows more graphically the concentration in the three main universities of California, In this tabulation can be noted the fact that sixty-one individuals have attended University of Southern California either as under-graduates or graduate students: thirty-nine attended the University 8ÎB ü ^ & B L E z j c n r COLLEGE OB UNIVERSITY WHERE GRADUATE STUDY WAS DONE BY SIXTY- FIVE SOCIAL WORKERS OF THE STATE RELIEF ADMINISTRATION IN SEVEN OFFICES OPERATING IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY >5 4-4 <p> 4 (U Î » (D p C D p o C D ■P p> o # # A > •iH bD bO 1 3 C d w Q C D Ü A C O cd Ü C D A -p C O 0 pq A (D fn O C d r d cd Q u ) A S3 • • C D m (D ' 1 — 1 B rH 1 —1 4 h C D k 0 3 O ■ -P C D !> r k A O o k O > •j H o C O m 'H O C d o P C d •H •H • • 0) Ü P o P ! m tz> k ) P o p C O O P . _ . . . ^ ( D +3 0 , -H O Classification A > -h w w c d w c o aK ^ -» — J < • — J f-4 c « < “1 m yt\ C D 4^ r -H O I —I Probationary Case Aide 5 3 1 3 Case Aide 12 1 5 1 1 Problem File Worker Failure-to- Prov ide Worker 1 Field Intake Investigator 8 1 1 Out-of-Town Inquiry Worker 1 R-I-R Worker 2 Qualifier 4 1 Case Reader 1 Receptionist Case Supervisor 9 Head Intake Supervisor 1 Assistant Intake Supervisor 3 Totals 46 5 6 1 0 2 0 0 0 1 4 = 65 89 TABLE XXV DISTRIBUTION OF UtTIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES WHERE UNDERGRAD UATE AND GRADUATE STUDY WAS DONE BY ONE HUNDRED SOCIAL WORKERS IN SEVEN OFFICES OF THE STATE RELIEF ADMIN- ISTRATION OPERATING IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY, 1939 Name of Undergraduate institution work taken Graduate work taken Total U. S. C. 15 46 61 U. C. L. A. 34 5 39 U.C. Berkeley 12 6 18 Western Reserve 3 1 4 University of Chicago 2 2 Chapman College 5 2 7 Loyola 1 1 Stanford 1 1 Ohio State University of Minnesota 4 1 5 All others 23 4 27 90 of California at Los Angeles; and eighteen were enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley, As might be expected, the concentration was in the local institutions. However, forty-three individuals had taken their college work in other institutions. By definition, the acquisition of teaching certifi cates and credentials has not been considered professional training, since it is not specific for social work. Table XXVI on page 80 indicates a number of interesting fre quencies however, for the incidence of such training. Of the twenty-one probationary case aides participating in this study, ten, or nearly 50 per cent of that group have some type of teaching credential. Fourteen of the thirty- three case aides participating in this study possessed this additional training; five of the sub-executives turn ing in questionnaires also indicated some special creden tial. An interesting determination might have been made as to whether their presence in the field of social work was due to a change in interest subsequent to the procur- ance of the certificate or whether it was due to failure to procure a position in their original choice of occupa tion. Hov/ever, this might be a subjective reaction on the part of the participant, and so was not included. The large percentage of persons possessing special teaching certificates, thirty-four in this group of social workers, '9i TABLE XXVI TEACHING CREDENTIALS AND CERTIFICATES HELD BY ONE HUNDRED SOCIAL WORKERS EFiPLOYED IN THE STATE' RELIEF ADMINIS TRATION OPERATING IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY, MARCH, 1939 Classification General , secondary General elementary Special All Teaching others cred. no. of worker Probationary Case Aide 6 2 1 1 21 Case Aide 7 3 3 1 35 Problem File Worker 2 Failure-to- Provide Worker 1 Field Intake Investigator 1 1 17 Gut-of-Town Inquiry Worker 1 R-I-R Worker 1 2 Qualifier 1 1 5 Case Reader 1 Receptionist 2 Case Supervisor 3 1 11 Head Intake Supervisor 1 Assistant Intake Supervisor 1 3 Totals 16 10 4 4 100 82 would appear to augment a proposal that the majority of workers in the field of unemployment relief did not originally plan to enter this field of activity. To conclude, on the basis of the sort of choices in academic training made by the majority of workers now em ployed by the State Belief Administration, it would appear that they had not originally planned to enter the field of social welfare. Their interests were scattered through out the curriculum offered by most universities and col leges. Since a four year college course can hardly fail to include some courses related to the field of social wel fare, a generalized college education must be accepted as better preparation for a profession such as social work, than none at all. However, according to the work done by Krughoff in Chicago, already mentioned many times in this study, a majority of the workers in evaluating their college education as preparation for their work in the public agencies, did not consider it as having any direct connection to the job. Since only objective findings were desired in this investigation, this item was omitted. CHAPTER VI PROFESSIONAL EDUCATIONAL DAGKGROUND If unemployment relief is a legitimate field for the social service worker, then it follows that those in the field should have some acquaintance with the prin ciples of social work. The problems facing the "visitor" in a public relief agency are many, and complex in their ramifications as will be shown later; whe. t preparation has he or she had which can be used to cope with these difficulties? Has the training been specific for this comparatively new profession? Taking as an initial prem ise that the one hundred workers answering the question naires prepared for this study were a cross-section of the social service division employees, then the profes sional background of these workers becomes a strong indi cation of the generalized background the social service employee brings to the performance of his duties. Degrees and credentials held in social work. From Table XXVII on page 94 even a superficial scrutiny indi cates the scarcity of social service employees who have completed their social service training. Only six of the total number have social work certificates, usually pre sented for the completion of four years of college work in 94 TABLE XXVII CLASBIFIGATION OF SOCIAL WORKERS HOLDING SOCIAL WORK CER TIFICATES OR DEGREES FOR ONE HUNDRED SOCIAL WORKERS EMPLOYED IN THE STATE RELIEF ADMINISTRATION OP ERATING IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY, MARCH, 1939 Classification Social Work certificates Degree Per cent Probationary Case Aide 1 Case Aide 3 3 Problem File Worker Failure-to- Provide Worker Field Intake Investigator 1 1 1 Out-of-Town Inquiry Worker R-I-R Worker Qualifier Case Reader Recept ionist Case Supervisor 2 2 Head Intake Supervisor Assistant Intake Supervisor 1 1 Totals ■ 6 3 2,0 95 an accredited school of social work. Of this number, three were employed as case aides, one as a field intake investigator, and two were sub-executives,--case super visors. There were only three in this group who were possessors of Master’s degrees in social work; one was an assistant intake supervisor, one was a field inves tigator, and one was a probationary case aide; There were not a sufficient number of participants to make any distinction between the training of the staff members and the sub-executives. Hovæver, it might be well to note that three of the fifteen sub-executives had accomplished professional status, and six of the staff members as com pared with seventy-three participants. Superficially, the sub-executives were better trained, but the comparative numbers are too disparate to make such a definite state ment ë However, there is no question that on the whole this group of social workers has not presented a picture of adequate training. Professional work courses. In the chapter on the academic background of SRA social workers, it was noted on page 55 that sixty-five were taking post-graduate work. The table on page 3:5, Table XXVIII, shows that fifty-two of this group, or 80per cent, were interested in the field of social work. Thirteen of the sub-executives had taken ^6 TABLE XXVIII NUMBER OF YEARS OF SOCIAL ?fORK TAKEN IN THE GRADUATE CURRIC ULUT^ BY ONE HUNDRED SOCIAL WORKERS EkIPLOYED IN THE STATE RELIEF ADMINISTRATION OPERATING IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY klARCH, 1939 Classification Totals i yr. 1 yr. li yrs. 2 yrs. More Probationary Case Aide 21 2 3 1 Case Aide 33 11 2 1 Problem File Worker 2 Failure-to- Provide Worker 1 1 Field Intake Investigator 17 5 2 1 Out-of-Town Inquiry Worker 1 1 R-I-R Worker 2 1 1 Qualifier 5 3 2 Case Reader 1 1 Receptionist 2 Case Supervisor 11 7 2 1 Head Intake Supervisor 1 1 Assistant Intake Supervisor 3 1 1 1 Totals 100 26 18 3 4 1 97 from one half to more than two years of post-graduate work in the field of social work. This, table, Figure XXVIII, indicates that twenty-six persons had completed one half year in the graduate social work curriculum, eighteen had com pleted one year, three had completed one and one half years, and seven had finished two years. One person indicated more than two years work. It is probable that those who ans wered the question by a figure of more than one year, were checking the time over which the courses had stretched, rather than the number of semester hours; this might be further proven by the fact that comparatively few had ob tained a degree, and the amount of time in semester hours would have been equivalent to the number of units needed for one. (Further corroboration is the fact that the majority of the graduate work was taken at the University of Southern California , which is making a two year graduate course in social work as pre-requisite to a degree in that curriculum effective after June 1939;, one and one half years w rk ac complished prior to that date should have resulted in the attainment of a degree.) To reiterate, the most important factor to be noted from this compilation on page 9§ is that such a large majority of workers interested in continuing their education should have underlined their interest by doing so in their own field. Again, this may not be a fair conclusion since the State Belief Administration emphasizes its interest in 98 the training of its social service employees by a continu ous record of their training,and their professional educa tion may have been merely a form of job insurance. Even if this latter be the correct interpretation of these findings, however, their wishing to retain their jobs might be inter preted as an .interest in continuing as social workers in the field of public welfare work. Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7 are taken from the American Public Welfare Study of 1938 in Chicago. Figure 4 shews that of the social workers studied in the leadership group, approximately 112 had college work in the social service curriculum; 150 had college degrees, while forty-eight had none. A certain percentage of those with more than one year of college to their credit had had some work in a school of social work, but there were fourteen workers with no train ing and no college education at all. The training evidenced among the workers in the,lower evaluated group of agencies was even less than that found among the first group shown in the distribution on page 100, Figure 5. Of the 105 work ers possessing college degrees, only twenty-six had had any social work' training, Ueventy-eight workers in this group had not received college degrees in any curriculum, and thirty-seven of these people had had no college training at all. Several had not finished high school. One cannot but wonder under what handicaps a program must function which is i l No. 6201, U n iv ersity Book Store, Los Angeles î t t m mil No. 6201, U n iv ersity B ock Store, Los A ngeles No. 6201, U n iv ersity Book Store, Los A ngeles iiî jpi No. 6201, U n iv ersity B ook Store, Los Angeles 103 administered by workers with so little of what might be considered minimum academic background; Most accredited beauty parlors will not accept students for training with less than a high school education, yet here are the most complex problems of society being given for solution to workers with as little or less training than is deemed necessary for background to learning the trade of cosmeti cian. For the most part, the State Relief Administration has hired workers with better academic and professional backgrounds than had the civil service agencies studied in the compared survey. There were, because of the usual administrative dis tribution in numbers of staff and executive positions, naturally fewer supervisors for comparison in the Chicago study. However, of the thirty supervisors with college de grees participating within the Leadership group, twenty- three had work in a school of social work. This distribu tion can be studied on Figure. 6. , page 101 of this chapter. In this group of sub-executives, eleven supervisors had no college degree of any kind ; eleven, representing 26.8 per cent of the forty-one.participating supervisors. Nine of these eleven had had less than three years of college, one of the group having only completed high school. It is well while evaluating the significance of these figures to remem ber that this particular group of supervisors were employed IG4 in those agencies given the appellation of "Leadership Group" because of their superior personnel qualifications, and importance in the Cook County constellation of public welfare agencies. In this group there appears to be pro fessional training in about the same proportion as was present among the staff members of the agencies employing both administrative bodies. Seventy-five and six tenths per cent of the sub-executives as compared with 71.3 per cent of the workers in the Leadership group of agencies had had professional training in a school of social work. Turning to ’. Figuneh- on page 10$, one is presented with a graph of the distribution of professional training among supervisors in Group B agencies studied in Cook County. Of the one hundred persons whose backgrounds were studied under the former classification, only 50 per cent had had professional education. Although this percentage is 50 per cent less than that demonstrated as the background of the supervisors in Group A, yet it is approximately triple the percentage of staff members in this second group of agencies with social work background. This discussion of the variations of professional backgrounds between different grades of agencies,unie ss it is related to this investigation, is extraneous. In order to graphically illustrate this relationship, Fig<ure 8 . was drawn. In this graph the total number of workers in C Q E î]: No. 6201, U n iv ersity Book Store, Los A ngeles Group A and B tallying staff and sub-executive members as one group, were compared in a broken curve with the same type of grouping for the social workers studied in this in vestigation. The point of comparison was the amount of educational background, emphasizing social work training, that each group possessed. The following points were taken as common references for each group: the numbers of years of college without degrees, college degrees, total number without degrees, college degrees plus additional social work training, social work certificates, and Master^ s degrees in social work. Along the x-axis were plotted these points of common reference, and the y-axis represents the frequencies of workers possessing these specified qualifications. The straight line represents the SRA social workers, the broken line made up of dashes refers to Group A of the American Public Welfare Job Study, and the line of dots and dashes refers to Group B in this latter survey. Done in this fashion, the distances from the x-axis do not represent the same things. The first five points on this ordinate refer to the lack of college training, whereas the last part of the curve represents units of social w drk and college training. Thus the steeper rises of the dot-and- dash curve at the beginning of the line starting from the le ft side indicates a greater lack of training, just as its lesser rise as it continues indicates the same factors. In 107' comparison to the other groups, this graph indicates that the utate Relief Administration has the best trained corps. Probably the most interesting points are the last, five along the co-ordinate base line. The firsb of these as already noted, shows the highest percentage of workers in Group B without college degrees; 38.5 per cent as com pared with 26 per cent in the A Group, and 7 per cent in the SRA group. Opposite the point indicating those with college degrees, the comparisons of the three groups are very neatly seen. The highest point in these parallel points is 93 per cent for the SRA group, and 74 and 61.5 per cent respectively for Groups A and B. In the space of those with social work certificates. Group A had 6.6 per cent. Group B, 1 per cent, and the SRA social work group 6 per cent. Group A and the SRA corps had almost the same percentage of workers with college degrees plus social work background, i.e., 54.3 per cent and 52 per cent ; Group B contained only 23.9 per cent of its workers with this quali fication.. All three groups had small percentages of staff members with Master^s degrees in social work; Group A had 4.2 per cent, Group B had one worker, and the SRA group three. Although this graph would appear to intimate that the State Relief Administration has a well trained group of social work employees since they compare so favorably with other public welfare agencies, it is perhaps a more accurate representation of facts to say that other agencies have an even less well prepared staff of social workers than the studied agency. Certainly it cannot be said of an agency that it has an adequately trained staff when as in this group of one hundred SRA social workers six have social work certificates and three have Master’s degrees. An additional illustration of the training possessed by workers in public welfare agencies is afforded by the table on page 109, taken from krughoff’s study of social workers in Cook County unemployment relief agencies in 1935. Using the workers in an aggregate body, it was found that 56.9 per cent of them-had had no professional training of any kind. An additional 30.3 per cent had had less than one quarter (one semester equivalent) of professional edu cation. Only 0.8 per cent of these four staffs had had more than three quarters work in a social work curriculum. This study was made at the inception of the federal relief pro gram in this country, and indicates the initial influx of large numbers of untrained workers into .the emergency ad ministrations for unemployment assistance. There is no comparable census for that period here in California, but comparing the Chicago study with that of 1938, there appears to have been some improvement in personnel standards. Whereas in the earlier survey 42.1 were without any professional education of any kind, the later one showed 70.8 with social 10.9 TABLE XX;ïX. PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION OF ElîSRGENCY WORKERS AND AIDES AMONG CHICAGO SOCIAL WORKERS, 1935 Amount o f professional education All Emergency W orkers and Aides C.P.W. Agencies for the transient and unattached None 566 211 306 49 Less than one quarter 305 160 126 19 1 quarter-less than 2 90 45 36 9 2 quarters-less than 3 17 7 7 3 3 quarters or over 8 1 1 6 No report 4 4 0 0 Total 990 428 476 86 110 work training in some degree. Referring again to Table XXIX, 61 per cent of the SRA social workers participating in this investigation claimed to have specific social ser vice training. This group does not then present as specifi cally a well-trained professional body as the Chicago, ex cept that the latter had more workers without academic back ground than are present in the State Relief Administration. Institutions attended. Using the sixty-five students who have had graduate work in some curriculum as the base point for the fifty-two persons having graduate work in the social work curriculum. Tables XXX and XXXI were constructed. Table XXX tabulates the frequencies of each categorical division of worker who took social work courses and the institution'in which that work was taken. Six persons had taken their professional training at institutions other, than those tabulated by the investigator as the most probable choices. As already noted in the previous chapter, the University of Southern California was the choice of the greatest percentage of graduate students in this area. In this instance, 76.9 of the workers with professional train ing had obtained it at the aforementioned institution. Table XXXII merely gathers the frequencies of attendance at each institution into a more easily read form. It is interesting to note that of the fifty-two workers with some pretense TABLÉ XXX INSTITUTIONS WHERE GRADUATE PROFESSIONAL WORE COURSES WERE TAKEN BY SEVENTY-THREE OF ONE HUNDRED SOCIAL WORKERS EWLOYED IN THE STATE RELIEF ADMINISTRATION OPER ATING IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY, MARCH, 1939 CLASSIFICATION q - i • o (D o O iH o O o (D o C O (D P -P o rS P *H . • •rH Î5 Û < D Ü in Ü JQ C d C O m o C O c d Ü î> G O C D CO CO P A A A Ü A f-i PQ •H C O ( D Q) • ( U ’ i H < D 0) • • ^ A > rS OQ > ^ -P C O • (D O O -H P •H O C O C D O C d •H Ü rH O • C D K • A ^ b) 1 —1 Î3 b) O o < Probationary Case Aide E 1 3 Case Aide 10 1 3 Problem File Worker Failure-to- Provide Worker 1 Field Intake Investigator 7 1 Out-of-Town Inquiry Worker 1 R-I-R Worker E qualifier 3 1 1 Case Reader 1 Receptionist Case Supervisor .9 1 Head Intake Supervisor 1 Assistant Intake Supervisor 3 Totals 40 1 0 1 3 1 0 6 = 52 112 TABLE J X H 3CH00IS OF SOCIAL F/ORK ATTENDED BY 52 SOCIAL WORKERS WHO TOOK PROFESSIONAL SOCIAL WORK TRAINING EMPLOYED IN THE STATE RELIEF ADMINISTRATION OPERATING IN LOS m GELES COUIWY, MARCH, 1939 Name of institution Frequency University of Southern California 40 University of Chicago 1 New York School of Social Work 1 University of California At Berkeley 3 Graduate School of Jewish Social Work 1 All others 6 Total 52 113 toward professional training, only three can definitely be tallied as having taken it outside the state* Fields of social work. Workers who had taken grad uate work were requested to check on their questionnaires the field of social work they had most emphasized in their choice of courses. It was hoped that some indication might be given of relationship between their choice of profession al specialization, and their presence in the field of unem ployment relief. Case work, group work, and administration were taken as the most acutely differentiated fields of activity within the scope of social work. Using these three fields of social work as bases, the Table .XOII on page ll-T was constructed to. show the fre quencies of distribution for each interest, and the number of workers in each category emphasizing that activity in choice of graduate curriculum. Since fifty-two workers were the total number with professional training, the thirty-nine workers majoring in courses of social case work represented 75 per cent of the graduate group. The eight workers choos ing as their major interest social work administration rep resented 15.4 per cent of the total number taking profes sional social work courses; the remaining five workers then tabulated as 9.6 per cent of the group. Half of the pro bationary case aides indicated that their main interest was in social group work, which differentiates this TABLE Z Z X m THE FIELD OF SOCIAL WORE’IN WHICH GRADUATE PROFESSIONAL COURSES IN SOCIAL WORK TffiRE TAKEN FOR SEVENTY-THREE OF ONE HUNDRED-SOCIAL WORKERS ElvZPLOYED IN THE STATE RELIEF AmiNISTRATION OPERATING IN LOS AIJGELES COUNTY, L!ARCH,1939 Classification Social case work Social group work Social work administration Probationary Case Aide 2 3 Case Aide 3 Problem File Worker Fa ilure-to-Prov ide Worker 1 Field Intake Investigator 5 1 2 Out-of-Town Inquiry Worker 1 R-I-R Worker 1 1 Q,ualif ier 5 Case Reader 1 Recepti onist Case Supervisor 8 2 Head Intake Supervisor 1 Ass’t Intake Supervisor 2 1 Totals 39 5 8 115. classification from the other categories, most of whom had evidenced most interest in social case work courses. It would appear that those workers who had had some profes sional training had taken work which might aid him most in his daily contacts with the client. As the State Relief Administration is now conceived, it is based on the adminis tration of policies through interpretation to the individual unit, or the family unit by a single case worker, the term being used in its generalized sense, not the particular. In a situation such as that then, training in the technique of admustment within a unitary conception of administration is best served by the technique of social case work. The m xt highest percentage of interest evidenced was that for the social work administration classification. This might have meant that this particular group of students were planning to concentrate their attention on becoming administrators and executives, rather than emphasizing the field of rela tionships. The smallest group of workers stated as their main interest work with groups ; adjustments between an ag gregate of individuals and their respective environments as they might be treated in clubs or settlement houses. As further indication of this group’s interests, participants were asked to check the less generalized fields of social work in which they were primarily interested. Several of them checked more than one problem, so that the frequency was 108 instead of one hundred, but this dis crepancy did not distort the proportional results a great deal. Table XXXIII\on page 117 lists fifteen major prob lems of social work, and the number of workers interested in each. Family welfare held the highest degree of inter est for the individuals answering the questionnaire, 33.3 per cent of the group checking that problem. Child weIT are problems were checked by the next highest plurality of workers, an equivalent of 12.0 per cent evidencing .major interest in that field. Social research and the field of public assistance were checked in equal frequencies, each of them totalling 9.3 per cent of the summated answers. Psychiatric social work was the major social work interest of a slightly larger percentage, one more answer being checked, resulting in a percentage of 10.1. Four problems were checked by no worker among this group of one hundred. These were physical vælfare, parole, economic organization, and institutional work. In an objective questionnaire, it is impossible to judge the reasons for such choices as those just discussed. However, there are several inferences which might be made without too great a risk. As the relief administration is now organized, and as our society still functions on the unitary basis of the family as a primary unit of organiza tion, it may not be surprising that such a large majority -117 TABLE xxriii; FIE L D OF INTEREST IN SOCIAL WORK FOR ONE HUNDRED SEA SOCIAL WORKERS EMPLOYED IN THE STATE R ELIEF A m iN IS T R A T IO N OP ERATING IN LOS ANGELES COUNIT, r.iARCH, 1939 Field of interest Frequency Per cent Family welfare 36 36 Child welfare 13 13 Social group work 8 8 Community organization 2 2 Physical w e lf a r e w o rk Parole Probation 4 4 Public assistance Economic organization Institutional work 10 10 M e d ic a l social work ' 7 7 Psychiatric social work 11 11 Medical crganization w oik 1 1 Social research 10 10 Labor problems 5 5 All others 1 1 T o ta ls 108 1'18 chose family welfare as their major interest. Child welfare work has been considered the most fruitful field of social welfare by many, so that the frequencies for that group are also explainable. Public assistance must be of interest to many because of its equivalence to the field in which the workers were employed. Psychiatric social work is a comparatively new aspect of social welfare which has forced itself to the forefront of attention with the impacts of economic maladjustments on emotionally unstable folk; every district office contacted has a so-called problem file in which are gathered those cases which present maladjust ments requiring special skills on the part of the assigned worker. And every worker cannot but be impressed by the difference attitude and adjustment make in the behavior of clients all affected by similar economic circumstances. It is no wonder, then, that although the State Relief Adminis tration has not employed trained psychiatric social workers, that numbers of them nevertheless are impressed with the importance of the psychiatric aspects of their work. Attendance at extension courses. In studying the professional background of this group of social workers, it was felt that one important factor in gauging their interest would be a tabulation of those pursuing a professional curriculum at the time the check was made. For this reason, one of the parts of the questionnaire was devoted to a tally of the numbers of workers attending day or night courses, or enrolled in correspondence courses, while employed full time. Day courses were possible since the local adminis tration permitted some adjustment of the weekly schedule to permit the taking of one course per week during office time. The understanding being that the out-put of work must be adjusted by the worker so privileged. Table XXXIII on page 120 tallies with the distribu tion within each category of workers then enrolled in social work courses. Of the twenty-one probationary workers, only one is now attending school. Ten of the case aides are en rolled in evening courses, and none of them during the day. One each of the special file case workers are taking cours es at the present time. Of the seventeen field investigators, none are now enrolled in social work courses, which is more than 50 per cent of that classification. Nine of the eleven case supervisors were taking social work courses, as were the three assistant intake supervisors. Apparently, even the assistant intake supervisor with a Master’s degree in social work was continuing his professional training. Thirty-three persons found it more expedient to take evening courses, as compared to the seven ?/ho were day enrollees. None in this group of workers was taking any correspondence courses. It is interesting to compare this table with the 120 TABLE %]ŒI% NUMBER AND CLASSIFICATION OF SOCIAL WORKERS TAKING EXTEN SION COURSES IN SOCIAL WORK CONCURRENT YflTH THEIR REG ULAR SRA EIviPLÜYIÆNT FOR ONE HUNDRED SOCIAL WORK ERS EWLOYED IN THE STATE RELIEF ADMINISTRA TION OPERATING IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY &]ARCH, 1939 Classification Day- courses Evening courses Correspondence courses Probationary Case Aide 1 Case Aide 10 Problem File Worker 1 Failure-to-Provide Worker 1 Field Intake Investigator 2 7 Out-of-Town Inquiry Worker R-I-R Worker Qualifie r 3 Case Reader 1 Recepti onist 1 Case Supervisor, 2 7 Head Intake Supervisor 1 Assistant Intake Supervisor 1 2 Totals 7 33 40 social workers taking extension work (4 per cent of total group) Î2Î figure on page which tallied the number of years of social work taken by the social workers who had had some profession al training. Although some of the workers who had completed work in the social work curriculum had taken courses over a period of two years in some cases,, since only of from one to three years in twenty-six instances, only nine of the group had completed the work for a certificate or a degree. This subtraction still leaves several workers discontinuing their extension courses, even when we grant that every worker first tallied was continuing--which conclusion seems to lie a little outside the realm of probability. In this tally of workers interested in continuing their professional training at the time the schedule was used, it would appear that the majority of the participatizig group was not so concerned. In the California Conference Census of Social Workers in 1938 there was a similar check of college attendance made. This table is reproduced on page 12E. According to this tally, state social service employees had the highest percentage of college graduates, and the highest percentage of concurrent college attendance. Federal social service employees had the next highest rating based on preparation and interest in academic or professional training. At that time 96.4 per cent of the state social service employees and 88.9 per cent of the federal employees were interested in continuing their education. The census also indicated 122 TABLE XXXV COkiPARISON OF COLLEGE ATTENDANCE BY TYl^E OF AGENCY-OR TEMPORARY NCN-E&TPLOYIVIENT IN SOCIAL WORK AMONG 4260 SOCIAL WORKERS SURVEYED BY THE CANIFORIflA CON FERENCE OF SOCIAL WORK, 1938 Agency Percentage of Percentage of agency agency members members with 4 or more attending college years of college Federal State County and/or municipal Private 88.9 96.4 75.3 82.0 80.9 85.9 48.5 62.5 Social workers temporarily not employed in social work 84.5 61.9 123 that the county and municipal social workers had the least academic education, and that the lowest percentage of interest in improving personnel standards as evidenced by enrollment in professional curriculum was present in this group. Only 48^3 per cent of them had four years or more of college, and only 75.3 per cent were attending college. Private agencies had the second lowest rating in both cases; 62.5 per cent of their staffs having college de grees , and 82 per cent of them were continuing their educa tions. The one hundred social workers investigated here are not parallel in results with this last mentioned figure. Approximately 93 per cent of this group had college degrees, or an 8 per cent differential over the aggregate group of state social service employees in 1938. However, the dif ferential is preponderantly in favor of the latter group insofar as college attendance is concerned; there was a difference of 56.4 per cent between this activity on the part of the workers employed in the 1938 California Census and the group analyzed in this investigation. It is impos sible to judge from the data available to what this sharp drop in college attendance may be due. External circumstan ces, such as economic stresses or changes in personnel stan dards, have not occurred in the intervening period to pro duce such a startling change in attitudes and ambitions. It 124 may simply be that in aggregating the social service agencies in the state, wide variations in background and standards may have been averaged as one group, whose discrete parts might have been disparate. . Degrees being sought. As an integral part of com pletion of professional education, the fulfillment of the requirements for a degree might be considered the logical termination (so far as obtaining professional credit for the work done is concerned, at any rate.) Since approxi mately 50 per cent of the v/orkers have had graduate pro fessional work, and 40 per cent are attending college now, a tally was made to discover the number of this particular group interested in continuing their work to the end of securing a degree. There was a possibility that some were interested merely in taking random courses of particular interest, or disinterested for other reasons in securing a degree. In order to reach some conclusion as to the organiza tion of the professional work being taken, or already secured, a table of frequencies was set up using as checks the three principal college degrees to be obtained. The ta ble.. on page 125., y able XXKMI, indicates the frequencies within each category of those interested in obtaining bachelor’s, master’s, or doctor’s degrees. No others were checked by the workers in the space allowed for uncatalogued degrees. 125 TABLE 2XKVI NUl'iBER AND CLASSIFICATION OF SOCIAL WORKERS SEEKING HIGHER DEGREES FOR ONE HUNDRED SOCIAL VfORIÆRS FMFLOYSD IN THE STATE RELIEF ADMINISTRATION Number, Classification of workers Degrees being sought A.B. M.A. Ph.D. Totals Probationary Case Aide 21 5 5 Case Aide. 33 11 11 Problem Pile Worker 2 Failure-to- Prov ide Worker 1 1 1 Field Intake Investigator 17 1 9 10 Out-of-town Inquiry Worker 1 R-I-R Worker 2 1 1 Qualifier 5 3 3 Case Reader 1 Receptionist 2 1 1 Case Supervisor 11 11 11 Head Intake Supervisor 1 1 1 Assistant Intake Supervisor 3 2 1 3 Totals 100 2 44 1 47 1É6 A total of forty-seven workers were interested in obtaining degrees. Two workers, one of them a receptionist and the other a field intake investigator, were planning to com plete college under-graduate work and obtain a bachelor’s degree. Referring to Table IX on page £L in the previous chapter concerned with academic training, it will be noted that one field investigator and t?/o receptionists had not completed these courses. Apparently two of these workers were ambitious enough to complete their education. 'The problem file worker without a college degree did not indi cate an interest in continuing his education, although his function is considered a highly specialized one. Forty-four persons evidenced interest in continuing toward a master’s degree, although only forty persons are taking courses at present. Five probationary case aides are planning to obtain a master’s degree, although six persons in that cla ssification had had professional train- training. Only one in this group claimed to be currently taking social work courses. Eleven case aides were seeking a master’s degree, while fourteen had had social work as graduate students. Ten persons in this classification were attending extension classes at the time the questionnaire was answered. Nine field intake investigators were planning to fulfill the requirements for a graduate degree. Within that category, eight persons had checked the acquisition of 127 graduate social work, while one is planning to acquire a bachelor’s degree. It is interesting to note that nine case aides were attending extension classes, which may mean that these are coincidental, although one more person is planning for a degree than has had professional training, or was at tending school at the time. The case reader although attending night extension college is not planning on acquir ing a degree. Of the five qualifiers, three are planning on fulfilling the requirements for a degree as are three attending extension school. These also may be references to an identical group of workers, although all five works rs have had social work courses in the graduate curriculum. Eleven case supervisors filled out schedules, and all of them checked the plan to obtain master’s degrees. Only ten of them, however, have had social work in the graduate cur riculum, and nine were attending extension classes. The sole head intake supervisor is also %)lannlng on taking a course leading to a master’s degree, and was taking extension work. All of the assistant intake supervisors have had profession al social work as post-graduates, and two of them are plan ning to complete this work toward a graduate degree. From the table already discussed, it would appear that the assistant intake supervisor who had obtained a master’s degree is planning to continue his education, and obtain a doctor’s degree. This individual was the only person planning 128 to continue his training of the thirteen individuals hold ing Master’s degrees in some curriculum.^ Three of these workers had Master’s degrees in social wo rk, and were not planning to continue thehr scholastic activities. Table XXXYI was being compared in the foregoing dis cussion with Tables XXXIII and XXXIV, in this chapter. There does not seem on the whole to be complete identifi cation of personnel between those who have had graduate social work, those who are now engaged in taking extension courses, and those who are planning to fulfill the requirements nec essary to obtain the concomitant degree. In several cases, as already mentioned, there was unmistakeable identity of plan and preparation with a classification such as the field investigator without a degree and the assistant intake su pervisor with adequate preparation to plan on a doctorate. From the questionnaire results used in the prepara tion of this section, it can be said that only 50 per cent of the present personnel represented-by this group of social workers had any specific professional training for their positions. Of this group, only 40 per cent were able or interested in attending extension classes concurrent with employment, while a slightly larger percentage were planning to continue their professional training. ^ Lee Table XII, page 62. CHAPTER VII PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE IN SOCIAL WORK Besides academic and prçfessional education, there can be no doubt that a third major qualification for a posi tion is experience--experience in the same field or an allied one. In this chapter will be evaluated the amount of social work experience in the State Relief Administra tion and in other social welfare agencies of the one hun dred social workers participating in this investigation. State Relief Administrative experience. Shortly after the questionnaire for this study was distributed, a change in personnel re-classification was instituted which would have changed the results of this part of the investi gation. ^ According to this new ruling, workers performing duties which rate a higher or lower salary than his previous position called for over a period of six weeks, must be re-classified to the new rating. This bulletin will prin cipally affect case aides who previously could be called on in periods of sudden increases of applications to serve in case worker capacities for long periods of time, with no change in salary. For this reason the experience of case ^ Los Angeles County Personnel Division-Bulletin No. 1 April 7, 1939. 150 aides in the State Relief Administration as checked"here has as scattered a time picture as have the case workers. The tabulations for this section of the chapter will be found on Table XXXVII, page 131. By definition, probationary case aides have the least amount of experience.^ According to the State Personnel Division, a probationary case aide cannot be re-classified to the next highest salary rating of case aide before a minimujn of ninety days service, and may serve à maximum of six months before such a change becomes mandatory. At the end of six months, he must either be dismissed as unsatis factory or be reclassified. For this reason the first period was broken into time divisions of three months each, and thereafter for ease of tabulation every six months up to five years, the last figure being the age of the State Relief Administration. More than half of the probationary case aides answer ing the questionnaire had served less than one month in the agency; eight had served less than three months, and only two had served more than the medial stage of probation. In this group, it would appear that two had not proven their, ability to handle their file to the satisfaction of their supervisors within the permissable stage of reclassification. p Los Angeles County Personnel Division-Circula r Letter No. 318, September 16, 1938. TABLE XXXVII LENGTH OE TIME ÜF EklPLOYMENT 7/ITH THE STATE R E LIE F AD M INISTRATIO N FOR ONE HUNDRED SOCIAL WORKERS OPERAT ING IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY, MARCH, 1939 Classification Ho Less than Less than 1 3 6 month: 9 3 1 lb ■ 2 2* 3 4 years ' . 5 Probationary Case Aide 81 11 8 8 Case Aide 33 5 5 3 8 8 4 2 3 1 Problem File Worker 8 1 1 Failure-to- 1 Provide Worker 1 Field Intake 17 Investigator 1 5 4 3 2 2 Out-of-Town 1 Inquiry Worker 1 R-I-R Worker 8 1 1 Qualifier 5 2 2 1 Case Reader 1 1 Receptionist 8 1 1 Case Supervisor 11 3 2 6 Head Intake Supervisor 1 1 Assistant 3 Intake Supervisor 1 2 Totals 100 11 13 7 3 4 16 10 7 6 9 14 132 This also means that at least five hundred cases were being treated by workers without a full month’s experience in SRA. As already indicated, the previous method of reclas sification had frozen case aides into their current rate of pay and position. For that reason, the range of experience for that group of workers is almost as extensive as that of the other classifications. Of the thirty-three case aides participating, fifteen of them had served the agency less than a year. This would indicate that more than a third in this group were comparatively new workers, and had been re classified from probationary case aide status to their present one rather promptly. Sixteen more case aides were ranged in the periods of from one year’s to three years’ experience with this organization. Unhappily, there were four workers in this group who had been with the agency almost for the full extent of its existence, and were still rated as case aides y/ith that contingent salary. There is not a great deal of difference made between the qualifications needed for performance in the.various categories of case workers, at least so far as amount of experience is concerned. However, it is interesting to note that only two of the case workers have served less than one year. According to State Personnel Division regulations no case aide can be classified as a case worker in less than six months. Considering the case workers as a unit, without 133 without breaking them into their categorical classifica tions, twenty-nine social workers are so classified. Of this group, twenty-one have served from one to three years in the State Relief Administration. The remainder of the group, then, have been with the organization an even longer period of time, three of them apparently from its inception since they checked the block of the longest period. As the agency was organized at the time, length of service had no connection with status or salary, the case worker as all other categories, carrying with it a specific rate of pay. Sub-executives participating in this, study had all been with the agency from two to five years. Only four of them had less than two and one half years of experience, while the remaining eleven had between three and five years. Nine of the supervisors had been with the organiza tion as long as it had existed. From the age distribution of the supervisors, some of them have been with the agency since their twentieth birthday. Social work experience in other agencies. As further indication of the qualifications of the staff members in the State Relief Administration, the workers were asked to check the amount of paid experience in other social work agencies that they had had. Fifty-one of the workers had had some 134 paid social work experience other than that in the State Relief Administration according to the results of this part of the schedule. Ta.hTe! XXXVIXIon page 135. indicates the complete distribution of amount of paid experience this particular group of workers had claimed. Nine of the pro bationary case aides had had some other welfare experience, six of them having had more than one year’s experience. In the case aide category seventeen workers had had social work experience, nine of them having more than a year’s previous work. Of the seventeen field intake investigators, seven indicated that they had had some other social work practice. Thirteen of the sub-executives have had social work experience in agencies other than with, the State Relief Administration. Discussing the problem of experience for the group as a whole, only two workers evidenced more than three years of outside practice. Of the total number included in this check, less than 50 per cent had had from one to three years experience in agencies other than the State Relief Adminis tration. Seventeen of these social workers had not more than one half year’s experience in other welfare institu tions. In other words, the majority of the one hundred social workers participating had had no experience in other agencies, and most of those who had, had not had more than one year’s other experience. 135 TABLE XXXVIII PAID SOCIAL WORK EXPERIENCE (EXCLUDING SRA EXPERIENCE) OF ONE HUNDRED SOCIAL WORIŒRS EIvDPLOYED IN STATE RE L IE F ADMINISTRATION IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY, klARCH 1939 Classification No. Number of years 1 1 - 1 - 2 3 4 Over Probationary Case Aide 21 3 2 1 2 1 Case Aide 33 8 1 3 3 1 1 Problem File Worker, 2 1 Failure-to- 1 Provide Worker Field Intake Investigator 17 3 1 1 1 1 Out-of-Town 1 Inquiry Worker R-I-R Worker 2 Qualifier 5 1 1 Case Reader 1 1 Receptionist 2 1 Case Super visor 11 2 4 2 1 Head Intake Supervisor 1- 1 Asst. Intake Supervisor 3 1 1 1 Totals 100 17 9 11 7 5 0 2 1 % In an attempt to discover in what type of agency the majority of the workers had secured their other social work experience, the major social work agencies in the county were listed for checking purposes. Not all the workers claiming experience checked anything in this part of the schedule, but of the forty-four staff members who did ans wer, the majority had had their experience with the Bureau of Indigent Relief. This department was the precursor of the present program of unemployment relief before it became differentiated into administrations involved respectively in aiding employables and unemployables. In reality then, this group of workers did not have training very greatly differentiated in problem or treatment. Four persons had had experience with the Federal Transient Bureau, this organization was a division of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, and functioned only a year longer than the date the State Relief Administration was organized in June, 1934. Of the forty-four workers checking other paid social work experience, only twenty-five workers had had even slightly differentiated employment. Although this schedule was not set up to tally any other agencies than those indi cated on this table, it was noted that where workers had come from other states and written in the names of the agencies in those places where they had been previously em ployed, there was the same likeness present, Half of them 157 had had experience In other public relief agencies. The complete distribution of agencies and workers employed in them may be studied on Table XIXI2 , page 138. In the group of workers employed in the public wel fare agencies in Chicago, investigated by Krughoff in 1935, 55.2 per cent had had less than one year’s experience previ ously; 26.6 per cent had had from one to two years’ social work experience; 25.5 per cent of this group had had from two to five years’ experience ; 1.4 per cent had had from five to ten years’ experience; and 0.5 per cent had had more than ten years of social work experience.^ Comparing this group of social workers with the group of public welfare workers studied in Chicago indicates that the latter group apparent ly had more experience in social work. More than twice as many workers among the Chicago group had had at ,least some experience, while forty-nine persons in this study had had none. Only 18 per cent of the workers in the SRA offices had from one to two years’ experience as compared with the 26.6 per cent of the other group. In the group of workers with from two to five years’ experience, the Chicago group had 25.5 per cent of their group so catalogued, while the SRA group had only 12 per cent. There was available.material concerned with the type of agencies where this experience ^ Figures derived from Table 2L1 . , page l89. 138 TABLE XXXIX CLASSIFICATION OF SOCIAL AGENCIES (OTHER THAN SRA) tvHERE PAID SOCIAL WORN EXPERIENCE WAS HAD BY FIFTY-ONE SOCIAL WORKERS FOR ONE HUNDRED SOCIAL WORKERS EMPLOYED IN THE STATE RELIEF ADMINISTRATION Name of agency Number of workers * Federal Transient Bureau 4 Bureau of Indigent Relief 15 Los Angeles Travellers Aid Society 3 Young Women* s Christian Association S Jewish Social Service Bureau 0 Council of Jewish Women 0 Catholic Welfare Bureau 1 Salvation Army 0 Volunteers of America 0 American Red Cross 0 International Institute 0 All others 19 Total 44 139^ TABLE ZL SOCIAL WORK EXPERIENCE OF EmRCENCY WORKERS AND AIDES AhlONG CHIGACO SOCIAL WORKERS, 19 35° Experience in years All emergency workers and aides C.P.W. U .R .S . Agencies for the - transient and unattached Less than 1 year 547 343 163 41 1, less than 2 214 51 135 28 2, less than 5 208 28 168 12 5, less than 10 . 14 2 8 4 10 or more 6 3 2 1 Not reported 1 1 0 0 Total 990 428 476 86 °l\Ierrill ?/. Krughoff, Salaries and Professional Qualifications of Chicago Social Workers,(Chicago: Univer sity of Chicago Press, 1935), pT 27. 140 was obtained, so no comparisons on this point can be made. The California Conference of Social Work tabulated their large group of social workers in a very interesting fashion, which can be seen on Table XLI on page 141. This figure compares the percentage of those having a certain amount of experience with the amount of college and grad uate work accomplished by each group. This tabulation indicates that as the experience increases, the education al background possessed by the group conversely decreases. Among those with graduate social work, those with the least and most experience had an almost identical percentage of graduate social work ; both groups in this latter classifi cation indicated the least amount of professional training. As indicated previously, approximately 93 per cent of the SEA group of workers had college degrees, so that on the whole they were better prepared academically than the dis persed group studied in the census . Although so few work ers were studied in this group, it has also been seen that the supervisors who had the most experience in the SRA as a classification, had the least graduate work to their credit. Not in statistical terms, but as an indication of a widespread condition this fact has interesting implica tions for the total staff in the State Relief Administra tion. 141 TABLE XLI G0]).TARI8ON OF LENGTH OF EMPLCYllENT IN SOCIAL WORK WITH GEN ERAL EDUCATION AND WITH GRADUATE SOCIAL WORK SURVEYED BY THE CALIFORNIA CONFERENCE OF SOCIAL WORK, 1 9 3 8 , AMONG 4260 SOCIAL WORKERS Length of employment in social work Education College degree Per cent Graduate social work study per cei Less than 1 year 87.5 15.8 1-2 years 79.9 28.7 3-4 years 68.6 29.9 5-9 years 45.0 24.1 10-14 years 44.1 25.2 15-19 years 43.9 22.4 20 years and over 31.7 16.4 CHAPTER V I I I PROFESSIONAL A F F IL IA T IO N S Since we are considering the staff of the State Relief Administration as a group of social workers, it was felt that some indication of their integration in the pro fession might be given by a tally of their professional affiliations. With the growi ng emphasis on collective employee organizations in all fields of employment, pro fessional as well as trade groups, it also appeared to be of some value to tabulate the workers in this group who had been so affected. Professional affiliations. The three major affilia tions in California for social workers are the American Association of Social Workers, the California Conference of Social Workers, and the membership in the group of Regis tered Social Workers, sponsored by the California Conference of Social Workers. Membership in the California Conference is attained simply by the payment of a yearly fee of p2.50 indicating interest in their program, and intention of participation in the business meetings of the yearly confer ence. A junior membership in the American Association of Social Workers and eligibility to be a Registered Social Worker are equivalent, except that the latter involves an examination as a seal on the membership. Both groups re quire completion of a year’s graduate work in the social service curriculum, or graduation from a recognized school of social work, with completion of an undergraduate curri culum in social work and one year’s experience in a recog nized social agency, or four years of academic work, two of which were accomplished in the social work curriculum (with out a degree) plus two years employment in a social work agency. The American Association does not accept less academic work unless more experience is available, and in those cases the applications are judged individually with consideration of the type of social work experience accom plished. Eligibility for the examination for Registered Social Worker can also be attained through graduation.from a recognized college or -university plus three years of social work experience; or graduation from a recognized high school plus six years of experience in a social work agency. The last variation was accepted in 1955, but since May, 1936, has not been so accepted. Senior membership in the American Association requires more social work train ing or experience in each case of possible eligibility. One year of education being equivalent to one half year of experience in a qualified social agency. Table XLli: on page 144 presents the distribution in each category of membership. In this tabulation, of course, the memberships in a group are not exclusive, any person im TABLE XLI I: PROFEüüIONAL AFFILIATIONS AND l'ÆMBERSEIP IN PROFESSIONAL SO CIAL WORK ORGANIZATIONS AND SOCIETIES FOR ONE HUNDRED SO CIAL 7/ORKERS EMPLOYED IN SEVEN DISTRICT OFFICES OF THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY RELIEF ADMINISTRATION Classification Totals Registered social worker of California Calif. Con ference of social workers American Ass of Social Workers Probationary Case Aide 21 Case Aide 33 1 4 1 Problem File Worker 2 1 Fallure-to- Provide Worker 1 Field Intake Investigator 17 1 6 1 Out-of-Town Inquiry Worker 1 R-I-R Worker 2 1 Qualifier 5 2 2 Case Reader 1 Receptionist 2 Case Supervisor 11 5 9 3 Head Intake Supervisor 1 1 1 Assistant Intake Supervisor 4 3 3 3 Totals 100 13 26 9 145 being eligible to membership in each of the three organi zations. Each column of figures,therefore,must be taken independently of the others. It is significant that none of the probationary case aides were members of any of the groups ; Apparently being so new to the field they had not yet become aware even of the California Conference as a professional organ ization where they were eligible even without any social work education of any kind. There were a total of thirteen persons among the one hundred social workers in this group who had been able to become Registered Social Workers. The fact that fifty- two of the same group have had graduate social work, and ninety-three are college graduates, and seventy-nine have had more than six months social work experience, it would appear that more than 75 per cent of the total number in this group must be eligible to this examination and become members of this professional organization. Of the thirty- three case aides, only one had indicated his membership in this group, as was also true for the seventeen field intake investigators. It is true that there were only a few special file workers, and three special field intake workers, but none of them were Registered Social Workers. Two of the five qualifiers were members of this profession al organization, five of the eleven case supervisors, the 146 sole intake supervisor, and all three of the assistant intake supervisors had become affiliated with this pro fessional group. In this column, the concentration of membership was in the sub-executive group for numbers and proportional percentage. Twenty-six persons in this group of one hundred social workers indicated their membership in the California Conference of Social Workers, although all of them are eligible according to that organization’s simple qualifi cation of a fee. Many persons may be joining just prior to the State Conference in May, 1939, but at the time the investigation was made, approximately 25 per cent had evidenced an interest in the principal organ of expression for social workers, per se, in^ California. Four case aides were members at the time, and six field intake investigator s as compared to the one each in these two categories of qualification as Registered Social Workers. Again two qualifiers were included in this group as members. All but two of the case supervisors were members of the California Conference of Social Work; the head intake supervisor was a member of this professional organization, and the three in take assistant supervisors again were included in the mem bership group. Eighty per cent of the sub-executives in volved in this study were members of the California Confer ence of Social Work. 147 In the column totalling the number of members of the American Association of Social Workers, the prime organiza tion of social workers, membership in which indicates com pletion of adequate social work training, only nine persons in the group had qualified. From personal contacts with workers, it has been found that some qualified persons were not interested in membership in this group; but from a con sideration of the amount of social work training completed and the numbers of years of experience had by the total group, it would appear that approximately 50 per cent of the group were eligible to membership in this professional organization. This approximate percentage was reached by studying the figures on Table XLI II. on page 148, tallying the numbers of years of graduate social work training pos sessed by this same group. On this table can be noted the feature that twenty-six persons had had at least one year of social work curriculum in the graduate field of social work training possessed by this same group. On this table can be noted the feature that twenty-six persons had had at least one year of social work curriculum in the graduate field of social work; to this can be added the three persons with master’s degrees in social work, and the six who have social work certificates; as possible additions to this eli gible group are the thirty-six persons with more than two years of SRA experience, which plus an academic degree would 148 TABLE XLIII: MEMBERSHIP IN TRADE UNIONS AND EWLOYEE ORGANIZATIONS FOR ONE HUNDRED SOCIAL WORKERS E&IPLOYED IN SEVEN D IS TR IC T OFFICES OF THE STATE R E LIE F ADMINISTRATION' OPERATING IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY, MARCH, 1939 Classification Totals State, County and Municipal Workers Association California State Employee; Association Probationary Case Aide 21 6 Case Aide 33 8 1 Problem File Worker 2 2 Failure-to- provide Worker 1 1 Field Intake Investigator 17 8 Out-of-Town Inquiry Worker 1 R-I-R Worker 2 Qualifier 5 3 Case Reader 1 1 Receptionist 2 Case Supervisor 11 4 1 Head Intake Supervisor 1 Assistant Intake Supervisor 3 1 1 Totals 100 34 3 149 probably have made them eligible. This total group num bers more than the alleged 50 per cent, but some of those with the most experience may have had no degrees, and some of those who had social service degrees or certifi cates might not have had the pre-requisite amount of ex perience . Three of the eleven case supervisors were members of the American Association of Social Workers, and all three of the assistant intake supervisors were members. Only three other workers who qualified were interested in joining; one was a case aide, one was a field intake in vestigator, and the third was a BIR worker. Employee organizations. The State, County, and Municipal Workers of America, Local #89, is the principal employee’s organization operating in the State Relief Administration in Los Angela s County. The California State Employee’s Association is most active in other state de partments, and does not operate as a collective bargaining agency; its emphasis has been on employee activities such as hospitalization insurance, and support of a legislative lobby. Membership in one does not exclude membership in the other on a technical basis, but there has been some recent rivalry for membership among SRA employees. Of the thirty-seven SRA workers with affiliation with an employees’ organization, thirty-four are members of the 8CMWA local. 160 Three were members of the CSEA organization; although there were eleven times as many affiliates with the union,than there were in the association, the fact that only thirty- seven persons in a group of one hundred social workers were • interested in group action would seem to indicate that the majority of these social workers were not interested in col lective action of any kind with those similarly employed. On the whole it would appear that this particular group of social workers are not well integrated in their profession. Only twenty-two had qualified themselves for membership in a professional organization; and only thirty- seven of the same basic group had joined an association of workers similarly employed, and organized as a group to obtain action on problems concerning the working conditions, personnel standards and social work problems common to the whole. CHAPTER m.. THE 8RA D IS TR IC T OFFICE PERSOIRŒL There have been a number of definite changes in the functional division of responsibility for staff members in the State Relief Administration since its inception in 1934. Salary ratings are theoretically .based on differ ences in responsibility, and these ratings have been changed a number of times during the existence of this agency. For this reason, this chapter will be devoted to a discussion of the functions of the official personnel in the social service division according to the analysis of a particular position by the State Personnel Division. Ai des. According to the Social Service Manual of 1935, the difference between the case aide and the case work er was not only a matter of performance, but depended partial ly on the educational qualifications of the worker. Case aides were paid from $22 to $26 per week and had to have a bach elor’s degree or the equivalent from a college or university in good standing, or two years of academic work plus two or more years of experience in social service or some allied field. A higher rate of pay might be made effective if the Î52 worker showed exceptional ability, with special permission of the Field Social Service Supervisor. No reclassifica tion of status can be made without the additional educa tional background pre-requisite to the standards for the case worker. A case aide at that time was defined as responsible for one hundred family cases, or 125 unattached persons cases. Continued establishment of eligibility for relief must be effected by a visit to the client’s home every twenty-eight days, and collateral calls if necessary. A Case Aide must: 1. Record the findings in case history after each monthly visit. 2. Complete work sheet copy of Budget Authoriza tion for each four-week budget period. 3. Complete a change of Status Form if the original Budget Authorization is to be changed. 4. Complete Discontinuance, of Relief Form when the need for relief no longer exists. 5. Complete a Commodity Distribution card for every active case. 6. Complete dictation daily on inactive cases and record changes of addresses daily. 7. Keep conference hours with Case Supervisor,, and appointments ?/ith clients and other Individuals. d Thus did the early Manual distinguish the functions 1 Manual-Social Service Division, Los Angeles County Relief Administration, March 1, 1935, p. 54. I5g of the case aides. When federal financing of state relief administrations was withdrawn in December, 1935, with the institution of the Works Progress Administration, personnel standards in the district aread of California underwent a series of localized changes. In December, 1936, the State Relief Administration issued a bulletin rescinding the case aide, junior and senior case worker classification i^revious- ly used in conforming to the federal standards of personnel, in favor of a state-wide classification of case aide and o case worker. A probationary rating of $100 per month was given the newly employed social service worker for the first six months of service; if his work proved satisfactory, he could be classified to $110. Additional ratings of y115 and $120 v/ere quoted, but these ranges have not been put into practice. As given in the revised personnel bulletins of that date, the case aide’s function was defined as follows: ’ ’ Under direct supervision to handle a file of not more than 80 unemployment relief cases in rural areas, and not more than 100 cases in urban areas.” During the past year, the rating of probationary case aide has been re defined to mean that not only will he be paid a lower sal ary, but his case load will mean a responsibility for from fifty to sixty cases rather than a full load. State Relief Administration, Bulletin Do. 186, December 7, 1936. work, plus at least five years of successful case work experience in a recognized social work agency. The senior rating called for a salary of from $30 to $36 per week. There was no functional definition of their classification given in the manual, but in practice the case workers handled special problem files in the district offices, con ducted surveys, and aided the supervisor in an administra tive capacity. In the 1936 revision of classifications, the case worker was defined as having the following functions: ’ ’ Un der general supervision to handle unemployment relief case at intake; to handle cases presenting special social prob lems; and/or to advise as small group of case aides.” This rating was given a salary compensation of $120 to $140 per month. At the time of this investigation, March, 1939, case workers were receiving $130 a month, this rate having been effective since August, 1937. The rate of ^140 was paid for a time to a group of social workers employed-in a Social Audit Department organized to conduct surveys of special problems., This group was disbanded during the last months of 1938. At the time of this survey, the case workers were divided into two principal functional groups: those who handled special problem files in the units; and those who investigated the applications for relief in the intake 15 6 department. In the units there were usually two types of special files, "failure to provide” files and "problem” files. The failure to provide files consisted of eases where legally responsible relative, spouses or children, were failing to assume the responsibility for the care of their relatives in situations where there appeared to be evidence that they might be in a position financially to do so. Also in these files placed for especial atten tion were cases of desertion, where adjustment of the ' marital situation appeared possible. In the problem file were concentrated those cases where the emotional dis turbances in the family group or maladjustment of its mem bers warranted the attention of a worker with special skills; many of these cases border on the psychiatric. To permit special attention to these cases from an admin istrative point of view, the numbers of cases per load are lowered to fifty or sixty. Within the intake department, at the time of this investigation, were grouped a number of different func tions performed by the case worker classification of staff member. The receptlonist was the first administrative employee an applicant contacted in the lobby. This person listened to the complaints of clients and made appoint ments for the case aides or case workers to settle the difficulty. Information was taken on special forms for Case aides have been paid $120 per month for the past year and a half, since August, 1937. Since February, 1939, their case loads have been averaging ninety family cases per month. The only functional difference between the classification of case aide and the probationary case aide is that the latter is responsible for a maximum unit case load. This personnel practice seems to be fairer than the former, since from the standpoint of personnel prac tice the lower salary rate should connote fewer respon sibilities; the smaller case load also permits closer super vision of work, and gives the new worker an opportunity to adjust to the problems inherent in his activities. Case workers. As previously indicated, when the unemployment relief administration was part of a federal program, classifications of junior and senior case worker were used as divisions of case worker. A junior case work er, in order to qualify, had to have a bachelor’s degree plus a social service certificate, or two years of academic work plus three years of social service experience in a recognized social work agency. This classification called for from $26. to $32 per week. That of the senior case worker required a bachelor’s degree plus a social service certificate, plus two years successful case work experience in a recognized social work agency; or two years of academic 157 new applications, or renewed application for assistance. In some district offices the function of taking applica tions was assigned to an intake case worker to facilitate the client’s contacts with the agency, and reduce the number of visits to the office for conformation to regu lations for aid. Somewhere near the lobby were stationed a group,of case workers who functioned as qualifiers. These workers determined the eligibility of the applicant from the stand point of need, and physical and state requirements of residence. Need was established in the office on the basis of recency of employment, availability of financially able responsible relatives, or cessation of income from resources or Unemployment Insurance Benefits, Physical eligibility was gauged on the basis of the applicant’s statement of his ability to accept work, medical reports, or through the results of arranged medical examinations. Residence was verified in the office for at least twelve months out of the last twenty-three on the basis of docu mentary evidence or employment record verified at the time of application. If the information obtained in the office appeared to indicate eligibility, the application was re ferred for a home investigation. Field intake investigator. The field intake 158 investigator, as the title indicates, continued the in vestigation of eligibility in the client’s home, and through additional contacts with relatives, employers, and collateral references. It was the field intake worker’s responsibility to set in motion complete proof of need eligibility and recommend authorization for as sistance under the supervision of a sub-executive. Out-of-town inquiry workers. Out-of-town inquiry workers were given the task of obtaining information re quested by other district offices and agencies of persons living in this district. Most of these contacts are for the purpose of verifying need or residence of applicants in other agencies or offices, and involve contacts with non-relief community members. This worker keeps no rec ords, therefore, but is responsible for a continuous stream of inter-office correspondence. The B-I-R worker. The B-I-R worker, colloquial ab breviation for Bureau of Indigent Relief, is responsible for the investigation of referrals of possible eligibil ities currently active with the Los Ange le s County Wel fare Department, which bears the aforementioned title. At the time the investigation was conducted, public relief in Los Angeles County was administered by two agencies: 159 The State Relief Administration for those units where an adult over eighteen years of age was able to accept em ployment; and the County Bureau of Indigent Relief for those units where no adult was able to accept employment because of health, age, or home care of children. When the latter organization found what they believed to be a change in circumstances within cases aided by them, these questionable cases were referred in joint conference or by correspondence with the district office in a specific area. In the same way, the district offices referred cases which no longer appeared to conform with state regulations of eligibility to unemployment relief. The BIR worker acted as a combination qualifier and field intake investigator in that he was responsible for the entire investigation, including identifying information, of those cases referred by the district office of the Bureau of Indigent Relief. Case reader. The case reader was an optional mem ber of the intake department. In times of heavy applica tions and a concentration of workers in that department, the case reader aided the intake supervisor in reading the case records to check the eligibility of the applicants according to the investigation conducted by the field in take investigator, and recommended the need for further proof or changes in dictation if clarification appeared 160 to be necessary. With the initiation of assistant super visors in the intake department in February, 193 9, many district offices found that the assistants were able to read all the necessary records without additional assis tance from a reader. Sub-executive positions. According to the early Manual'personnel standards, the case supervisor to qualify had to have the same professional qualifications as the senior case worker, plus those abilities inherent in the executive. They were laid $30 to $48 per week, dependent on location of the office, case load, or local conditions. As outlined at that time, the functions of the case super visor involved the organization of a unit covering a spe cific area with approximately one thousand cases assigned to it. The supervisor was responsible for the supervision and training of the case aides in the unit, the interpreta tion of administrative policies, and the approval of in vestigations, budgets, dictation and adjustments made by the case aide in behalf of the client. He was also res ponsible for the supervision of the clerical staff attached to the unit. No special redefinition of this position or that of the intake supervisor has been made since, although the salary rates have been several times changed. At the time this survey was made, case supervisors were receiving 161 $150 per month. Just as the case supervisor was responsible for his unit, so the intake supervisor was responsible for the ac tivities of that unit. The responsibilities for accepting cases rested with the supervisors who were bonded for that purpose, and not with the case workers in the intake depart ment, although they were responsible for the investigation and recommendations. At the time this survey was made, the intake departments in many district offices had been re organized to afford closer supervision of applications, and assistance to the intake supervisors whose departments and responsibilities had expanded beyond the cai^acities of one individual. From one to,three intake supervisors were assigned as assistants to the head intake supervisor. In some cases, the case workers were assigned to different supervisors, with the intake head supervisor being respon sible for the organization of the department and spokesman for the group. Other district offices made a clearer dis tinction, and divided the intake department into several sub-departments, each supervisor directly responsible to the district supervisor for the work in his unit. Head in take supervisors under that latest type of unit organization were receiving $170 per month, and their assistants re ceived $160. The increases in.salary for the three grades of supervisors represented promotions; a case supervisorship 1'62 was the pre-requisite to that of intake supervisor. Be fore the intermediate positions of assistant intake supervisors were created, there were no positions between that of the case and intake supervis orships. However, when this re-organization program was planned, case supervisors were given the positions of assistant intake supervisors. Except for the classification of district super visor, these definitions conclude the positions in the Social Service Division of the State Relief Administra tion, They were intended to give a picture from the ad ministrative viewpoint of the responsibilities entailed in each position. CHAPTER X . FUNCTIONS OF IH E' SEA D ISTR IC T OFFICE SOCIAL SERVICE PERSONNEL From a functional viewpoint, the routine of the SRA social worker is much more complex than even the definition of his status would indicate. It is true that in their field work, the classification of the job routine devolves into the same sort of function; all the field workers had to interview clients and references, all of them used the phone, all of them had meetings and conferences, and all of them travelled and attempted to locate addresses. How ever, in the course of the interviews done to secure the information for this section, it was clear that each posi tion had its own emphases and ramifications. Starting from the probationary case aides, and the case aides, from an administrative viewpoint it was noted that their job was defined as a continuous establishment of eligibility. In this capacity they make monthly home calls to verify income, employment, expenditures, and em ployability of the family unit. They interview relatives to verify their ability and willingness to assist the family ; landlords to discover if the amount of rent claimed is being paid, and perhaps to prevent a sudden eviction. Employers must be seen to verify part-time employment 164 or a full-time job. The employable member of the family becomes incapacitated for an indefinite length of time; a medical examination must be arranged for--involving conferences with the case supervisor, telephone calls, search of medical reports, and referral for the examina tion by another visit to the home. If the client fails to ke ep the appointment for some reason, another call must be made to ascertain the situation. If the medical exam ination indicates that the disabled member will be un available for employment within the permissable sixty day period, the family unit must be referred to the Bureau of Indigent Relief which involves another series of documents and conferences. In the course of the home interview, requests for clothing may be received, new identification cards for commissary supplies may be needed, and various personal documents of the client's handled in order to verify their marital status, residence, employment, or expenditures. There are not only these physical details in each home call, but the impact of many different personalities. Clients are people in some kind of difficulty; and people in trouble are more often than not, not too well integrated. And the case aide, with or without the ability to do so, must at tempt to cope with the disappointed, angry, or querulous individual. l65 On marginal budgets, emergency financial situa tions arise often. There is delivery of emergency relief orders; explanations in changes in budgets to be made for short absences from home of members in the family; veri fications of additions to the family by birth or return to the family group. Besides these variations of the home interview, there are contacts with the school, and other institutions and agencies having contacts with the client. Interested community members with a grievance against the family may have to be seen, and oil spread on troubled waters. Mer chants may have to be contacted to verify credit, or excess expenditures of the family; or as references for the family. In the field, the case aide's emphasis is the building up of a relationship under which the client will conform with the agency's regulations, and from a social service viewpoint help him adjust to the conditions under which he is forced to function, with the aid of the resourc es of the community. In the office, the case aide must be able to present a clear picture of the family's situation to his super visor. He must be able to recognize the resources avail able within the agency for the client, and the clues pres ented by the client to further investigate his eligibility. He must be able to understand the implications of information 168 contained in the case record. There are many forms with which the case aide must be familiar, from the face sheet and budget, to medical reports, changes of status, ad dresses, and requests for financial verifications. There are letters of verification to write, and preparation of residence,medical or financial resumes to make. There is the daily dictation to prepare, and the manual and new bulletins to study for changes in BRA regulations. Mileage reports must be kept ; surveys made of the file at the re quest of the Central Office; district files to be con tacted for correction of information. Time must be re served each week for a unit meeting, and occasionally for a staff meeting. Other workers must be consulted on re lated records; and consultations on procedure with one's supervisor regarding procedure are a regular part of the routine. By way of the telephone many investigations and and inter-agency contacts can be facilitated; and its use is as integral a part of the pattern of investigation as the home or office interview, or the'completion of forms. Besides the numerous details of the average day, wasted time must be accounted for. Wasted time in this instance referring to such daily occurrences as waiting one's turn to see the case supervisor before a plan can be executed; waiting for an answer to a request for informa tion from another department;, waiting for service from the 1= 6 \ 7 medical, financial, or Central Office. Travelling in the field cannot, of course, be considered wasted time, but looking for an address on an inaccurately transcribed form is an act often performed by the field worker. Correcting one's own errors and those of others is not a strange event in the working existence of the case aide according to the interviews conducted. Waiting for the client to produce evidence which should have been readily available, like the search for the baptismal certificates hidden at the bottom of the trunk, is another example of wasted time for the worker. From the lists of functions obtained by the workers in the field, it was clear that the difference in the jobs lay not in the variety of contacts but in the emphasis. The intake worker saw any one family only once as a rule, and not more than several times at most. His contact with the. family was. based on a short-time contact. With several full interviews to complete in one day, he had to maintain a business-like contact with the client in order to obtain all the information necessary for an intake investigation, and yet remain aware of the strains present in the situa tion which might prevent the client from reacting as he might under more fortunate circumstances. The day of the intake worker is a compact one; each day is a routine of reading charged and borrowed records ; interviewing the client, getting 168 his signatures on the budgets, commissary cards, and per missive forms for clearance of resources ; and then return ing to the office and completing these forms, conferring Y\/ith the supervisor, and dictating the investigation. Along with these are the cases where no immediate decision can be reached, daily correction of records return by the stenographer, correction of records and procedure not ap proved by the intake supervisor or reader--records to be expedited as fast as possible since finance and personnel records are partially based on the turnover of cases in the intake department. Like the case aides and intake investigators, the case workers with special files work in the field. Even more than the case aide, however, their attention is riveted on the relationship therapy. Their contacts with other agencies and community resources are more frequent and positive. Their cases are apt to consist of family units known to the district, and to relief agencies over a long period of time because of the difficulties in which the members become involved. The worker on the failure to pro vide file has regular weekly contacts with a special field investigator from the Central Office trained in the legal aspects of the routine, and especially interested in locat ing the deserting member of the family. The worker on the problem file is involved with severe maladjustments of 169 family groups; to deal with these all his ingenuity is needed. As previously indicated, their case loads are half the full load so that more time is available for each case * The qualifier sitting in a booth off the Lobby has an entirely different problem. During a season of normal applications, each qualifier must interviev/ from fifteen to twenty individuals per day. Quick adjustments must be made to each applicant, and the salient points of eli gibility disposed of quickly. He must be able to judge from the face sheet information included on the applica tion form what the doubtful points may be. Clearances must be made within the office with files and other records. Procedure within the State Relief Administration has had the faculty of changing rapidly, and the qualifier must be aware of each nuance of these changes. There are constant conferences with the intake supervisor regarding possibili ties of eligibility. The qualifier has the least number of forms with which to cope, principally referrals to labor registrations and referrals to other agencies, but his contacts with the applicant and his friends are continuous. Waste time for the qualifier consists in waiting for record and file clearances, waiting for conferences with the intake supervisor, waiting for information which may aid in veri fying eligibility. 'Whereas the main means of investigation for the field worker is through the medium of forms, the 1-70 major means of clearance for the qualifier is the tele phone. An average of .calls per day was kept by a group of qualifiers; their results were four calls per applica tion per day. Also a main functionary of the lobby is the re ceptionist, recently often a qualifier acting in that capacity a week at a time. As a receptionist the worker must keep an account sheet of each person coming to the desk for information or a request. He has constant con tact with the client and his difficulties, and members of the community lodging complaints and seeking information. The receptionist handles the routine of client pressure groups, prior to their meeting with the District Super visor. He is telephoning the units for information and leaving messages and reminders of appointments with clients for the case aides and workers. He keeps lobby statistics, and makes the home appointments on a special sheet for the qualifiers. Application blanks must be completely filled out with the information the client is able to give, for primary clearance with old rejections and file records. Referrals must be issued if the applicant has come to the wrong district to apply for assistance. Control must be kept over the project workers who perform such duties as issuing waiting numbers, taking referrals for the insur ance, failure to provide or state controller's office investigator, cleaning the lobby, and acting as inter preter. The main effort of the receptionist is keeping the stream of applicants and clients separated, prevent ing delays in acts between the office workers and the clients, and asking for only enough of the client's story to effect a contact with the right worker so that the client's story need not be repeated too often. He must have tact, diplomacy, poise, and efficiency. Waste time for the receptionist consists in repeated efforts to con tact the same sources of information for the applicant, and controlling the movements, of clients within the lobby. Bub-executives have the same variety of contacts within the office that the workers do, but since their duties are of a supervisorial nature, these contacts with clients and members of the community usually take place v/hen members of their unit are unable to satisfy the client or the lay community individual. They interpret the poli cies of the agency to the workers, and are responsible for the actions of those they supervise. They Interpret the attitudes and problems of the case aides and workers to the District Supervisor. It is their responsibility to recom mend promotion or separation if such a situation arises. They are responsible for the adequacy of the case records, and the training of the workers placed under their super vision. It is often their responsibility to make a 172 necessary contact with another agency or administrative department which the individual worker may not do. Waste time for the executives might be expressed in terms of the periods spent in correcting errors, waiting for de cisions from the District Supervisor, or other higher ex ecutives than themselves. Intake supervisors have the same sort of functions that the case supervisors do, except that since it is their duty to pass on initial eligibility, their responsibility is greater. Their contacts with other agencies, private and public, as resources are more frequent than those of the case supervisors. At the time that this investigation was made, the reorganization of the intake department had not been in effect long enough to crystallize the functions of the intake supervisor and his assistants; however, the presence of two more executives in intake has meant more conferences with workers, and other supervisors than before, since the number of workers supervised is less. All through the various classifications the greatest time waster is waiting for others to make decisions and procuring of information through telephone clearances and district files. From the variety of contacts and duties of the case aides and case workers, it appears that he must be a combination clerk, teacher, confessor, diplomat, lawyer, and investigator. Someone has said that the ideal 178 social worker would be an angel. Certainly the require ments of the job for efficient performance appear to call for no ordinary type of.training or qualified individual. It may be that the social worker in the State Relief . Administration as investigated in this study has unusual personal qualities, but his objective vocational and pro fessional qualifications have not been obtained as pre requisite for this specific routine. OHAPTEI^ ZI SUMMARY This study was made to ascertain the educational background, professional training, and experience of the social worker employed in the State Relief Administration and to discover the number qualified by training for their specific employment. The first chapter is devoted to the purpose of the investigation and the method of securing the material. This survey was limited to one hundred workers employed in the social service division of the State Relief Admin istration operating in Los Angeles County. It was felt by the investigator that that number was large enough to include variations in background and experience. Schedules of a completely objective nature were prepared and distributed for completion among seven district of fices in the county. Since personnel is sent to the dis trict offices as vacancies occur and emergencies arise, the selection of answers were representative of the social service personnel present throughout the county. This chapter also gave a short account of the training programs which have been instituted in the past five years on behalf of the social service personnel of the State Relief Administration. 175 There were very few comparative studies available for comparison with this investigation. The second,chap ter concerns itself with a discussion of what literature there was. Two studies made among social workers in Chicago one in 1935 and the other in 1938, and a census of social workers compiled in California by the California Conference of Social Workers were found to be the most valuable for discussion. A study was made of the distribution of males and females employed as social workers by the State Relief Administration to determine by actual tabulation which were in the majority. The distribution of age groups was also investigated in order to determine which age group represented the average SRA social worker and the propor tion of workers falling within each defined age range. Consideration was given to the distribution of workers in each category and their professional status on the basis of the rate of pay for the classified position. In order to determine the qualifications of the SRA social worker, a survey was made of the amount of academic educa tion of each worker, classifying the schedules according to the category of position. As a part of the study of aca demic education consideration was given to the -major and minor interests manifested during college years, and the institutions attended for the academic work accomplished. Special attention was given to the professional training and experience in agencies other than the State Belief Administration was investigated to determine the amount and variety and variety of social work experience. Dis tributions of the interests evidenced in professional education were made to determine what emphases were made by the affected workers. As further evidence of the pro fessional attitudes possibly present among this group of employees, a study was also made of their professional affiliations. The last two chapters of this investigation were concerned with the administrative definitions of the po sitions studied,and a discussion of the routine actually followed by the various categories of workers. These last chapters were based not on statistical material, but on a series of interviews conducted for the specific purpose of determining the content of the SRA social worker's job. Conclusions. In conclusion, the investigator listed the most important factors uncovered in the course of the survey. Certain interpretations are also listed which are based on the results of the collected data. 1. A majority of the workers employed in the State Relief Administration are female; 76 per cent of the group investigated were women. 177 2. Modal age group for the entire SRA group of social workers was between the ages of twenty-six and thirty years, 3. Since 85 per cent of this group were staff mem bers, as contrasted with sub-executive, the policies of the State Relief Administration are being administered by a comparatively young group of workers. 4. Distribution of workers in the categorical divi sions of position indicates that the majority of SRA workers in this group are being paid $120 or less. 5. Since the majority of workers are being paid $120 or less, they are not receiving salaries commensurate with a professional status. 6. In comparing this group of social workers with others employed in comparable agencies, it was determined that there were possible ranges of salary within a posi tion that admitted of advancement rather than allowing a pay increase only on the basis of promotion. 7. Ninety-three per cent of this group have academic degrees; however, of the seven who have not a degree, one is a supervisor, indicating a certain elasticity of qualification for the SRA social worker. 8. Interest in social work was evidenced by less than one fourth of this group as undergraduates. 178 9. Certificates or degrees in social work were h e ld by only 9 per cent of this group, indicating that they lacked specific training. 10. G raduate work in the social work c u rric u lu m was indicated by only 52 pe r c e n t o f th e group, indicat ing a lack of d e c is iv e interest on the part of the remain der in additional training. 11. Comparisons of experience and amount of gradu ate social work courses indicates that most persons have taken social s e rv ic e courses s in c e being employed by the State Relief Administration. 12. A m a jo r it y of this group of workers have been employed less than one and one h a l f years, indicating that the administration of unemployment relief policies in this group of workers is concentrated in ths hands of inexperienced, untrained workers, 13. The s u b -e x e c u tiv e group had less professional training than the staff members. Indicating that the newer workers were at le a s t better trained th an the s u p e rv is o rs ; the ' l a t t e r had more e x p e r ie n c e . 1 4 . Professional affiliation had been possible for only 13 per cen t of the group investigated here. Not much more interest was evinced in affiliation with the Califorrna Conference of Social Workers where qualification is nil. 179 15. Employee organizations as a means of employee representation interested only 37 per cent of the group.- 16. Routine of the SRA social worker calls for skill in clerical work, a variety of interview situations, knowledge of state and county laws, and acquaintance with fundamental medical and psychiatric syndromes. Recommendations. These recommendations are being based solely on the basis of this investigation, with some integration of the comparisons available in similar studies. It would appear that if the role of a worker in the State Relief Administration is to attract a large enough group to function in it professionally, salaries should be commensurate with the training needed. Workers in the field have recommended three years of training after the completion of undergraduate work; this should mean that a social worker to recover his investment in time and money should receive more than the high school teacher. It should be possible to receive advancement as a staff member, so that skills as a social worker can be retained for the agency, rather than forcing transmu tation into the role of a sub-executive. Until a complete re-orientation of personnel is possible, there should be closer integration between schools of social work and training programs for employed 185 social workers to expand their recognition of social work principles and increase their skills in coping m th the maladjusted client and limited economic resources. Courses in social legislation and social economics are basic to the needs of the SRA social worker as part of a training program. Increased effort should be made on the part of the Administration, possibly aided by the universities,in emphasizing his role in the community and the need of the alert social worker to become a part of those lay and professional groups interested in those problems common to the public welfare field and society. BIBLIOGRAPHY BIBLIOGRAPHY A b b o t, Edith, Social Welfare and P r o fe s s io n a l Education. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1935. A Public Welfare Job Study. American Public Welfare Association. Chicago: June, 1938. Breckinridge, S. P., "The New Horizons of Professional Education for Social Work." National Conference of S o c ia l Work Proceedings, 1936. Brown, -Esther Lucille, Social Work as a Profession. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1938. "Census of Social Workers in California." California Conference of Social Work, San Francisco, 1938. Chaffee, M., Social Work as a Profession. Los Angeles: University of Southern California Press, 1935. Clague, Ewan, "What Social W orkers Ought to Know," The Survey, Vol. 71 (September, 1935), pp. 259-261. Frank, Glenn, "Editorial," Los Angeles T im e s, February 14, 19 39. Halbert, L.A., "What is Professional Work?" The Survey, V o l. 71 (O c to b e r, 1 9 3 5 ), pp. 2 9 1 -2 9 5 . Jeter, Helen R., "Salaries and Professional Education of Social Workers in Family Welfare and Relief Agencie s Chicago," Social Service Review, Vol. 7 (1935), pp. 2 2 5 -2 5 3 . Klien, P h i l i p , Some Basic Statistics in Social Work. New York: Columbia University Press, 1935. Krughoff, Merrill F., "Personnel and Salaries of Social Workers in ChicagoSocial Service Review, Vol. 8 ( 1 9 3 4 ), pp. 3 2 5 -3 4 3 . _ ^&lQrles and Professional Qualifications of Social Workers in Chicago. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1935. 183 Lerrigo, Huth A., "The Test of Training," The Survey, V o l. 71 (O c to b e r, 1 9 3 5 ), pp. 2 9 7 -2 9 8 . McClenahan, Bessie A v e rne. Social Case Work, Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: University of Southern California Press, 1935. Meis, Caroline W ie n e r, "Personnel Standards and Salaries of Social Workers in Chicago." A Master's thesis in social work, University of Chicago, 1934. "P erso n n el Report at a Round Table Discussion," Public Welfare Hews, American Public Welfare -^association, Decem ber, 1936. Powell, Esther H., "A Study of Personnel and Salaries in Medical Social Work in Chicago." A Master's degree thesis in social work, University of Chicago, April, 1935. "Public Welfare Personnel," Report of 1938 National Conference of Social Work, A m erican Public Welfare Association, 1936. Review of Activities of the State Relief Administration of California, State Relief Administration of California, San Francisco, April, 1935. Social Service Division Manual, Los Angeles County Relief Administration, Los Angeles, March, 1935. Southard, Helen Fairbairn, Recruits for Social Work, The U n iv e r s it y o f Buffalo Studies, February, 1936. Warren, Margaret,- "Salaries and Professional Education of Social Workers in Family Welfare and Relief Agencies in Chicago." A Master’s degree thesis in social work, University of Chicago, April, 1933. Young, Erie Fiske and Clanahan, Bessie Averne, The Social W o rk e r's Dictionary, Social Work Technique, Los Angeles, 1936. Young, Erie Fiske, The Case Worker's Desk Manua1, Social Work Technique, Los Angeles, 1937. Bulletins : State Relief Administration, Bulletin No. 186, December 7, 19 3 6. 184 Los Angeles County Personnel Division Circular, Letter No. 318, Beptember 15, 1938. Los Angeles Countv Personnel Division, Bulletin No. 1 , A p r i l 7, 1959.'' SUGGESTED ADDITIONAL BIBLIOGRilPHT Analyzing the Job," Better Times, (May 3, 1926), p. 22, Attlee, C. R., The Social Worker. London: G. Bell and Sons, 1920. Bogardus, Emory S., Methods of T r a in in g S o c ia l W o rk e rs , Southern California Sociological Society, Los Angeles, 1921. Clapp, Raymond, "Job and Salary A n a ly s is in Social Work; Classification and Description of Positions in Cleveland's Social Agencies," National Conference of S o c ia l W ork, (1 9 2 1 ), pp. 4 4 7 -4 5 2 . Davies, S ta n le y , "Toward One Professional Standard, Public and Private," National Conference of Social Work Proceedings, 1932. Dunham, Arthur, "Job Specifications in Social Work," Better Times, Section 2, (June 1, 1935), pp. 8s-9s, 2 2 s . Flexner, A., Social Work a Profession. New York : School of Philanthropy, 1915. Hagerty, James Edward, The Training of Social Workers. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1931. Hunter, Estelle B-., "Functions and Duties of Subordinate Staff," Office Administration, pp. 1 4 -1 7 . King, Edith Shatto, "Scope and Nature of Positions in the Field of Non-Governmental Social Agencies," Annals of the American Academy, V o l. CV, (January, 1923), pp. 1 7 2 -1 7 6 . Klein, P h i l i p , "Job Analysis in Social Work," National Conference of S o c ia l Work, 1925, pp. 685-687. 185 Marquette, B ., ’ ’ positions for Trained Social Workers in th e Field of P u b lic Welfare," Annals of the American Academy, Vol. CV, (January, 192377 pp. 177-181. Odencrantz, Louise Christine, The Social Worker in Family, Medical, and Psychiatric Social Work. New YorkT" Harper and Brothers, 1929. Odum, H. W.,"Positions for Trained Workers in the Fields of Public Education and Public Health," Annals of the American Academy, Vol. CV, (January, 1923), pp. 182- 184. O'Grady, John, ^ Introduction to Social Work. New York: The Century Company, 1922. Pope, F., The Social Worker's Notebook. Boston: (Mansfield, no date)! Report of th e Civil Service Study Commission in Michigan, 1936. "Review of Positions in Social Work in Minneapolis," Family, Vol. 1, (July, 1920), pp. 28-29. Richmond, Mary Ellen, vThat Is Case Work? New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1922. Schweinitz, Karl De, The Art of Helping People out of Trouble. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1924. "Social Case Work, G e n e ric and Specific," Report of the Milford Conference, American Association of Social W orkers, 1931. "Suggested Classifications of Positions in Social Agencies; Preliminary Report on Salaries of Welfare Federation," Cleveland Welfare Federation, 1920, p. 4, "Supplementary Description of positions in Social Agencies," Cleveland Welfare federation, 1920, p. 4. Taft, Jessie, "Qualifications of the Psychiatric Social Worker," National Conference of Social Work, 1919, pp. 593-599. Walker, Sylnor H., Social Work and the Training of Social Workers, Chapel Hills, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 1928. 186 "What Social Workers Do," The Survey, Vol. Iviii, (June, 1 9 2 2 ), pp. 2 0 8 -2 0 9 . Williamson, M a rg a re tta A., The Social Worker in Group Work. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1929. APPENDIX The following schedule is a typewritten copy of the original ones used. Originals were not available for the thesis. For this reason, the eolums at the right side of the page are not so close to the edge of the sheet as the originals, which could be shorn into strips and placed in parallel rows on a board for tallying. A complete description of the procedure used in tallying the data can be found in the first chapter of this thesis. 18 § Copy of Questionnaire QUESTIONNAIRE: Please answer all th e questions, where possible• Do not sign your name; all information is confidential. This questionnaire will be destroyed directly after data is tallied; no identifying material will remain. It is not necessary to write down any in formation; just place a check in the designated square. AVERAGE TIME TO COIÆPLETE TH IS QUESTIONimiRE IS 4 MINUTES. A JOB STUDY A Study of the 3RA Social Worker A survey of the e d u c a tio n a l- p r o fe s s io n a l background Aides 1 . Probationary Case Aides 2. Case Aides Case Workers (Files) 1 . Problem File Worker 2. Failure to Provite File Worker Case Workers (Intake) 1. Field In ta k e Investigator 2. Out-of-Town Inquiry Worker 5 , B - I- R W orker 4. Qualifier 5. Case Reader G. Receptionist Sub-Executive 1. Case Supervisor 2. Intake Supervisor a. Head b. Assistant 190 A JOB STUDY Educational-Professional Background 1. 2. Sex Male Female Probationary Case Aide Status Case Aide Please place a check Problem File Worker in the square which Failure to P ro v id e Worke r refers to your status. Field Intake Investigator 0-T-I Worker B - I- R W orker Qualifier Case Reader Receptionist Case Supervisor Head Intake Supervisor A s s t. Intake Supervisor 25 yrs. or under Age 26-30 yrs. (incl.) Check one. 31-35 yrs. (incl.1 36-40 y r s. (incl.) 41-45 yrs. (incl.) 46 or over. A. h. Degree B. S. Please indicate the B. E . degrees you hold by M. S. placing checks in the M. E . proper s q u a re s . M. A. LL.B. P h .D . All others 1 year No Degree 2 years Please check the num 3 years b e r o f undergraduate 4 years work. # year Post Graduate Work 1 y e a r Please check the li: years number of y e a rs of 2 years post-graduate work 2# years (or equivalent) 3 y e a rs If m ore, indicate here 3. 4. 5. 6 . Major Subject in ■IJndergraduate Curricu lum Please check the one in which your degree was granted. Biological Sciences Economics Education English History Languages Philosophy Psychology Physical Sciences Note : Physical Sci ences include Physics, Social Studies Chemistry, Mathematics, Sociology Engineering, etc. Law All others, check here 8. Biological Sciences Minor Subject in Undergraduate Curricu lum Please check your primary minor only. Economics Education English History Languages Philosophy Psychology Physical Sciences Social Studies Sociology Law All others, check here Biological Sciences 9. Major Subject in Graduate Curriculum Please check the one in which your degree was granted, or the major subject of your post-graduate work. Economics Education English History Languages Philosophy Psychology Physical Sciences Social Studies Sociology Law All others, check here 10. U.S.C. College or Univ. where Undergraduate Work Was Taken U.C.L.A. U.C. Berkeley Western Reserve Univ. of Chicago Chapman College Loyola Stanford All others 192 11. 12. 15. 14 15 16 U .S .C . College or Univ. Where U.C.L.A. Graduate Work Was Taken U.C. Berkeley Western Reserve Univ. o f Chicago Chapman College Loyola Stanford Ohio State Univ. of M in n. Others, check here General Secondary Special Credientals and General Elementary Certificates Spe. Teaching Cred. Soc. Work Certif. Other U .S .C . Institution Where Cre U .C .L .A . dential or Certificate U.C. Berkeley Was Granted St. Mary* s Stanford N .Y .S c h .S .W . Others Courses in Sociological 1 year Fields Taken in Under- 2 years Graduate Years 3 years Please include equiva 4 years lents o f s o c. sciences, sociology, psychology. Social Work Taken in ^ y e a r Graduate Curriculum 1 year Please check the num i - g - years ber of years (equivalent)2 years of professional soc. wk.State, if more courses taken in grad. curriculum. Field of Social Work in Social Case Work S o c. Group Work Which Post-Graduate Work Soc. Work Admin. Was Done 17 1 8 . 1 9 . 20. 21. 22 193 U.S.C. Institution Where Graduate Univ. of Chicago Professional-Social Work Western Reserve Courses were Taken. N.Y.Sch. Soc. Wk. U.C. Berkeley Grad.Sch.Jewish S.W. Ohio State Univ. Others Family Welfare Field of Interest Child Welfare Please check that aspect Social Group Wk. of social work in which C orninun. 0 r g a n . you are most interested. Phys. Welfare Wk. Parole Probation Public Assistance Economic Organ. W. Institutional Wk. Medical-Soc. Wk. Psychiatric-Soc. Wk. Med. Organ Wk. Social Research Labor Problems Other Day Courses Professional-Social Work Evening Courses Courses Now Taken as Ful Correspondence Courses fillment Toward Degree ii.B. Degree Sought at Present M .A. P h .D . Less than 1 month SRA Employment * * " 3 months ” 6 months " 9 months 1 year " " 1# yrs. " 2 years " " 2# years " " 3 years " " 4 years " 5 years LESS THAN 6 .months Paid Social Work O ther I t t t 2 . year Than 8RA " " 1^- ye ars Please check total soc. ” " 2 years work experience other * * 3 years than SRA. " 4 y e a rs IF OVER, indicate no. 194 25. Federal Trans. Bureau Paid Experience in Social BIR Agencies Please check employment Y.W.C.A. in agencies other than SRA. L.A. Travelers A id Soc Jewish Soc.Serv. Bur. Council o f Jewish Worn. Catholic WeIf. B u r. Salvation Army_________ _ Volunteers o f America Amer. Red C r o s s ____ Intnl. Institute Other 24. Professional Affiliations Please check membership Reg.Soc.Wkr of Calif. Calif. Conf. Soc. Wkrs Arner. Ass * n Soc. Wkrs. S .C .M .W .A . 25. Employee Organizations C .S .E .A .</p></q>
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Rivlin, Diana
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The State Relief Administration social worker: an analysis and survey of the educational background, professional training and experience, and functions of one hundred social workers in the State R...
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Graduate School of Social Work
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Master of Science
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Social Work
Degree Conferral Date
1939-06
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