Environmental modification: a study

Richard M. Grinnell, Jr., Ph.D., is Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Social Work, University of Texas, Arlington, Texas. Nancy S. Kyte, MSSW, is Assistant Professor, College of Social Work, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina. STUDY DESIGN AND INSTRUMENT Recent years have witnessed a reagency's Division of Family and Chil newed interest among caseworkers in dren's Services. This division is com the close association between the indiprised of thirteen different services: vidual psyche and the social milieu. child protection; services to unwed Reflecting this has been a growing parents; assessment, brief service; concern over the significance of social self-support counseling; family coun vulnerability and the need for more seling; substitute care, foster care; effective, efficient, and responsive enservices for the handicapped; child vironmental services. Significantly, care, intake and institutional service; environmental modification, once relesubstitute care, institutional care; par gated to an obscure corner of caseent service; adoption; complementary work theory and practice, is now reservice; and purchase of care and ceiving wider exposure and attention services, in the literature.1 And yet, despite the conceptual advances that have been made, social workers still know rela tively little about how environmental modification is being used today. Methodologically, casework actions Services were selected on the basis upon and within the social environof the following criteria: in each ser ment remain unrecorded.2 In response vice, the caseworkers provided direct to this dearth of quantifiable data, a practice services—that is, they were research study was recently conducted not employed in supervisory or admin to explore the use in casework pracistrative capacities—and were likely tice of concrete environmental modifito receive at least one new client dur cation—that is, the provision of speing a six-week period. Seven (54 per cific services such as money, referral, cent) of the division's thirteen ser food, or shelter as differentiated from vices met these requirements: child effecting changes in the sociopsychoprotection; services to unwed parents; logical environment. This article deassessment, brief service; self-support scrihes the results of that study, highcounseling; family counseling; substi lighting the significance of the finding tute care, foster care; and services that concrete environmental modificafor the handicapped, tion is a much more intricate intervenOnce it was determined that a par tive technique than is widely believed, ticular service met the necessary cri A major purpose of the study was to teria for participation in the study, examine the provision of concrete encaseworkers were selected who saw vironmental modification by caseclients regularly and on a face-to-face workers associated with one of the basis. Of the 111 caseworkers who largest public welfare agencies in the were thus identified as eligible for in Midwest. More specifically, the study elusion in the sample, 27 (24 percent) was undertaken to identify the circumagreed to participate in the study on a stances surrounding the use of convoluntary basis. This is a high propor crete environmental modification— tion of volunteers for an agency of how and by whom it is initiated, this size, in which caseworkers carry where, how often, and with whom it heavy workloads and generally lack is used, around what presenting probtime to participate in outside studies, lems, and for how long—and to idenOf the 27 participating caseworkers, tify any significant differences that 10 were MSWs and 17 were BAs or might exist in the provision of conBSWs. The mean age for the case crete environmental modification by workers was 33 years, while the me MSW caseworkers and non-MSW dian age was 29 years. Sixteen (59 caseworkers. A total of 27 caseworkers percent) of the caseworkers were fe participated in the study and, beginmale and 11 (41 percent) were ning in January 1974, recorded their male. Twenty-five (93 percent) were activities with 72 clients for a period white and 2 (7 percent) were black, of 61 days. The caseworkers in the study sample The study was conducted in the had an average of 6.3 years of paid