School Of Public Health & Social Medicine - Post Grduate Program (Master of Social Work - (MSW))

Background:

Social Work is a broad career field that encompasses many career paths, including medical and public health settings. Social Work is a profession devoted to help people function the best way they can in their environment. Social workers are people who care about needy, underserved & underprivileged individuals, community and society; who want to make things better, who want to relieve suffering, who want their work to make a difference. Appropriate training equips the professional social worker to combine the desire to help others with the knowledge, skills, and ethics needed to provide that help.
Medical and health systems have undergone considerable changes over a period of time from socio-cultural models to biomedical models - from family physician to specialized medical teams. The health care team attending the “patients & their relatives” consists of doctor (general & specialist), nurse, physio/occupational therapist, social workers/ counselors / behavioural scientist, dieticians/nutritionists, lab. Technicians etc. Besides, today’s health care system demands high level of patient satisfaction, which can be achieved through proper advocacy & counseling by qualified professional in social, behavioural & communication sciences having basic knowledge of medical and health care sciences.
These changes have created many new and challenging social work career opportunities outside of hospitals in Community health & development programs, Health Maintenance Organizations, geriatric services, community mental health centers, Community care centres for PL HIV/AIDS, and home care. They help supporting the special academic, research& extension service needs of medical and health systems at institutional and community level. Hence the School of Public Health and Social Medicine of PIMS-DU has designed Masters of Social Work (MSW) program with a special focus on the social work needs of Medical and Public Health Organizations and Systems across the globe.

Employment Opportunities:

Students interested in a medical and public health career should consider many opportunities provided by a Masters in Social Work (Health). Medical Social Workers address the preventive, promotive & rehabilitative health care needs at the individual, family, group, organizational, community and societal levels. The profession helps people function optimally in their environment while advocating for policies that assure social, economic and health equality.
Medical Social Workers engage in a wide range of activities in diverse fields of practice. They are employed by government, non-government, corporate & private hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, mental health facilities, home nursing organizations, public health agencies, AIDS/HIV programs, and school health clinics utilize the skills of a professional social worker with health care specialization. They are also employed by international aid and development agencies.

Objectives of the program:

i) Knowledge Objectives:

• Understanding the social work philosophy and practice systems and their interactions and applications in medical/healthcare settings and public and community health programs and projects
• Gain the knowledge of the social system theories and their implications on the problem solving process in healthcare and public health sector.
• Gain and use the knowledge of the integrated social work practice approach and use various methods of intervention at both micro and macro levels of medical and health sector
• Understanding the place and importance of research in theory building and testing, and its relevance to field of healthcare and public health sector
• Gaining knowledge of management and administrations of Welfare and Development services and voluntary organizations functioning in medical and public health sector
• Understanding the role and importance of social work training in preparation of a new professional cadre in medical/healthcare and public health sector

ii) Skill Objectives:

• Learning & developing problem solving skills.
• Improving communications skills.
• Learning & developing organizational skills.
• Learning & developing techniques and skills of management and administrative practices.
• Learning and developing research skills of problem formulation, data collection, data analysis, drawing inferences and implication for practice.
• Developing training and supervision skills.
• Developing skills related to social advocacy, policy and planning.

iii) Attitude Objectives:

• Attitude objectives are addressed to professional qualities which are developed during the training period.
• Appreciation of professional as well as voluntary social work practice.
• self-reliance, honesty, integrity in public and personal life, etc.
• Sensitivity to the sufferings of the marginalized and vulnerable groups such as women, children, tribals, handicapped and the aged.
• Critical self-awareness and conscious efforts to change one's own biases and prejudices.
• Developing confidence in interpreting and executing professional roles.
• Appreciating and respecting other professional.

Duration:

Two Academic Years (Four Semesters)

Medium of Instruction:

English & Marathi

University:

Pravara Institute of Medical Sciences, Deemed to be University, Loni.

Faculty:

Faculty of Allied Health Sciences

Intake: 15 students per year

Eligibility:

Candidates who have passed any Bachelors’ degree (10+2+3) of any Indian University, other statutory University recognized thereto, with a minimum of 45% marks/Second Class.

Admission Procedure:

All India PIMS-DU CET

Course Structure & Evaluation Pattern:

The course is structured on Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) as per the UGC guidelines and follows both Semester End Examination (University) and Comprehensive and Continuous Internal Assessment (Institutional).