Tilda Goldberg:Lessons for Today from a Social Work

PioneerChris Hemsley

Social Workerand

Donald Forrester Professor of Social Work Research

The Tilda Goldberg Centre for Social Work and Social CareUniversity of Bedfordshire

Tilda Goldberg OBE

‘Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness’

(Santayana, 1906 p.284)

Tilda & Eva

The Early Years• Staatliche Augusta Schule

Arriving in the UK

• Berlin University – psychology and economics – did not complete

• 1933 – England – Dennington Park Road

• Parents and sister Eva arrive some time later; Eva dies

London School of Economics

• 1933-35 LSE – Certificate in Social Science and Administration awarded 1.10.1935

• 1936 LSE – Certificate in Mental Health. Qualifies as a Psychiatric Social Worker

Early Career• 1936-43 Hertfordshire Child Guidance Clinic

• 1943-49 Regional Aftercare Officer in Newcastle: assessing needs of people discharged from military psychiatric hospitals

• 1st research project – national description of all patients helped by regional officers

• 1948-49 Assistant Programme Secretary, International Congress on Mental Health, London Aug 1948

• Mental Health Conference in US

The Medical Research Council

1949-65 Researcher at MRC Social Medicine Research Unit under Jerry Morris

Early Works

Goldberg’s early works share 5 common themes:

1. Research traditions of social medicine to contribute to social welfare

2. Effective assessment, embedded within the social context.

3. Clearly-stated aims4. Multiagency working5. Time-limited interventions

Theme 1

• A researcher who understands and uses the research traditions of social medicine to contribute to social welfare

Theme 2

• Commitment to effective assessment, embedded within the social context

Theme 3

• The need for clearly-stated aims

Theme 4

• The value of multiagency working

Theme 5

• Identifies the value of time-limited interventions

The Social Medicine Research Unit

Younghusband

The National Institute of Social Work

The Seebohm Report 1968

NISWT Research Programme

1. Small scale experimental studies: the Helping the Aged RCT (Goldberg et al, 1970); Social Work in General Practice (Goldberg and Neill, 1972); task-centred casework studies (1973 to 1977) and studies into schizophrenia (1969-1974)

2. Medium scale attitude studies: the Consumer and Social Worker Studies in Southampton 1972-3 and 1974-6

3. National studies of service patterns, including the workload studies (1968-71) and specifically the Northern Ireland Study (1972)

4. Action research: the development of the CRS (1972-1976)

Small Scale Experimental StudiesHelping the Aged (1970)

Small Scale Experimental Studies

Social Work in General Practice (1972)

Small Scale Experimental Studies 1973 - 1977

Reid, W.J. and Shyne, A.W. (1969) Brief and Extended Casework. New York and London: Columbia University Press

Medium Scale Attitude Studies

Southampton Consumer & Worker studies, 1972 & 1975

National Studies of Service Patterns

• Northern Ireland Study (Walker et al, 1972)

Action Research

• Case Review System:– a practice tool– educational function– management tool– information system – research tool

Kent Community Care Project

Post NSWA

• Policy Studies Institute 1977 - 1982• Ends and Means in Social Work Goldberg, E.M. and Warburton,

R.W. (1979) • Problems, Tasks and Outcomes (1985) Goldberg, E.M., Gibbons,

J. and Sinclair, I.A.C. • The effectiveness of social care for the elderly: an overview of

recent and current evaluative research Goldberg, E.M. and Connelly, N. (1982)

The Role of Research

• Public accountability• The equitable distribution of resources• Impact on service users• Cost effectiveness• ‘A safeguard against fashion, and enthusiastic

and uncritical belief in the ‘new’’ (Goldberg and Connelly, 1982 p.245)

Tanza Road

Ringshall

‘How to translate even freely accessible knowledge into policy and practice still remains

one of the hardest nuts to crack’ (Goldberg and Connelly, 1982 p.258)

Influence

Goldberg’s Research

Others’ Research

Policy Practice

Barriers

4 barriers to the uptake of research Walt (1994):1. Politics2. Scientific uncertainty3. Timing4. Communication

Enablers

Nutley et al (2007):• Good quality• Prestigious source• Aligns with specified needs • Supported or funded by policy-makers

Legacy

• 57 works• First UK Social Care RCT• Qualitative and quantitative research• The Tilda Goldberg Centre for Social Work and

Social Care Research

“Each age writes the history of the past anew with reference to the conditions uppermost in its own time." Frederick Jackson Turner

• e.g. REF and Tilda’s financial legacy…