TRAINING PUBLIC-ASSISTANCE WORKERS IN POLICY AND INTERPERSONAL HELPING SKILLS

Although social work has traditionally been concerned with economicall y disadvantaged populations, separation of income maintenance and publ ic social services functions in the 1970s resulted in a decrease in so cial work influence and involvement in public assistance programs. In an effort to incorporate certain social work principles and practices into the public assistance function, a school of social work and a sta te agency collaborated to develop a program to train Aid to Families W ith Dependent Children (AFDC) and food stamp eligibility workers in po licy and casework skills. The purpose of this article is to present fi ndings of the evaluation of this innovative program. In addition to as sessing the efficacy of training, this study also surveyed caseworkers ' and supervisors' attitudes about the use of certain interpersonal sk ills within the context of the eligibility determination interview. Da ta on the extent of policy learning and information on trainees' final course grades was also collected. Results indicate that the programs are effective in teaching both policy and casework skills. Caseworkers and supervisors have positive attitudes about the relevance of casewo rk skills for the public assistance interview. Barriers to the use of casework skills are discussed, along with implications of the findings for future research and training programs.