Clothing Room the Psychological Effect of Clothing
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Mc&ILL UNIVERSITY A SSUDGT OF CLOTHING BUDGETS OH A MINIMUM ADEQUATE STANDARD FOE A FAMILY AGSNCY IN MONTREAL, 19^7-1^8 A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES AMD RESEARCH IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE MQPIRBCENTS FOR THE MASTER'S D1GREE IN SOCIAL WORK BY ESTHER SPECTOR MONTREAL, QUEBEC MARCH, 19^8 FORWORD The agency material contained in this study is drawn from the Jewish Family Welfare Department of Montreal. For reasons of simpli fication the full nsme of the agency is abbreviated or denoted as J.F,W.D. "by the word agency, yet the reference implied is always to the Jewish Family Welfare, unless otherwise stated, I wish to extend my thanks to Mrs, llsa Barman, former Executive Secretary of the Jewish Family Welfare Department for her kind assistance in helping to select agency material, and to Miss Eva Younge of the School of Social Work, McGlll University, for her valuable guidance and constant interest, I further wish to extend an expression of appreciation to the members of the J.F.W.D. staff who were helpful in submitting important data for this project. ii TABL1 OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES . iv Chapter I. INTBDDUCTION 1 Sources of Data and Methods of Collecting Them The History of the Jewish Family Welfare Clothing Room The Psychological Effect of Clothing II. THE CLIENTS1 VIEWS OF THE AGENCY1 S CLOTHING DISTRIBUTION 16 III. MINIMUM BUDGETS AND YEARLY CLOTH KG RETIREMENTS FOR VARIOUS AGE AND SEX GROUPS 33 IV. IMPLICATIONS OF THE SUGGESTED BUDGETS FOR THE AGENCY'S CLOTHING K)LICY $1 V. CONCLUSION 61 APPENDIXES A, SAMPLE GROUPS AND CLOTHING QUESTIONNAIRE 65 B. PRICE LISTS FDR CLOTHING 69 CORRESPONDENCE 78 BIBLIOGRAPHY 79 iii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This study of clothing on a minimum adequate standard was prompted by the writer's observations during seven years1 experience as a social service worker with the Jewish Family Welfare Department in Montreal, During that period it became more and more apparent that the agency's system of providing clothing to its clients was a weak link in its chain of services. Families in the above agency have consistently complained for several years of the system of clothing distribution. Many felt it degrading to be deprived of an opportunity to make a choice. Others were of the opinion that given the same amount of money spent by the agency they could have shopped to their own individual taste and made better investments. In other words, it was evident that families had not accepted the clothing room favoursbly. Clients and workers together were aware that clothing received through the agency was poor in quality and insufficient in quantity. The social case worker was also conscious of the clients1 emotional conflict which evolved from the necessity of clients visiting the agency1 s clothing room to collect the needed Items, Many clients were fearful of meeting friends or neighbours from whom they wished to conceal their association with the agency. There were always conflicting pressures in making decisions on clothing: the pressure of more important needs and wants, and the pressure of limitation of resources available by the agency for clothing. The Board of the J.F.W.D. had appreciated for a number of years the need of modernizing the system of clothing distribution in keeping 1 2 with new trends. Being always alert to means of improving its services, it encouraged the undertaking of a survey of clothing distribution as now practised "by the agency. These were among the motivating factors for the undertaking of this study. A chronological study of the rast is given as a background for the present clothing room set-up. Social workers, ever aware of the clients' needs and the agency's ability to meet those needs, recognise the clothing problem as one of -paramount Importance. If a well-planned cash budget for clothing co\ild be decided upon for a period of one year, the worker would have a clear conception of the possibilities of ade quate clothing as a factor of normal development. She would then have a firm basis for interpreting the need of adequate clothing budget for a given family. In order to ascertain clients' attitudes more objectively than is possible by means of casual observation a sample group of forty long- term families of the J.F.W.D. which represented all types of the agency's caseload were interviewed for frank and detailed opinion and impressions of the agency's method of clothing distribution. They were invited to contribute ideas as to fchat constituted improved methods. This study was organised tor the purpose of making a careful survey of the size and nature of the clothing problem facing the J.F.W.D. as it affects those persons in the community dependent on public relief. This project also aims to establish an objective method by which a standard for cash budgeting for clothing needs migjht be established. The develor nent of BXI adequate standard involves several problems. The chief problem is to arrive at the amount of cash allowances to fill the clothing needs of famines and yet comply with the Family Welfare 3 Association budget. It also seeks to estimate what a minimum adequate amount of normal replacement would cost per person over a reriod of one year. When such individual clothing budgets are built, it is possible to estimate the amount of money from weekly or monthly income to be allotted for clothing in a given family budget. The age and sex groups selected for this study include: infants, s-Chool children of both sexes up to sixteen years of age, the housewife, the aged inactive woman, the aged and inactive man, and finally, the clerical worker, male or female. ^hen such tables have been constructed the agency will have a clearer understanding of what the actual clothing requirements and their cost are for a family of given age and sex composition. They will also serve the purpose for an objective set of standards which the agency can rely upon as a basis for identifying the number and kinds of garments with which individual members of a family should be clothed at a minimum ade quate cost. In addition m attempt is also made to develop clothing bud gets for family groups. This involves building lists specifying both the quantity and the probable durability of each article of clothing needed for normal yearly replacement to meet the average needs of individuals and families of various age, sex and activity groups. From these lists can be drawn a fairly realistic picture of what might be an agency clothing plan for the future. SOURCES OF DATA AND METHODS OF COLLECTING THEM In this study of clothing standard both primary and secondary data were used. The primary data were of three kinds: (a) sampling of forty families by means of schedules, (b) collecting data on the prices and qualities of a variety of garments in retail stores r.nd (c) prepar ing scrap books on clothing advertisements and prices from selected retail stores. In consultation with the Executive Director of the J.F.W.D. a clothing schedule was worked out which contained questions on attitudes and feelings involved iriien the person had to visit the clothing room, as well as opinions about various types of clothing assistance and its adequacy. The schedule was divided into four parts. The first part con tained questions about new clothing and the second about used clothing. She third part sampled clients1 opinions about attitudes of children visiting the J.F.W.D. clothing room to be outfitted end the last part asked questions about the use of Family Allowance in meeting clothing 1 needs of f rallies who had children. In order to test the schedule as a research tool, five clients were interviewed, representing various districts and different family compositions. Bach worker on the staff was given one schedule to fill out on a atrial basis. In order to have a representative group of clients for the sample studied here, it was decided to choose forty, active, long-term families of various compositions from different districts. They were as>ed to 1See Appendix A. Clothing Questionnaire. assist in this project by submitting answers to a schedule calling for frank and honest appraisal of the clothing they had received in one year and of their feelings towards the present system of clothing distribution in the J.F.?J.D. clothing room. The question arose as to the best method of interviewing these families. The workers in the agency were of the opinion that the writer's position in the agency would create ambivalent feelings if she were the person to do the interviews. Therefore it was decided that each worker would concentrate on those clients known to her. However, due to their own rressure of work the workers were unable to complete all the schedules assigned to them. Consequently, three case workers interviewed twenty-five families ^nd the writer herself filled the schedules for the remaining fifteen. It was a source of encouragement to find that those families inter viewed by the writer appeared to h«ve been as cooperative as were those seen by their respective workers. Replies received from these schedules revealed that many families indicated a great interest and eagerness to cooperate. Most of them obviously gave both their time and an honest effort to reviewing their clothing records in order to supply the information the agency requested» Most of the sampled families went into considerable detail on the subject of clothing.