‘I learned to better understand those around me and myself’: The impact of an elective course of self-reflection, personal and professional growth on social work students

Abstract

ABSTRACT Through this paper, we aim to emphasise the impact of a Self-reflection, personal and professional growth seminar on the personal and professional development of social work students (n = 110, from the third year of study). We invited the students to keep a diary during the semester in which they recorded their personal reflections and to provide feedback on the impact of the seminar at the end of this elective course. Based on a thematic analysis of their feedback notes and diaries, five main categories emerged as significant: self-reflection and personal development acquisitions; relevance of the seminar for the social work domain; seminar content; interest in the professor/trainer; and the question of whether they would recommend the seminar to others. At the end of the seminar, the participants showed greater awareness regarding their own strengths and capabilities and also with regard to the impact that their own personal life scenarios may have on their work. Our findings highlight the role of experiential self-reflection, personal and professional optimisation programmes in improving future social workers’ readiness to cope with the stress associated with their future work.