Social Work Students' Treatment Termination as a Temporary Role Exit

Abstract

The end-of-year treatment terminations of social work student trainees are usually discussed as forced terminations, similar to those of professional therapists. This paper discusses them from the perspective of Ebaugh's (1988) role exit theory, which defines role exit as the departure from any role that is central to one's self-identity. This paper argues that in addition to being forced terminations, the end-of-year treatment terminations of student trainees are also temporary role exits. As such, they undermine the trainees' as yet undeveloped sense of professional identity and leave them susceptive to a “vacuum experience,” in which, suspended between a past role that they no longer possess and a future that is still unknown, they feel fear, anxiety, and a sense of being neither here nor there. This article offers suggestions for reducing the detrimental impact of the temporary role exit.