The relationship between academic performance and self-care among US social work undergraduates: an exploratory analysis

Abstract

ABSTRACT Understanding factors that impact student academic success are vital for social work programs and educational institutions particularly for students who are at risk for poor academic and life outcomes. Despite the issues associated with GPA as an outcome variable, grades remain the norm for the assessment of student learning and significantly impact student trajectories during and after college. Therefore, it is important for educators to identify key factors that affect academic performance. An interesting and understudied connection to GPA includes student engagement in self-care practices. This study examines the relationship between self-care practices and student GPA in a sample of 250 social work undergraduates from a university in the United States. This study adds to previous research that indicates a significant relationship between self-care and student health and academic outcomes. Understanding a connection between self-care and GPA can inform social work programming and provide a best practice university model for change.