Attitudes Of Social Work Students Research Articles

Death Penalty Attitudes of Social Work Students: Current and Future Opportunities

Although much is known about the death penalty attitudes of U.S. adults, the attitudes of social workers are less clear. The current study assesses the death penalty attitudes of 406 social work students at a southern university. Support was measured in isolation, in conjunction with alternative sentencing structures, and using vignettes to provide mitigating factors about the defendant and the crime. Social work students reported low levels of death penalty support (32%), which decreased when alternative sentences were provided (11%). Death penalty support was lowest on case vignettes (range: 0–16%). Implications for social work and future research directions are discussed.

Attitudes of Social Work Students towards the Ageism

Ageism which is concept first used in 1969 by Robert Butler, the first director of the National Institute on Aging, can be defined as a process of systematic stereotyping and discrimination against people because they are (Butler, 1995: 35). Turkey's population is growing older and the elderly constitutes an important target group especially in terms of the social work profession. Therefore determining the causes of discriminatory attitudes towards the elderly is extremely important in terms of quality of services provided to the elderly. Starting from this view, the aim of this research is to determine the attitudes of social work students towards the ageism in Turkey and the sociodemographic characteristics that affect these attitudes. The research population consists of social work students in all active departments of social work in 2012- 2013 academic year in Turkey; the sample consists of 990 social work students from different universities such as Hacettepe, Selcuk, Ankara, Adnan Menderes, Ba
kent, Yalova, Kocaeli and KTO Karatay. 610 of the participants are female and 380 are male. The research data were obtained by using personal information questionnaire which is developed by the researchers and the “Ageism Attitude Scale” which is developed by Vefikulucay Yilmaz and Terziolu (2011: 267). As result of the study, female students have more positive attitudes than male students in the “restricting life of the elderly” sub-dimension of Ageism Attitude Scale; students who are 21 and older have more positive attitudes than students between the age of 17 and 20; students who are in the first grade have more positive attitudes than students in the third and fourth grade in the “negative ageism” sub-dimension; students who say that elderly relatives are important in their lives have more positive attitudes than others in the “restricting life of the elderly”subdimension and students who have taken course on old age have more negative attitudes than students who didn’t have any courses about it. In conclusion, when considering Turkey has started to increase the proportion of elderly in the population, it is important for social workers, which is one of the occupation that undertake the task of planning and providing services for the elderly population, to be informed about old age and to improve the skills for working with the elderly.

The Attitudes of Social Work Students Toward End-of-Life Care Planning

This study examined the attitudes of social work students toward end-of-life care planning, as well as their degree of willingness to engage in this area of social work practice. Factors associated with their attitudes were measured through structured surveys completed by 102 social work students (N = 102) at a school of social work in the southeast. Results indicated that these social work students tended to have positive attitudes toward end-of-life care planning in general. Moreover, these attitudes were positively associated with preference for pain relief treatment, higher levels of comfort when discussing death, more emphasis on self-determination, and apprehension of conflicts of self-determination. The results of this study underscored the increased societal need for recognition of personal preferences in end-of-life care, higher levels of comfort when discussing death, and an increased commitment of social workers' to maintaining the ethical principle of the client's right to self-determination in end-of-life planning. While this is not surprising, it points to a continuing need to re-assess where the field stands in its preparation of social work professionals who will work closely with people who are dying and their families.

US Social Work Students' Attitudes Shift Favorably Towards a Harm Reduction Approach to Alcohol and Other Drugs Practice: The Effectiveness of Consequence Analysis

Given the increasing numbers of people in need of treatment for problems associated with Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) problems and the concomitant likelihood that social worker caseloads currently reflect this increase, a critical analysis of social work student attitudes towards different approaches to AOD treatment is warranted. Our study examined United States' social work students' (n = 100) attitudes towards treatment approaches to practice with people who misuse/abuse AOD and enlisted a Consequence Analysis (CA) intervention designed to shift attitudes towards considering a harm reduction approach. The Harm Reduction Acceptability Scale (HRAS), as well as a two-item response measure, measured pretest and posttest attitudes. Findings demonstrate that at pretest both intervention and comparison groups were willing to consider a goal of moderation (a proxy for the acceptability of a harm reduction approach and a client-centered perspective), and neutral on the effectiveness of an abstinence-oriented approach. At posttest, the intervention group became more flexible and open to the broader philosophical perspective of a harm reduction approach while the comparison group became less so. Consequence Analysis appears responsible for producing the observed changes in attitude towards harm reduction. Implications for international social work education and training are discussed.

American Social Work Student Attitudes Towards Foster Youth Empowerment

This study was conducted to provide child welfare researchers and social work educators with a better understanding of social work student attitudes towards foster youth empowerment, a practice whereby the adolescent and workers in the foster care system share power with one another. In order to identify correlates of support for foster youth empowerment, American students across all levels of the undergraduate and graduate programmes within one school of social work were surveyed. Results indicated that support for foster youth empowerment was stronger among students who received specialised training in child abuse and neglect. In conclusion, support for foster youth empowerment may be more strongly cultivated by population‐specific material as opposed to the general social work curriculum. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.‘American students across all levels of the undergraduate and graduate programmes within one school of social work were surveyed’Key Practitioner MessagesA multiple regression model was constructed with the goal of identifying the variables that relate to social work student support for foster youth empowerment.In the multiple regression model, two variables, political party and training/education in child abuse and neglect, were significantly related to the dependent variable.Based on this study, the general social work curriculum does not appear to have as much impact on attitudes towards foster youth empowerment as population‐specific material.‘Two variables were significantly related to the dependent variable’

Opinions of social work students from Turkey on social justice

This study examines the opinions and attitudes of social work students towards issues of social justice. In the scope of the study, participants listed socio-economic status and political views as two factors that have the greatest bearing on ‘being subjected to injustice’ and stated that social workers should adopt an attitude of passive resistance against injustice. The students were found to believe that it is necessary for the state to play specific roles related to social welfare rights and to underline the political dimension of justice.

Social Work Student Attitudes Toward Contraception and the HPV Vaccine

The purpose of the current study was to examine social work student attitudes toward the social work profession's perspective on certain aspects of reproductive health in the United States: contraception, emergency contraception, and the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. Students at a large, public, land grant university were surveyed to determine whether their personal attitudes were in line with the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) stance on reproductive health outlined in the NASW policy statement on family planning and reproductive health. The relationship between levels of religious activity and attitudes toward these aspects of reproductive health was also examined. Results suggest that almost all of the respondents support public funding for family planning. Furthermore, almost all students indicate willingness to refer clients for general contraception. However, results related to emergency contraception indicate that 72% of students disagree that it should be available for adolescents over the counter, even with parental consent, which is inconsistent with the NASW perspective. Sixty-four percent of students report believing that the HPV vaccine is unsafe. Further, as levels of religious activity increased, acceptance of some of these aspects of reproductive health decreased. Implications for social work practice, education, and directions for future research are discussed.

The Relationship Between Spirituality and Social Justice Advocacy: Attitudes of Social Work Students

Given the importance of social justice advocacy within the profession and the reemergence of spirituality as an important element of social work practice, empirical research into the relationship between spirituality and social justice is needed. The purpose of the present effort is to report on a research project investigating the relationship between one form of spirituality, connectedness with humanity, and tendencies toward social justice advocacy in a group of social work students. Results of the research suggest positive relationships between this form of spirituality and commitment to social justice advocacy and willingness to take individual action to combat injustice.

Stigmatizing Clients With Mental Health Conditions: An Assessment of Social Work Student Attitudes

Research suggests that stigma plays a major role in discouraging clients from participating in mental health treatment. Because social workers provide a significant amount of such services, this study investigates social work student stigma as a function of their willingness to treat clients with alcohol dependence, nicotine dependence, depression, and Alzheimer's disease. Students held higher levels of stigma toward nicotine dependent clients and less toward those with depression. Personal histories of depression and student age—but not smoking or alcohol use—were predictive of higher stigma levels toward nicotine dependent clients. Implications for social work are discussed.

Working with Alcohol and Drug Use: Exploring the Knowledge and Attitudes of Social Work Students

Summary Many social workers in the UK work daily with the social harms linked to problematicsubstance use. Historically, however, their drug and alcohol training needs have beenoverlooked. This study set out to achieve two key objectives: (i) to assess social workstudents’ knowledge of, and attitudes towards, working with people with substanceproblems; and (ii) to develop and test a questionnaire to meet this objective. Afour-part self-completion questionnaire was developed and administered to a purpo-sive sample of 156 social work students. The focus of this article will be on the resultsof Part 2 of the pilot survey, which focused on the students’ attitudes towards, andknowledge of, substance use. One hundred and twenty-one completed questionnaireswere used as the basis for analysis. Three factors emerged as the key explanatoryfactors demonstrating significant relationships between them: ‘knowledge’, ‘supportfrom colleagues’ and ‘legitimacy of role’. Social work training needs to recognizethe need for alcohol and drug education within social work qualifying programmesin order that future social workers will feel equipped with the knowledge and legiti-macy to do their job and meet the needs of people who have problems with alcoholand drugs.Keywords: Alcohol, drugs, social work, attitudes, knowledge

Perceptions of Social Work: Undergraduate Students Assess the Profession

This study explores social work student attitudes and continued misperceptions concerning the social work profession. Participants included students who were psychology, social work, and other majors. Students were administered questionnaires concerning their knowledge of key terms, degree requirements, disciplinary practices, and attitudes toward various social work-related employment settings. It was hypothesized that social work majors would have more knowledge and more positive attitudes toward the social work profession than other majors did. It was further hypothesized that student regard of social work-related agencies would vary across agencies being assessed. As might be expected, the findings show that students from other majors are less informed about social work and its professional functions. However, the data also indicate that social work students themselves continue to manifest misperceptions about their own discipline. The authors suggest that efforts to confront public misperceptions be augmented by proactive remediation efforts in social work curricula.

Professional Ethics Violations Gender, Forgiveness, and the Attitudes of Social Work Students

Consistent with the main hypothesis, social work students (n = 41) were more distrusting toward a community agency following reports of unethical worker-client sex than reports of alcohol or other personnel problems. Students were somewhat more likely to increase follow-up of a male rather than a female supervisor. Trait forgiveness was largely unrelated to level of trust.

Turkish Social Work Students’ Attitudes Toward Sexuality

The purpose of this research was to determine the attitudes of social work students in Turkey toward sexuality. According to the findings, gender differences, talking about sexuality, and having an active sex life, affect liberality about sexuality. Religious beliefs have a significant impact on attitudes, and our data show that Turkish social work students were relatively sexually inexperienced and conservative. However, they were more accepting and liberal for others’ sexual preferences than for their own.

Social Work Student Attitudes on Working with Older Clients

Twenty-two Masters level social work students who had worked with older clients in fieldwork were asked about their experiences. This was a qualitative research study using open-ended questions and face-to-face interviews. The group was divided almost in half based on having made the choice to work with this population (12 = yes; 10 = no). All but one student reported increased feelings of compassion and a newly gained appreciation for diversity among their clients. Students who had chosen their placements were largely motivated from their life experiences prior to social work school; only one cited a course in gerontology. Among the students who had not selected to work with older clients, most reported being satisfied with their learning experiences. Students thought that more exposure to field settings was the best way to attract new social workers into gerontology.

The Attitudes of Social Work Students and Practicing Psychiatric Social Workers Toward the Inclusion in the Community of People with Mental Illness

This study measured and compared the attitudes of social work students and practicing psychiatric social workers to the inclusion in the community of people with mental illness. The Community Living Attitude Scale Mental Illness (comprising the four subscales of Empowerment, Exclusion, Sheltering, and Similarity) was administered to a random sample of 68 Israeli BA social work students (first year: n = 35; third year: n = 33) and 28 practicing psychiatric social workers. Overall, the participants endorsed Empowerment and perceived the Similarity of persons with mental illness to themselves more than they agreed with the Exclusion attitude of segregating those persons from community life. First-year students rated Empowerment and Similarity significantly lower than did the third-year students and rated Sheltering significantly higher than did psychiatric social workers. Psychiatric social workers did not differ from third-year students and did not have stronger attitudinal commitment to the inclusion paradigm. They differed from first-year students only in the sheltering attitude; they showed lower support for sheltering people with mental illness.

Attitudes of Social Work Students About Substance Abuse: Can a Brief Educational Program Make a Difference?

ABSTRACT This study examined whether a brief educational program could modify attitudes of master's level social work students about substance abuse. Study methodology involved a two-group pre-test and post-test quasi-experimental design. The Substance Abuse Attitude Survey, a standardized assessment instrument, was used to measure attitudes based on five distinct factors. No significant changes in student attitudes were found after participating in the educational session. Recommendations are offered for how social work schools may enhance their efforts to prepare students to effectively work with substance abusing clients and their families.

Student Acceptance of a Multicultural Education

While the virtues of a multicultural education are debated in the general US populace, most social work educators and organizations have embraced such an approach. Subsequently, social work journals have offered numerous essays on multicultural teaching techniques. Yet, these same journals have rarely explored the multicultural attitudes of social work students. To fill this gap, this paper empirically explores the ways in which BSW students accept or reject some multicultural goals. To do so, close-ended surveys were distributed to 437 undergraduates. After describing their responses to the authors' multicultural index, the project explores the survey results via demographic, social-psychological, and educational variables. With the assistance of a multiple regression, this project suggests that student acceptance of multiculturalism is swayed by the matters of gender and their stances on White privilege and institutional racism. However, student perceptions do not seem static since students become more positive toward a multicultural education after they have initiated interracial exchanges and completed a social diversity class.

Baccalaureate Social Work Student Attitudes toward Older Adults

This study investigated the attitudes of baccalaureate social work students concerning older adults using the instrument constructed by Sanders, Montgomery, Pittman, and Balkwell (1984). That instrument assesses respondents' attitudes on 20 distinct characteristics of older women and men in three age categories, the young-old (65–74), the old-old (75–99), and centenarians (100+). Data were obtained from 204 students from an accredited undergraduate social work program in a major south Florida university in the spring semester of 1999. The data revealed that the majority of students (93.8%) had not taken any gerontology classes. Only 6.9% of respondents indicated that they were definitely planning to do their field practicum in a geriatric setting, and 4.0% indicated that they definitely intended to work with older adults. Overall student attitudes toward older adults were generally in the neutral range, however, those attitudes were more negative toward older age categories. Female student attitudes were more positive than male student attitudes. Older women were more positively regarded than their male counterparts. Students who indicated that they were close to older adults and who took gerontology classes had more positive attitudes. Future research and implications for social work education are discussed.

Knowledge and Attitudes towards AIDS of Social Work Students in Mauritius

The study looked at the knowledge and attitudes of social work students in Mauritius regarding AIDS. Seventy-six students participated in the survey. Results indicate that although a majority had excellent to good knowledge about AIDS, they lacked suffi cient information in crucial areas of AIDS prevention. As many as 80.2 per cent were supportive in their attitudes towards AIDS victims. Knowledge and attitudes did not significantly differ with respect to age, gender, ethnic group and marital status.

Changing MSW students' attitudes towards the severely mentally ill.

The effect of an intervention to change graduate MSW students' attitudes towards the severely mentally ill was investigated. Positive changes in attitude were observed for the students who participated in the intervention. Attitude scores of students in the comparison group remained the same. The encouraging findings of this study suggest that the negative attitudes of social work students towards this population can be improved. Implications for future research and training of professionals working with the severely mentally ill are discussed.