- Title
- Social work students' professional and personal exposure to social work: an Australian experience
- Creator
- Byrne, Nicole
- Relation
- European Journal of Social Work Vol. 22, Issue 4, p. 702-711
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13691457.2017.1399254
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2019
- Description
- General career research suggests that many factors may influence how people select a career, including information about or exposure to the career. The focus of this paper is upon how exposure to a social worker personally (e.g. friend or family) or in a therapeutic capacity (e.g. received social work therapy) may influence the decision to become a social worker, when compared to other disciplines. The results showed that 63% of 64 social work students had personal and/or professional exposure to social work prior to making a career decision. When compared to other students (n = 447) the social work students were significantly more likely to have accessed social work services (themselves or a family member). The influence of a friend who was a social worker and working with a social worker was noteworthy for mature-aged students. These results highlight that every interaction social workers have with the community provides valuable information about the profession and gives insight into social work as a career. Additionally, the results suggest that the increase in numbers of social workers and the influence of that exposure to a social worker have resulted in an increase in the use of social work services by students, and may continue to rise in the future.
- Subject
- professions; career choice; workforce; allied health; social work students
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1424534
- Identifier
- uon:38098
- Identifier
- ISSN:1369-1457
- Language
- eng
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