The views of social work practitioners with regards to religion and spirituality at the interface of social work practice with children and adolescents

ABSTRACT

Although a trail of evidence has grown that supports the salience of spirituality in social work practice, little exists with regard to spiritually based intervention with children and adolescents. In order to bridge this scholarly gap, this study sought to investigate the attitudes and practice interventions amongst a group of social work practitioners in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. A cross-sectional descriptive design was used to gather data from 193 social workers who worked at the interface of children and youth. The study found high levels of personal religiosity and spirituality amongst the sample and significant support for the role of religion and spirituality in a social work context.

KEYWORDS:

• Religion
• spirituality
• children
• youth

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).