Social work students’ professional and personal exposure to social work: an Australian experience

ABSTRACT

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.

KEYWORDS:

• Professions
• career choice
• workforce
• allied health
• social work students

Acknowledgement

The students’ time to participate in the research was greatly appreciated.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Nicole Byrne worked as an allied health clinician and manager for 24 years before moving to a Senior Lecturer role at the University of Newcastle in 2015. Nicole's main research interest areas relate to the factors that influence people to enter the health professions, including the influence of personal and professional exposures to the professions, personality, interests and altruism. Understanding the factors that influence such career choices will inform the creation of a diverse and dynamic health workforce in the future.

ORCID

Nicole Byrne http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2624-5896