‘Bouncing Back?’ Personal Representations of Resilience of Student and Experienced Social Workers

Abstract

Although organisations have a duty of care to protect the well-being of employees, it is acknowledged that social workers need to enhance their personal resilience to survive in an increasingly stressful profession. The term ‘resilience’ is widely used in social work education and practice, but there is little consensus about its meaning. This study utilises a psychological perspective to explore the personal representations of resilience held by 200 social work students and 100 experienced social workers in England. Participants’ perceptions of why social workers need to be personally resilient and the means by which this quality may be enhanced are also considered. Thematic content analysis is utilised to explore the data, and similarities and differences between representations of resilience provided by students and qualified staff are investigated through the use of template analysis. The extent to which representations of resilience expressed by participants correspond with ‘academic’ definitions is also examined. Considerable variation in personal meanings of the resilience construct emerged. In general, representations of resilience articulated by experienced social workers were more complex and multi-faceted than those expressed by students. The implications of the findings for the development of interventions to enhance resilience in student and qualified social workers are considered.

Keywords:

• emotional resilience
• social workers
• coping
• stress
• social work students

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Louise Grant

Louise Grant is a Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Bedfordshire. Her research interests are reflective practice, resilience and emotional literacy in social work. Prior to joining the University she was a children and families social worker and manager.

Gail Kinman

Gail Kinman is Professor of Occupational Health Psychology at the University of Bedfordshire. Her research interests include work stress, resilience and work–life balance in public sector workers