Comparing public perceptions of social work and social workers’ expectations of the public view

Authors

  • Barbara Staniforth University of Auckland
  • Kelsey L. Deane University of Auckland
  • Liz Beddoe University of Auckland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11157/anzswj-vol28iss1id112

Keywords:

social work, public perceptions

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Previous studies have explored public perception of social work and social workers. There is little written about what social workers think about how they, and the profession of social work, are viewed by the public. This article explores the views of a sample of social workers in Aotearoa New Zealand about their beliefs around the public perception of social work and social workers.

AIMS: This article aims to explore social worker views on the public perception of social work, and then compares these findings with a previous study which looked at the public perception of social workers.

METHODOLOGY: An online survey was conducted with 403 social workers from the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Work, which asked them about their perceptions on how social work and social workers are viewed by the public. The results are then compared to a previous telephone survey, which asked 386 members of the public their views on social work and social workers.

FINDINGS: Results demonstrate that the social workers generally had a poorer impression of what the public believed in most areas, compared to what the public had indicated in the prior study.

CONCLUSION: Social workers, social work professional bodies and social work educators need to be proactive in promoting accurate information about social work and what social workers do.

References

Aldridge, M. (1990). Social work and the news media: A hopeless case? British Journal of Social Work, 20(6), 611-625.

Comley, M. (1985). All in a day’s work. New Statesman and Society, 109, 21-23.

Condie, C. D., Hanson, J. A., Lang, N. E., Moss, D. K., & Kane, R. A. (1978). How the public views social work. Social Work, 23(1), 47-53. doi:10.1093/sw/23.1.47

Davidson, S., & King, S. (2005). Public knowledge of and attitudes to social work in Scotland. Edinburgh, Scotland: Scottish Executive Social Research.

Dennison, S. T., Poole, J., & Qaquish, B. (2007). Students’ perceptions of social work: Implications for strengthening the image of social work among college students. Social Work, 52(4), 350-360.

Franklin, B., & Parton, N. (Eds.). (1991). Social work, the media and public relations. London, England: Routledge.

Geoff Pearman Partners in Change. (2011). Scoping Report “The Learning Exchange” Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers. Auckland, New Zealand: Author.

IBM® (2013). IBM® SPSS® Version 22 [Software].

Jones, C. A., Vela, E., Vang, T., & Walde, B. D. (2006). Perceptions of social work: Undergraduate students assess the profession. The Journal of Baccalaureate Social Work, 12(1), 1-12.

LeCroy, C. W., & Stinson, E. L. (2004). The public’s perception of social work: Is it what we think it is? Social Work, 49(2), 164-174.

Lytollis, S. (1996). Making the best of the media spotlight. Social Work Now (5), 15-20.

Parton, N. (2014). Social work, child protection and politics: Some critical and constructive reflections. British Journal of Social Work, 44(7), 2042-2056. doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcu091

Pollak, O. (1961). Image of the social worker in the community

and in the profession. Social Work, 6(2), 106-111. doi:10.1093/sw/6.2.106

Research Works Limited. (2001). Perceptions of social work and social care: report of findings. London, UK: COI Communications, Department of Health.

Social Workers Registration Board (2011). Omnibus survey. Unpublished.

Stanfield, D., & Beddoe, L. (2013). Social work and the media: A collaborative challenge. Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work, 25(4), 41-51.

Staniforth, B., Fouché, C., & Beddoe, E., (2014). Public perception of social work and social workers in New Zealand. Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work, 26(2/3), 48-60.

Zugazaga, C. B., Surette, R. B., Mendez, M., & Otto, C. W. (2006). Social worker perceptions of the portrayal of the profession in the news and entertainment media: An exploratory study. Journal of Social Work Education, 42(3), 621-636.

Downloads

Published

2016-07-08

How to Cite

Staniforth, B., Deane, K. L., & Beddoe, L. (2016). Comparing public perceptions of social work and social workers’ expectations of the public view. Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work, 28(1), 13–24. https://doi.org/10.11157/anzswj-vol28iss1id112

Issue

Vol. 28 No. 1 (2016)

Section

Original Articles

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

By completing the online submission process, you confirm you accept this agreement. The following is the entire agreement between you and the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) and it may be modified only in writing.

You and any co-authors

If you are completing this agreement on behalf of co-authors, you confirm that you are acting on their behalf with their knowledge.

First publication

By submitting the work you are:

  1. granting the ANZASW the right of first publication of this work;
  2. confirming that the work is original; and
  3. confirming that the work has not been published in any other form.

Once published, you are free to use the final, accepted version in any way, as outlined below under Copyright.

Copyright

You assign copyright in the final, accepted version of your article to the ANZASW. You and any co-authors of the article retain the right to be identified as authors of the work.

The ANZASW will publish the final, accepted manuscript under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY 4.0). This licence allows anyone – including you – to share, copy, distribute, transmit, adapt and make commercial use of the work without needing additional permission, provided appropriate attribution is made to the original author or source.

A human-readable summary of the licence is available from http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, which includes a link to the full licence text.

Under this licence you can use the final, published version of the article freely – such as depositing a copy in your institutional research repository, uploading a copy to your profile on an academic networking site or including it in a different publication, such as a collection of articles on a topic or in conference proceedings – provided that original publication in Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work is acknowledged.

This agreement has no effect on any pre-publication versions or elements, which remain entirely yours, and to which we claim no right.

Reviewers hold copyright in their own comments and should not be further copied in any way without their permission.

The copyright of others

If your article includes the copyright material of others (e.g. graphs, diagrams etc.), you confirm that your use either:

  1. falls within the limits of fair dealing for the purposes of criticism and review or fair use; OR
  2. that you have gained permission from the rights holder for publication in an open access journal.