Imagining Social Work A QualitativeStudy of Students’ Persp.docx

Imagining Social Work: A Qualitative
Study of Students’ Perspectives on
Social Work in China
Miu Chung Yan, Zhong-Ming Ge, Sheng-Li Cheng &
A. Ka Tat Tsang
Social work education in China has expanded rapidly since it
was reintroduced in 1988.
This has led to a growing body of English language literature on
the development of social
work education in China. However, thus far, this literature lacks
an empirical
foundation and little research on students’ perspectives has been
done. To fill this gap,
this paper reports on a qualitative study of a group of
graduating social work students
(n532) from four social work programmes in Jinan, the
provincial capital of the
Shandong Province. Three major findings are reported. Firstly,
the students liken their
social work learning experience to a roller coaster ride with
many ups and downs.
Secondly, the cultural compatibility of western social work in
China has not yet been

conclusively established, while an ‘indigenized’ social work
needs to be compatible with
Chinese family values, referred to as ‘familism’ in direct
Chinese to English translation,
and with the dominant socialist political ideology. Thirdly, the
future of social work is
bright given increasing government support for its development.
Keywords: China; Social Work Education; Indigenization;
Cultural Compatibility;
Social Work Students
Introduction
Since its reintroduction in 1988, social work education in China
has evolved from
four to 200 programmes in 2007. This significant increase has
gradually drawn
attention from the international social work community as
reflected in the literature
Miu Chung Yan, University of British Columbia, Canada,
Zhong-Ming Ge & Sheng-Li Cheng, Shangdong University,
China & A. Ka Tat Tsang, University of Toronto, Canada.
Correspondence to: Dr Miu Chung Yan, University of British
Columbia, School of Social Work, 2080 West Mall,

Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z2, Canada. Email:
[email protected]
Social Work Education
Vol. 28, No. 5, August 2009, pp. 528–543
ISSN 0261-5479 print/1470-1227 online # 2009 Taylor &
Francis
DOI: 10.1080/02615470802368959
published in Anglo–American academic journals (e.g. Leung,
1994; Yao, 1995; Ngai,
1996; Tsang and Yan, 2001; Xia and Guo, 2002; Yuen-Tsang,
2002; Chi, 2005; Ku
et al., 2005; Yan and Tsang, 2005; Yan and Cheung, 2006;
Wong and Pearson, 2007;
Yip, 2007). Meanwhile, another publication of an edited volume
of 46 papers, of
which 24 were written by scholars from Mainland China,
presented at an
international symposium (Tsang et al., 2004) has also raised
awareness among the
international community wanting a ‘snapshot’ of the
development of social work
education in China. In brief, it is not uncommon to find
explanations in this evolving
literature as to why social work as a social mechanism of

helping has resurfaced in
China in the last two decades since economic reform was
introduced. In this
literature, three mutually informing sets of issues have drawn a
great deal of attention
from authors. The first set of issues relates to the cultural and
political compatibility
of western social work—its individualistic values and central
concern with human
rights and social justice—to China. These authors question
whether, as a western
social construct, the Judeo–Christian based social work values
and principles are
compatible with traditional Chinese culture. Secondly,
questions are raised as to the
way in which the democratic and social justice principles of
western social work
might be understood in the Chinese political reality. Thirdly,
questions are raised as
to the role that social work could or should play in China given
that the political
agenda is overwhelmingly focused on social stability and
economic prosperity. The
second set of issues largely reflects the existing limitations of

social work education in
China, such as lack of qualified social work educators, teaching
materials, and field
practice opportunities, and the third, the future of social work in
China. This
discussion centres on the creation of professional job
opportunities for social work
graduates, the definition of fields of social work practice, the
identity formation of
professional social work, and the ‘indigenization process’.
There are at least two limitations in this set of English-language
literature which
are worth noting. First, except for a handful of papers, almost
all the authors are
social work scholars outside Mainland China. In other words,
most information
reported is observational rather than experiential. Secondly,
very few of the papers are
empirically based. Yan and Tsang (2005) report the results of a
Delphi study of 47
social work experts in China. However, the study was done in
2000 and 2001 and
much has changed since then, not least the massive expansion in
social work

education in the last six years where it is estimated that it has
tripled in size from 70
to 200 social work education programmes. More recently, Wong
and Pearson (2007)
reported on the way in which a group of nine MSW social work
students perceived
their professional identity formation through their field
practice. The study is unique
in that it examines the students’ perspective but it is limited due
to the small sample
size and a methodology based on a 500-word short essay in
Chinese from each of the
nine students who participated. As the authors suggest, their
study is only a ‘first step’
in understanding how social work students’ professional
identity is being shaped in
China.
A myriad of literature on social work’s development has been
published within
China in Chinese. Most papers are written by Chinese social
work educators and, by
Social Work Education 529

and large, reflect their perspectives and interests. Most of the
authors of the English-
language literature have extensively referenced the Chinese
literature published in
China in their writing and, to some extent, have reflected the
major issues as
constructed by Chinese social work educators. However, there is
a growing body of
neglected literature in China—and many neglected perspectives,
such as that of
students (Wong and Pearson, 2007) and clients—which tends to
be ignored by
writers both in- and outside China. Like Wong and Pearson
(2007), we believe that
social work students—graduates—will be a major force shaping
the future of social
work in China. Therefore, a qualitative study was conducted to
investigate how social
work students perceived the nature and future of social work in
China.
Methodology
The idea for and design of this study was the outcome of an
international

collaboration between a group of social work educators from
Canada and China. The
aim of the study was to examine the recent development of
social work education in
China and to explore social work students’ perspectives on
these developments. The
study was conducted in mid-2005 in Jinan, the provincial
capital of Shandong
Province where the partner university in China was located. The
paper reports on the
findings of this study to provide concrete empirical data on the
development of social
work in China and, more importantly, to provide another
perspective from which to
understand the development of social work education in China.
Recruitment of the Sample
The study sample was drawn from each of the four
undergraduate and diploma level
social work programmes in Jinan. Table 1 provides a brief
profile of the programmes
provided by the four social work training institutes: the diploma
programme was
introduced in 1996 and the undergraduate programmes were
established either in or

after 2000. As shown in Table 1, all of these programmes had
faced similar challenges
to those described in the literature, such as lack of qualified
teachers and insufficient
field practice. Their numbers of students and graduates also
substantiated the
concern about the uncontrolled expansion of social work
education. Only final year
or graduating—undergraduate—students were invited to
participate in the study
since it was assumed that they would have a more
comprehensive understanding of
the issues being investigated and a more realistic idea of the
future of social work and
their personal career choices. In other words, the researchers
were not only interested
in how social work educators were shaping their professional
identity but also the job
opportunities that were available to them since, while there are
more than 200 social
work education programmes in China, there are very few formal
jobs for social work
graduates (Yan and Tsang, 2008). Eight BSW graduating
students were recruited

from each of the four programmes through referrals from social
work educators and
students in the schools under study. In all, 32 graduating
students, 13 male and 19
female, were recruited for participation in the study.
530 M. Chung Yan et al.
Data Collection
Data collection was via a semi-structured interview—an
interview guide was used
(see Appendix for the translated version since the interviews
were conducted in
Mandarin)—conducted by four master students at the partner
university in China
who had been trained by the principal investigator. The average
time of the interview
varied but, on average, each took approximately 45 minutes.
The interview questions
were designed to collect information from students on three
major areas: (i) their
experience of studying social work; (ii) their perceptions of the
function and purpose

of social work in China, the cultural compatibility of social
work with Chinese
culture, prevailing political ideology, the commonsense of
everyday people, and their
personal beliefs in helping; and (iii) their vision of the future of
social work in China.
The curriculum taught across the four institutions from which
the study sample was
drawn varied a great deal. As a result, responses regarding the
nature and purpose of
social work varied. Nevertheless, the students’ perspectives on
the issues raised were
quite similar. Each interview was audio-taped and the tapes
were transcribed by the
respective interviewers.
Data Analysis
The principal investigator in Canada conducted the data
analysis—in consultation
with the research partners via email—using NVivo, a computer
assisted qualitative
data analysis software package. Following a content analysis of
the transcripts, codes
and themes were generated from the raw data—in Chinese. Only
the quotations

selected from the transcripts presented in this paper were
translated into English. The
accuracy of the translation, which was initially done by the
principal investigator, was
checked by the co-investigators of the study who are also the
co-authors of this paper.
Table 1 Brief Profile of Social Work Institutes Studied
Social work training institutes
A* B C D
Year and nature of social work pro-
gramme started
2000 2000 2000 (Diploma) 1996
Degree Degree 2001 (Degree) Diploma
Total no. of social work students in
2005
238 494 500 219
Total no. of social work graduates in
2005
44 230 201 62
Total no. of teachers for the social
work programme in 2007
10 14 9 6

Total no. of teachers with MSW
(including those in progress) in 2007
1 2 1 1
Total hours of field work 240 480 360 480
No. and gender of students inter-
viewed
3M 4M 4M 2M
5F 4F 4F 6F
Note: * In order not to identify the students, we decided to use
another set of synonyms to signify
the institutes.
Ethical Issues and Limitations of the Study
The ethics protocol of the study was approved by the ethics
committee of the
university with which the principal investigator is affiliated.
Written consent of each
participant was sought prior to the interview. To ensure
anonymity, each participant
was given a coded identity assigned by the principal
investigator. As an exploratory
qualitative study with a conveniently selected sample group, the

findings of this study
cannot be generalized to all social work students or programmes
in China. However,
they might shed some light on the current development of social
work education in
China.
Findings
The main themes which emerged from the findings are
discussed below. They were as
follows.
1. Studying social work was experienced as a roller coaster ride.
2. Social work must be culturally compatible with Chinese
traditional culture and the
prevailing political ideology, and it must incorporate unique
Chinese characteristics,
such as family values.
3. There was optimism about the future of social work in China.
1. Studying Social Work was Experienced as a Roller Coaster
Ride
To most of the students interviewed, their emotional journey of
social work
education was like a roller coaster ride and ranged from

complete ignorance about
social work, to feeling passionate about the noble nature of this
helping profession,
and then to feeling disenchanted with the current development
of the profession in
China, and their own future upon graduation. It is important to
note that many of
the respondents did not start their social work training on
favourable terms. Only 12
students had chosen social work as their major subject when
they applied to their
school. Instead, like many of their classmates, they were tiaoji
1
(literally means
switched) to the social work programme without their consent.
Most students who were tiaoji to the social work programme did
not have a high
score in the public examination which determines whether or
not they are admitted
to their chosen programme. This, in turn, reflected the status of
social work in the
school. It can thus be imagined that many of them felt frustrated
when they were

informed that they had been switched to the social work
programme. This frustration
came from disappointment and, more often, from not knowing
what social work was
about:
We were all taioji to this programme. At first, our scores of the
advanced education
examination were not too high. Some applied to law, English
and Chinese. In the
end, we were all taioji to here. … So, it can be said that most of
us were
disappointed when being taioji to here because we didn’t know
anything about this
discipline. At the beginning, our motivation to class was not
high, coupled with
pessimistic emotion. (Z6)
However, for many interviewees, their frustration and ignorance
did not last long.
The helping nature of the social work profession, the
enthusiasm of their social work
teachers, their field experience through agency visits and field
work quickly changed
their perceptions, particularly the preconceptions of those who
were interested in

helping others:
Social worker is really very noble. Let me give you an example
close to me. Like, I
was emotionally touched by the teacher who taught me social
group work. Needless
to say, in class he always respected his job. (L6)
Many of them felt that their social work training had
transformed them. It had
changed the way in which they communicated and interacted
with people. They had
become more open to and supportive of others:
Although it is like that, I feel that I have learned something
important in these four
years which will bring some major impacts to my future work
and life. For
instance, the way I make friends with others, how I
communicate with others. It
will have impacts and I feel that these impacts are useful. (X3)
Many also felt that through the social work programme they had
internalized the
values and principles of social work which would guide their
way through different
passages in life:
Yet, the principles, values and perspectives that we learn from
social work have
influenced us; not only our work, our learning, our everyday

life and our vision of
life. Having learned social work, these are all connected. (Z3)
As graduating students, many of them expressed their gratitude
for what they had
learned in the social work programme. To them, social work
was a very meaningful
profession. However, the jobless reality had left many students
feeling let down with
dashed hopes for a bright future:
Let’s talk about myself. I really hope to do this kind of work.
However, now my
hope is basically gone. My self-confidence has been hurt. You
want to do it but you
can’t. There is not even a chance for you to do it. (Z4)
It was difficult for many of the respondents to predict their
personal future in view
of the present development of social work in China. Among all
the interviewees, only
a small number (n55) reported that they would try to look for
social work related
jobs. Many intended to pursue postgraduate—higher—education
hoping that this
would make them more competitive and some said they would
just find a job which
probably would not require social work training. Despite this

gloomy future, many
still believed that what they had learnt in the social work
programme would be useful
to them:
In terms of work, I probably will not practise this kind of work
because my job has
almost been fixed and it has nothing to do with social work.
Even so, I feel that
what I learned in these four years will have a very great impact
on my work and my
life. For instance it has certain impacts on my attitude when I
interact with others
and on my behaviour when I communicate with others. And, I
feel that these
influences are useful. (Z3)
Reflecting upon their experience, some said that they did not
regret taking the
social work programme:
I have studied social work for four years. My feeling towards
social work has gone
through a process from feeling fresh to disappointed, and then
at the end I feel I
have established a confidence of its future. I think probably
many social work
students may have a similar process like me. I think at the end,

I am still relatively
optimistic about it. (L1)
In sum, to many of these interviewees, their experience of
social work education
was not a smooth one. From being ignorant of social work to
being passionate
about the profession and back to feeling disenchantment, their
up and down roller
coaster emotions perhaps reflected the challenges of social
work’s development in
China.
2. Cultural Compatibility between Western Social Work and
Chinese Culture
In the literature, one of the major debates is about the cultural
compatibility of
western
2
social work. The term ‘culture’ in this study was understood not
only as (i)
traditional Chinese culture, but also as inclusive of (ii) the
prevailing political
ideology, (iii) the commonsensical beliefs of the laobaixing
(which roughly means the
everyday people), and (iv) the students’ personal beliefs of

helping—which were
shaped by the values of the wider society (i–iii above). If
traditional Chinese culture
were based on Confucius’s teachings—and other schools of
thoughts which could be
classified as ‘high culture’—then we might refer to
commonsensical beliefs among
laobaixing or everyday people as ‘low culture’. Although the
former may have a
certain influence on the latter, the low culture is more about
folklore and practice
wisdom accumulated in the everyday lived experience of the
laobaixing. These four
different manifestations of culture mutually informed one
another but each could
also lead to very different understanding of the cultural meaning
of ‘imported social
work’.
(i) Compatibility with Chinese traditional culture
When asked whether Chinese traditional culture were
compatible with the values of
social work, we received definitive responses: those who said
‘yes’ tended to think

that Confucian teachings had always emphasized mutual help
and harmonious
relations. These, to them, were also basic to social work
practice. Many of them
understood helping others as always being a part of traditional
Chinese culture
which, from a Confucian perspective, means being born with a
compassionate
disposition which leads to sacrifice of oneself and love for
others. For instance, in
traditional Chinese culture, taking care of the ruoshi qunti
(which roughly means the
disadvantaged and marginalized groups), particularly seniors
and children, is always
regarded as a virtue:
I think this can be compatible. First and foremost, Chinese
traditional culture
advocates filial duties, which should be compatible. Social work
offers help to
elderly people as well as the marginal group, the idea of which
connects social work
with traditional Chinese culture. This is also something which
the younger
generation should do; social workers should also look after this

group as well. (Z7)
According to their understanding, these traditional virtues were
very close to
the social work values that they had learnt in their training. In
contrast,
interviewees who argued that the traditional Chinese culture
was not compatible
with western social work had a very different interpretation of
the traditional
Chinese culture. First, they believed that the emphasis on
individuality in western
social work might clash with the collective tendency embraced
by traditional
Chinese culture. Secondly, to some students, because of this
fundamental
difference, some basic social work principles, such as self-
determination, were
problematic when examined from a traditional Chinese cultural
perspective.
Thirdly, despite the prevalence of collectivistic understanding
of Chinese
traditional culture, some students also intriguingly observed
that there was a
great deal of emphasis on self-reliance which tended to

discourage people from
seeking help from other people:
The overall trend [of Chinese culture] is to depend on one’s
hard work—in other
words, to realize one’s goals and one’s growth by virtue of
one’s hard work and
skills and not by means of external effort. Meanwhile, social
work is mainly to help
people, perhaps most Chinese people would not prefer to accept
such help, let
alone seeking help from social workers. The emphasis of self-
effort is in the Chinese
culture; it is also where the contradiction is. (L2)
However, the collectivistic perspective is not necessarily at
odds with the notion of
self-reliance in Chinese culture. As one student pointed out,
‘many people in China
still believe in this principle, that is, to cultivate one’s person
and rectify one’s mind,
regulate one’s family, govern well one’s state and rule well the
world’. According to
this principle, the notion of self-reliance is supposedly to
encourage people to seek
self-actualization from the personal domain, such as family first
before contributing
to the public domain. However, as these students perceived, to a
larger extent, this

might discourage people from seeking help.
(ii) Compatibility with the commonsensical beliefs of
laobaixing (everyday people)
In terms of helping, is social work and Chinese culture, like the
teachings of
Confucius, always compassionate? One student (L5) made a
shrewd observation as to
the lack of consistency between traditional and commonsensical
Chinese cultural
beliefs:
Although China has some traditional notions of helping people,
like extending the
idea of helping your elders to others’ elders and your
youngsters to others’
youngsters. But it is only just a few notions, and they spring
from some of the ideas
that are related to tracing the root and origin. But deep down, it
is still about ‘‘clean
up one’s own snow at the front door and bother not with others’
snowflakes on
their roof’’. (L5)
In addition, high cultural values were also subject to
reinterpretation and, as we found

in this study, tended to be seen as incompatible with western
social work. For instance,
the Confucian idea of self-reliance implies a self-actualization
process but when it is
reinterpreted in people’s everyday lives, it becomes a folklore
which promotes the idea
that people should help themselves. As L1 mentioned, there is
an old Chinese saying, it is
better to ‘beg for help ourselves than to ask for it from others’.
Following this
interpretation, many students also believed that the virtue of
self-reliance had led to a
popular commonsensical belief that people should not wash
their dirty linen in public.
Z2 provided a popular example which was shared by most
respondents who pointed out
the incompatibility of commonsensical everyday Chinese and
social work beliefs:
As a traditional Chinese laobaixing’s belief, family should take
care of their elderly.
If a child sends their elders to institutions, the elders will have
no face and feel this
child has no filial piety. To the child, other people will also
point their fingers at
him/her and say he/she has no filial piety because he/she sends
their elders to
institutions. Let’s think about it, this may not be compatible.

(Z2)
To a large extent, the respondents who saw western social work
as incompatible with
Chinese cultural beliefs noted the embedded nature of
Confucian ‘familism’—or the
priority of family—in the commonsensical or everyday beliefs
of Chinese people.
Family values run so deep that they have created a kind of
cultural practice that strongly
discourages people from seeking help from outside their family.
If they really need to
ask for help, as many respondents understood it, Chinese people
tended to follow a
‘differentiation mode of association’, a conceptual framework
of familial relationship
constructed by the late sociologist, Fei Xiaotung (1983).
According to this framework,
Chinese culture has a quasi-kinship system which extends from
the immediate family
flexibly outward to people who are seen by the family as part of
them (Yan, 1998). To
some respondents, this mode of association was very different
from the Judeo–
Christian beliefs of western social work which stress fraternity,

a love that is owed
equally to everyone. To these respondents, this hierarchical help
seeking practice was
incompatible with western social work, which is a form of
public service. In the
commonsensical world of China, public servants, even social
workers, are generally
perceived as guan (government officials). As some of them
mentioned, there is an old
Chinese maxim: even the best guan cannot judge the affairs
within one’s family.
In short, judging from the findings, the cultural compatibility
issue is inconclusive.
Partly, this is due to the internal inconsistent interpretation of
cultural beliefs by
different people, and partly, due to the nature of culture as a
constantly changing
phenomenon which is responsive to context. This is particularly
true of China which,
in the last three decades, has been undergoing rapid
transformation. Some students
are optimistic that the many incompatibilities between Chinese
high and low cultural
practices and western social work will soon disappear,

particularly in the urban areas.
(iii) Compatibility with dominant political ideology
So far, the communist government of China still insists that
socialism is its guiding
ideology although a market economy has become firmly
established in China. The
most recent policy goal is to establish a harmonious society in
China despite the fact
that its ultimate purpose is to ensure stability of society for its
economic boom. Many
respondents saw policy goals and purposes as having an
emphasis on human value
which was compatible with the humanistic nature of western
social work:
I feel that in the planned economy era, there may be some
conflicts. However, the
present market economic conditions, under the background of
global economy, are
compatible because our government is gradually changing itself,
gradually moving
towards humanization, human centred. It has gradually
borrowed the western
experiences in resolving social conflicts to handle China’s
social problems. (L4)

Nevertheless, respondents had numerous concerns about the way
in which the
liberal and humanistic nature of social work could work
harmoniously with existing
political ideology and practice. Intertwined with traditional
Chinese culture, the
dominant political ideology has a strong tendency towards
centralized control. The
government officials tend to have an omnipresent power in
determining people’s
lives. Many wonder, under the tight control of government, how
much freedom they
will have to help people:
China does not yet have a free political environment, which is a
crucial factor. …
Without a general sense of social mass participation and of the
need to fight for
one’s right, the development of social work is quite difficult.
For social work is to
encourage people to actively participate in their community, and
through their
own effort and the fight for social resources, they can change
their existing
conditions. (X3)
Respondents believed that social work as a form of helping that
requires a certain

level of autonomy was not compatible with centralized political
control in China. As
Z4 noted: ‘To me, social work is grounded in the society. … We
have to obey
government law and regulations too, but if we rely too much on
government, our
hands are tied in many aspects’. In brief, the respondents had an
optimistic view of
the recent policy changes which tended to put more emphasis on
human value but
were pessimistic about the tight political control of the regime
which had historically
cautioned against people’s freedom, a central principle and
value of western social
work.
(iv) Incorporation of unique aspects of Chinese culture
When asked how cultural incompatibility issues might be
resolved, the respondents
agreed that indigenization was needed:
[Social work] has to correspond to the mainstream Chinese
cultural tradition. I
think any new discipline to be adopted in China has to go
through a bentuhuade
(literally means indigenization) process because our traditional
Chinese culture is,

in fact, far too persistent. It’s been five, six thousand years. It’s
impossible for us to
just let go of so many thousand years of our traditional culture
so easily because of
the arrival of a foreign discipline. (L3)
One of the most commonly agreed cultural transformations of
this imported social
work—a Judeo–Christian based liberal humanistic helping
profession—was its
incorporation of ‘familism’, a fundamental component of both
high and low Chinese
cultural practices. Unlike western social work, almost all of the
respondents, in one
way or another, expressed the view that social work in China
must be grounded in
the familial nature of Chinese culture:
Because of the strong emphasis on family in Chinese culture,
particularly in this
aspect, particularly the significant role of family in some
fundamental contra-
dictions, the role of family will certainly become a
characteristic feature and be
reflected in the development of Chinese social work. In other
words, it is possible
that social work in China is not based on individual as a unit

but rather on the
family. I feel that in terms of management, it … in the actual
implementation
process, it will have a much better effect. Practising social work
from the point of
view of the individual as a unit may not be as effective as using
family as a unit.
(L8)
In addition, all agreed that cultural transformation has to fit the
dominant
ideology in China. Politically, given the existing political and
economic conditions,
social work in China must rely on the government. Most
respondents were quite
realistic. They agreed that instead of competing with these
existing indigenous
organizations, at least for the time being, social work in China
must yitu (rely on)
these organizations and the government:
… but now there’s no way, so many responsibilities are
undertaken by the
government. That’s why you need to have the support of the
government and then
integrate slowly. Take, for example, women’s work is supposed
to be carried out by
social workers, but now government has set up Women’s
Federation [a
government operated non-governmental organization (GONGO)]
to do social

work. But if Women’s Federation is to be cancelled, it is not
possible. This is why
you have to rely on Women’s Federation to solve problems
which are encountered
by women such as family violence, inequity of property
distribution due to divorce.
(Z2)
However, many saw the cultural transformation as a two-way
process. They hoped
that this newly imported social work would gradually transform
the bentude (literally
means indigenous) practices of these existing organizations:
To them [government officials], the influx of western culture is
a challenge and a
test, but changes need to be carried out step by step, that is, to
make this system
[existing government departments and GONGOs] an embracing
one in order to
enable the western stuff to be incorporated into these systems.
(X6)
3. Future Social Work in China
Many of these graduating student respondents found the future
of social work in
China too remote from their immediate personal career
interests. As mentioned
previously, few would look for jobs that were related to social
work. Although most

of them were disenchanted with the virtually non-existent social
work job market and
most believed that social work’s development in China would
not be simple and
straight forward, they saw a promising future for social work as
a measure to tackle
the social ills caused by economic reform; in other words, they
believed that the
fallout from future economic development would provide
opportunities for the
social work profession:
Social work in China is developing very fast now; the
development process of social
work is just coinciding with the rising economic period of
China. Along with the
economic development, the development of social work in
China will be getting
better and better. People’s knowledge level also keeps rising
and ideas continue to
be renewed. Social work will certainly be getting better and
better. (Y5)
Among the respondents, there was strong agreement that social
work can play
multifaceted roles that would be beneficial to society. These

roles include counsellor
for individuals and families, organizer in communities, poverty
relief worker for the
homeless, panhandlers and/or rural peasants, just to name a few.
These students are
hopeful that one day in China social workers would be found
not only in the urban
but also in rural areas; not only in the community and
government departments but
also in schools, hospitals, correctional facilities, senior homes,
and new NGOs.
As one student noted, the public has already started paying
attention to the
multiple roles that social work can play in various aspects of
Chinese society.
Say for example … the China Central Television Station has
once in its ‘‘Focus
Interview’’ programme introduced some new occupations which
included social
work. In the programme, they said social work could contribute
greatly to the
communities, the hospitals and helping homeless panhandlers.
They also reported
some social work practice activities. For example, they
mentioned how social work
could be practised in hospitals. (L7)
Respondents were hopeful that when more Chinese people

realized the benefits of
social work, they would accept it, especially given major reform
in China aimed at the
construction of a harmonious society and the massive structural
changes in Chinese
society which would create demand for professional social
workers’ services:
… social work’s development will become faster and faster, and
its scope bigger
and bigger. I think in the next couple of years, a sense of
general awareness will be
formed—whenever the word ‘‘social work’’ is mentioned,
everyone knows what
social work is about, what it does; knows the kind of service,
the kind of notion and
the kind of value system it is. (Y1)
Many respondents believed that a major obstacle to social
work’s development in
China would be lack of government support. Without
government support,
hundreds of social work graduates, like themselves, would be
out of work:
The most urgent problem is that students of over 200
universities in China are
going to graduate and enter the society, but our efforts will have
been wasted as
many social work students probably will have to find jobs in
other areas. Isn’t this

loss of professional students to other areas a waste of
resources? (Z3)
They hoped that the government would soon introduce
institutional changes and
not only classify social work as an occupation but also
recognize its professional
status by introducing a registration system. In addition,
promotion of the profession
was important. They also hoped that the government would take
the lead in
promoting social work. They firmly believed that when more
people came to know
about what social work was, they would accept this emerging
profession as a new
social measure of helping people to resolve their problems:
To raise the recognition status of social work, the government
has to support and
introduce it to various units and make them understand what
social work is about.
Various enterprising units will get to know social work more
and more. Not only
will enterprise units understand more and more about what
social work is, business
units as well as other units will too. Wait till some units which

need employees have
completely understood what social work is about and when they
feel the need, they
will start seeking help from social workers. (X4)
To conclude, the stories of these 32 graduating students indicate
that they have
gone through a rough process in the last three or four years.
Perhaps their roller
coaster experience may also reflect the struggle of the
development of social work in
China both in school and in the society at large. In their
opinion, the cultural
compatibility of social work with Chinese culture was not a
black and white issue,
particularly when cultures in China were themselves incoherent
and changing.
However, they did agree that social work in China must have its
own characteristics.
One of these characteristics is the cultural adaptation of western
social work. In
addition, social work in China, as they saw it, should be
contextually grounded in the
contemporary Chinese society which was generally recognized
as highly politically
controlled. This is particularly important when the support of

the government is so
critical to social work’s development in China. In their opinion,
without the
government support, even with its great potential, social work
would have a hard
time flourishing.
Conclusion
This exploratory study of graduating social work students from
a city in China
provides a ‘snapshot’ of the perspective of a particular group of
students. Given the
small-scale nature of the study, these findings cannot be
generalized to the wider
population of social work students or graduates in China.
Nevertheless, given the lack
of empirical information on social work’s development in
China, the perspectives of
these 32 students provide some, albeit not generalizable,
understanding of the current
situation and concerns about social work’s development in
China. The speed of social
work education’s development in China is almost beyond
comprehension. However,

as found in this study, there is another story to be told about the
‘roller coaster
experience’ of students, the majority of whom were assigned to
the social work
programme without their consent and without any prior
knowledge and under-
standing of what social work was about. As Yan and Cheung
(2006) observed, this
phenomenon is largely due to higher education reform which is
massively expanding
higher education but limiting the expansion to several selected
‘new’ disciplines,
social work being one of the chosen few.
The sudden expansion of social work education has led to
numerous problems,
such as a lack of professionally qualified social work academics
(see Table 1), teaching
materials, and field placements as documented in the literature.
However, despite all
of these difficulties, social work educators in China, at least as
reported by these 32

students, have achieved a great deal of success in nurturing a
new generation of social
work trained personnel. The experiences of these students
suggest that, in the end,
although this unwilling choice might not offer them an
immediate and prosperous
career, most of them believed that they had gone through a very
meaningful training
which would be useful to them personally regardless of what
they were going to do in
the future. Also, as indicated in the findings, most of them also
recognized the need
for and usefulness of social work for China. With this seed
firmly planted, there is a
good reason to believe that social work in China will gradually
flourish.
Nonetheless, to many of these students social work remains a
‘virtual occupation’.
The social work that they have learnt so far is an intellectual
construction of their
teachers who themselves mostly have no social work training
and experience. An
indigenized Chinese social work model is still far from being
realized. As reflected in

the literature, cultural compatibility is a continuing concern for
those pursuing the
indigenization of social work in China (e.g. Yan, 1998; Tsang
and Yan, 2001; Yuen-
Tsang, 2002; Yip, 2007). However, thus far, no concrete
proposal has been offered.
Learned from their teachers, most students interviewed
envisioned that social work in
China should match the Zhongguo guoqing (which roughly
means the unique
conditions of China), including its rich culture. Despite its
simplicity, the students of
this study offered a particular perspective which might, at least,
point to a first step in
the cultural indigenization of social work in China. To them,
social work in China, at
least in the near future, must reconcile with ‘familism’—a
cultural emphasis on the
importance of family—which is deeply embedded in Chinese
culture.
Furthermore, the ‘possibility’ of social work in China is limited
by the complete
absence of social work jobs in China which most of these
students found most

disappointing. Ironically, so far the development of social work
has been confined to
within higher education as an academic discipline. As a field of
practice, social work
is largely under-developed in China. Like their teachers, these
students also see that
the future development of social work in China lies in the hands
of the government.
In other words, the raison d’être of social work in China cannot
be detached from its
social assignment—a social safety valve to ensure social
stability and economic
prosperity. If this is true, then it is almost expected that social
work in China has a
very important political responsibility. Therefore, one of the so-
called Chinese
characteristics of social work in China, as most students
perceived, is a high level of
state stewardship.
Indeed, in December 2006, the China Communist Party issued a
resolution to
create a critical mass of social workers as part of the national
effort to build a
harmonious society in China. This resolution has led to a

national system of social
work registration under the leadership of the Ministry of Civil
Affairs. As announced
by the Deputy Minister, it is expected that a team of more than
100,000 registered
social workers at three different levels—advanced, intermediate
and junior—will be
created in five years (see
http://www.mca.gov.cn/sw/fugle_show6.asp). Yet, to this
group of students this news might have come too late.
Nevertheless, this development
has offered new hope and raised the morale of social work
educators and students in
China, although it is not known how registration would directly
affect the job
market.
To conclude, the speed and scale of social work’s development
in China is perhaps
the fastest and largest in the world since the inception of social
work in the Anglo–
American world a century ago. It has drawn increasing attention

from the
international social work community since social work in China
has the potential
to be larger than the whole profession of social work outside
China! Certainly, some
experiences in China, be they good or bad, are worth learning
about. This study offers
some evidence of current developments in China from the
students’—as yet
neglected—perspective. To understand this phenomenal
development more fully,
further research is needed.
Acknowledgement
We would like to thank Professor Mel Gray for her comments
and suggestions for
this paper.
Notes
[1] To prevent losing the original meaning, some key Chinese
terms are used in this paper and the
closest English interpretation is provided in parentheses.
[2] We use the term western only to simplify the discussion.
The authors would like to

acknowledge that both conceptually and empirically, there are
many ways of practising social
work and diverse discourses of what social work is in developed
countries.
References
Chi, I. (2005) ‘Social work in China’, International Social
Work, vol. 48, no. 4, pp. 371–379.
Fei, X. T. (1983) Xiangtu Zhongguo [Folklore China] (reprint of
1947 version), Phoenix Publishing
Co., Hong Kong.
Ku, H. B., Yeung, S. C. & Sung-Chan, P. (2005) ‘Search for a
capacity building model in social work
education in China’, Social Work Education, vol. 24, no. 2, pp.
213–233.
Leung, J. C. B. (1994) ‘The development of social work
education in China: issues and prospects’,
Asia Pacific Journal of Social Work, vol. 4, pp. 83–94.
Ngai, N.-P. (1996) ‘Revival of social work education in China’,
International Social Work, vol. 39,
no. 3, pp. 289–300.
Tsang, A. K. T. & Yan, M. C. (2001) ‘Chinese corpus, western
application: the Chinese strategy of
engagement with western social work discourse’, International
Social Work, vol. 44, no. 4,
pp. 433–454.
Tsang, K. T., Yan, M. C. & Shera, W. (eds) (2004) Snapshot of
Social Work Development in China:

Proceedings of International Conference in Social Work
Education Development in China in the
21st Century, Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto,
Toronto, Ontario.
Wong, Y. C. & Pearson, V. (2007) ‘Mission possible: building
social work professional identity
through fieldwork placement in China’, Social Work Education,
vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 292–310.
Xia, X. L. & Guo, J. (2002) ‘Historical development and
characteristics of social work in today’s
China’, International Journal of Social Welfare, vol. 11, July,
pp. 254–262.
Yan, M. C. (1998) ‘A social functioning discourse in Chinese
context: implication of developing
social work in mainland China’, International Social Work, vol.
41, no. 2, pp. 181–194.
Yan, M. C. & Cheung, K. W. (2006) ‘The politics of
indigenization: development of social work in
China’, Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, vol. 33, no. 2,
pp. 63–83.
Yan, M. C. & Tsang, A. K. T. (2005) ‘A snapshot on the
development of social work education in
China: a Delphi study’, Social Work Education, vol. 24, no. 8,
pp. 883–890.
Yan, M. C. & Tsang, K. T. A. (2008) ‘Re-envisioning
indigenization: when the bentuhuade and the

bentude social work intersect in China’, in Indigenous Social
Work Practice and Education
Around the World, eds M. Gray, J. Coate & M. Yellowbird,
Ashgate, London.
Yao, J. C. (1995) ‘The developing models of social work
education in China’, International Social
Work, vol. 38, pp. 27–38.
Yip, K. S. (2007) ‘Tensions and dilemmas of social work
education in China’, International Social
Work, vol. 50, no. 1, pp. 93–105.
Yuen-Tsang, A. W. K. W. S. (2002) ‘Tensions confronting the
development of social work
education in China: challenges and opportunities’, International
Social Work, vol. 45, no. 3,
pp. 375–388.
Appendix: Interview Guide
1. Why did you decide to study social work?
2. Please tell me how your teachers describe social work.
a. Please also tell me given what you are taught, how you will
define social work.
3. From what you know about social work, in what areas and
how, you think, social
work can contribute to the Chinese society.
4. Many people have said that social work is a western
construct. Please tell me how

you understand social work within the Chinese context.
a. Do you think the social work values you learned in class are
compatible with your
understanding of Chinese culture and the prevailing political
ideologies in China? If
yes, how? If no, how incompatible and how will you deal with
this incompatibility?
5. Please tell me, from your perspective as a social work
student, what are the major
problems of the development of social work in China?
6. What will you foresee for the future of social work in China?
7. What will you foresee for your own future as a social work
student?
8. Please name three major obstacles that you think are critical
to social work
development in China. Why these three?
Running Head: ROUGH DRAFT ASSIGNMENT
1
ROUGH DRAFT ASSIGNMENT
3

Rough Draft Assignment
Monica Santiago
MAT 540 Statistical Concepts for Research
Instructor: Taan ElAli
February 24, 2020
Several statistical techniques can get applied to a research
study. These techniques play a very integral role in the course
of research work. Some of the most used techniques, which I
will apply in my research paper, includes the application of
tables, charts and/ or graphs, the testing of the hypothesis as
well as inferential statistical analysis techniques or regression
and correlation analysis. In these draft work, I will focus more
on the analysis of the above three statistical methods.
First, the graphical analysis method is a typical visual aid
applied in the representation of statistical data. For instance, the
research study on the causes of death in the universe conducted
by Max Roser and Hana Ritchie heavily relies on the use of
tables, graphs, and charts to display quantitative data. The study
looks forward to establishing the stimulators and annual causes
of death in this world. It thus collects this information from
across the globe. Their application of these visual assistance

tools makes the audiences and the users of the research to form
a clear and quick understanding of the data. One can see that the
leading cause of death in the year 2016 from the global
perspective was the related heart complications (Richie& Roser,
2018).
The other tool is the test of hypothesis, which s very resourceful
in the collection of crucial information required for taking
significant moves and arriving at a solid decision. As per
Marchal, Linda, and Wathen, the test of hypothesis involves the
use of pieces of evidence from the sample, together with
probability theory in determining the truth of a given
hypothetical proposition (Linda, Marchal& Wathen, 2017). For
instance, Sears, Fishers, and Smith analyzed the hypothesis, to
determine the correlation between the presence of tobacco
smoke in the atmosphere and the risk attached as per the
research. The three writers hypothesized that the rise in the
aggregation of platelets and the formation of a clot in the blood
due to the exposure to tobacco smoke among the test subjects
increased their risks of cardiovascular diseases for up to a
whopping 34% ( Marchal (Fisher& Sears et al., 2010).
Kalla and Wilson defined the last statistical tool, inferential
statistical analysis, as the process of arriving at conclusions
about a population parameter by analyzing the sample results of
an experiment( Wilson& Kalla, 2016). For instance, a study got
conducted in Minnesota across fourteen schools to establish
how the physical exercises impacted the performance of the
students. Those fourteen schools undertook and added physical
body exercises into their school schedules. The results
demonstrated that physical fitness would increase the
performance of students in Mathematics by up to twenty-seven
percentage and reading proficiency among students by an
excellent twenty four percent. The researchers observed the
target students fo three years. The investigators concluded that
physical activities would lead to an improvement in the
performance among learners. The study did not as well find any
regression in the students' test scores de to the physical

exercises. This application of sample results improves the
reliability as well as the quality of the decision taken about a
target population (Howatt, 2018).
References
Fischer, T., Sears, S., & Smith, C. (2010, April 01).
Environmental Tobacco Smoke,
Cardiovascular Disease, and the Nonlinear Dose-Response
Hypothesis. Retrieved January 24, 2020, from
https://academic.oup.com/toxsci/article/54/2/462/1654166
Howatt, G. (2018, September 19). Exercise improves test
scores, the study of Minnesota students
finds 14 schools incorporated physical activity programs in
classrooms, plus yoga and other movements. Retrieved January
24, 2020, from http://www.startribune.com/exercise-improves-
test-scores-in-study-of-minnesota-students/462406323/
Wilson, L. T. & Kalla, S. (n.d.). Inferential Statistics. Retrieved
January 24, 2020, from
https://explorable.com/inferential-statistics
Lind, D. A., Marchal, W. G., & Wathen, S. A. (2017).
Statistical techniques in business and
economics. (17th ed.). Retrieved January 24, 2020, from
http://connect.mheducation.com/class/
Ritchie, H., & Roser, M. (2018, February). Causes of Death.
Retrieved January 24, 2020,
from https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death

Social Work Education, 2016
Vol. 35, no. 1, 78–88
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2015.1118451
© 2015 taylor & Francis
Stress, Anxiety, Resilience and Coping in Social Work Students
(A Study from India)
Selwyn Stanleya and G. Mettilda Bhuvaneswarib
aFaculty of Education, Health & Wellbeing, university of
Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, uk; bdepartment
of Social Work, cauvery college for Women, tiruchirappalli,
india
Social work is a rewarding but stressful occupation (Coffey,
Samuel, Collins, & Morris, 2014;
Collins, 2008). Social work is a high-stress profession that
involves working with people in
distressing circumstances such as victims of abuse, domestic
violence, substance misuse,
crime and other complex life situations. In recent years the
profession has been under
intense media scrutiny and social workers have had to work
under increasing organisational
constraints, budgetary limitations, the increasing need for
services, unmanageable case-
loads, changing policies and legislations adding to the pressure
under which social workers
operate. Not surprising then that according to Michael Wilshaw,
the average career span of a
social worker in the UK is only 8 years (Coughlan, 2013).
Stress has long been regarded as an
integral part of social work practice with many contributing

factors, including dealing with
people under stress and stress arising from organisational and
political contexts (Thompson,
Murphy, & Stradling, 1994). Several studies have looked at
issues relating to stress (e.g.
Coyle, Edwards, Hannigan, Fothergill, & Burnard, 2005),
resilience, job satisfaction, burn
out (e.g. Evans et al., 2006) and coping (e.g. Collins, 2008) in
professional social workers.
However not much attention has been paid to study similar
issues in students of social
work and most of the literature in this regard has emerged from
the experiences of students
ABSTRACT
Social work is a stressful occupation but continues to attract
large
numbers of students every year. This study was conducted by
undergraduate students of all three cohorts at a women’s-only
college
in Tiruchirapalli in South India (N = 73). Standardised
instruments to
assess stress, anxiety, resilience and coping were administered.
It was
seen that anxiety and stress levels were relatively higher in the
first-
and third-year students while compared to those in the second
year of
their course, while resilience and coping was relatively low in
the first-
year group. Correlations were significantly positive for the
stress and
anxiety scores as well as the coping and resilience scores.
However,
it was seen that only the anxiety scores significantly predicted

the
manifestation of stress in the students. Implications of the
findings
and the limitations of the study have also been discussed.
KEYWORDS
Social work students; social
work education; anxiety;
stress; resilience; coping
ARTICLE HISTORY
received 24 June 2015
accepted 5 november 2015
CONTACT Selwyn Stanley [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]
SoCIal Work EduCaTIon 79
in developed Western societies. Given the rigorous nature of
training and high expectations
associated with professional conduct and value-based practice
makes social work education
a demanding task for those who opt to choose social work as a
career. A brief review of this
literature indicates that students of social work show high levels
of psychological distress
(Tobin & Carson, 1994). Often this could be due to being
exposed to issues of poverty, child
abuse, discrimination and cycles of hopelessness (Koeske &
Koeske, 1991) associated with
the nature of the profession. For many these are first-time
encounters with such real-life
situations and could be a hard-hitting experience. Rigorous

academic demands, coursework,
assessments and having to meet deadlines add to the pressure on
students along with the
intense demands of meeting agency requirements while on
placement. Stressors associated
with field placements have been well documented (Goldblatt &
Buchbinder, 2003; Razack,
2001; Weaver, 2000). In addition, many social work students in
countries like the UK tend
to be mature learners, with families to take care of as well as
childcare responsibilities and
need to balance the demands of domestic and academic life
(Collins, Coffey and Morris,
2010). Added to this are the huge loans that students often incur
to fund their education
and living expenses.
These issues have not been investigated comprehensively in
India where there are sev-
eral Universities and affiliated colleges offering undergraduate
and postgraduate courses in
social work and the latter far outnumber the undergraduate
courses. The Indian educational
scenario is quite different from that in the West. Students fresh
out of school seek admission
in higher education in universities and colleges before moving
into the employment sector.
As such those entering undergraduate courses (including social
work) are predominantly in
the 17–18-year age group with hardly any life experience unlike
their western counterparts
who bring with them some work/life experience when they start
higher education. Expenses
on education are met by parents even if educational loans are
availed for their children.

The social work curriculum also requires students to study
additional ‘mandatory’ sub-
jects such as English and the vernacular or other optional
subjects. Field placements usually
are offered in the final year of the degree and tend to be quite
intense involving weekly report
writing and meeting curricular expectations relating to
practicing methods of social work
(such as casework, group work and community development
activities) with individuals,
groups and communities. Placements are usually with third-
sector agencies involved with
developmental activities in villages and slum communities. The
lack of trained social work-
ers in many placement agencies puts the onus of supervision
largely on academic tutors to
whom students are assigned for the duration of the placement.
While the theoretical con-
tent is similar to what is taught in the west, the emphasis on
reflective practice emphasised
in the west, is not something which undergraduate students in
India are well acquainted
with. Assessments are through mid-term and end-of-
term/semester examinations and the
emphasis is on ‘knowledge’ and being able to present their
reading in these written exam-
inations which usually last for 3 h and are marked not by their
subject teacher but usually
by a pool of anonymous examiners. Added to this is the
awareness that at the end of three
intense years of study they will be entering a profession that is
neither as remunerative as
other vocations, nor enjoys the kind of social standing,
acceptance or recognition that other
professions do. The complexity of being a social work student
in India or elsewhere hence

is undoubtedly an immense stressor and requires a great deal of
resilience and coping skills
to meet the demands of academia.
80 S. STanlEy and G. METTIlda BHuvanESWarI
However there has hardly been any research on the experience
of undergraduate social
work students in India. A search of publications on these issues
relating to social work
students in India turned up only one publication which
compared undergraduate students
of social work from the UK with those from colleges in south
India on issues relating to
stress, support and well-being (Coffey et al., 2014). The study
found that British students
reported significantly higher levels of demands and
significantly lower levels of support but
manifested significantly higher levels of well-being than their
Indian counterparts.
Anxiety has been defined as ‘an unpleasant emotional state or
condition which is char-
acterised by subjective feelings of tension, apprehension and
worry, and by activation or
arousal of the autonomic nervous system’ (Spielberger, 1972, p.
482). Stress has been defined
as a ‘particular relationship between the person and the
environment that is appraised by
person as taxing or exceeding his or her resources and
endangering his or her well-being’
(Lazarus & Folkman, 1984, p. 19). Both individual and
contextual factors influence the expe-
rience of stress, as well as the individual’s cognitive perception

and behavioural responses to
the perceived stressor. Anxiety then is an aversive emotional
state that one may experience
when faced with a stressful situation. Related to the experience
of stress and anxiety is the
ability to deal or cope with the perceived stressor. Lazarus and
Folkman (1984) define coping
as ‘constantly changing cognitive and behavioural efforts to
manage specific external and/
or internal demands that are appraised as taxing or exceeding
the resources of the person’
(p. 141). Resilience is seen as a characteristic that enables
individuals not only to overcome
adversity but also to thrive when facing a crisis (Richardson,
2002). It refers to ‘the potential
to exhibit resourcefulness by using available internal and
external resources in response to
different contextual and developmental challenges’ (Pooley &
Cohen, 2010, p. 34).
This study seeks to explore the experience of undergraduate
work students from India in
terms of the anxiety and stress experienced by them as well as
to ascertain their resilience
and extent of coping that they bring to dealing with these
issues. As far as we are aware this
is the first study which has dealt with such variables and
compares their manifestation in
students across all three years of their degree. Another unique
feature of this study is that
the respondents have been drawn from an undergraduate social
work programme run by
a college exclusively for women.
Objectives of the Study

(1) To portray the socio-demographic profile of undergraduate
students of social work
in a women’s college in Tiruchirappalli, India.
(2) To assess the manifestation of dimensions such as stress,
anxiety, resilience and
coping in these students.
(3) To compare students of different stages/years of their
degree course across these
dimensions.
(4) To ascertain correlations if any between these subject
dimensions and with
socio-demographic variables.
(5) To identify which of the subject dimensions studied predict
stress levels in the
respondents.
Methods
Research Design
The study used survey methodology for data collection and is
cross-sectional in nature. A
descriptive design that includes elements of a comparative
nature to enable comparisons
among different categories of respondents as well as between
year groups of students has
also been followed.

Measures
(1) Self-prepared schedule to collect socio-demographic data.
(2) Anxiety and stress subscales of the Depression, Anxiety and
Stress scales (DASS 21)
Lovibond and Lovibond (1995) were administered to the
respondents. They were
required to rate each item on a scale from 0 to 1 based on
whether the statement
applied to them or not. Higher scores reflect higher levels of
stress and anxiety.
(3) The Connor–Davidson Resilience scale (2003) (CD-RISC)
comprises 25 items, each
rated on a 5-point scale (0–4), with higher scores reflecting
greater resilience. It
measures the notion of personal competence, high standards,
and tenacity, toler-
ance of negative affect, the positive acceptance of change, and
secure relationships,
control and spiritual influences.
(4) Coping was assessed with the Brief Cope Scale (Carver,
1997) and has 26 items
that measure aspects such as: Self-distraction, Venting, Active
coping, Positive
reframing, Denial, Planning, Self-blame, Use of emotional
support, Humour, Use
of instrumental support, Acceptance, Behavioural
disengagement and Religion.
Setting for the Study
Tamilnadu is the southernmost state in India and shares its
borders with the adjacent states

of Kerala and Karnataka. The state capital is Chennai (formerly
Madras) and the vernacular
spoken in the state is Tamil which has a rich Dravidian heritage.
As per details from Census
2011, Tamil Nadu has a population of 7.21 crores, and forms
5.96% of the total population
of India with a sex ratio of 996. The population density is 1437
to a square mile and the
overall literacy rate for the state is 80.09%. Tiruchirappalli,
also known as Trichy or Tiruchi
was known as Trichinopoly in colonial times and is
geographically located almost centrally
in the state. It is located on the banks of the river Cauvery and
is a major hub for the Indian
Railways and also a leading centre for education.
Cauvery College is a college for women and a leading provider
of higher education in
the city. It is a self-financing college (receives no Government
funds) that was established
in 1984 and is run by a private educational trust. It is an arts
and science college affiliated
to the Bharathidasan University and offers fourteen
undergraduate three-year degree pro-
grammes and nine two-year postgraduate courses including
social work at both levels. The
college caters to about 4000 students at all levels.
Data Collection
Permission for the study was obtained from the Principal of the
college and was cleared

by the ethics review panel of the institution. Students in each
year (stages 1, 2 and 3) of
the social work undergraduate degree were briefed about the
nature of the study. It was
emphasised that participation was entirely voluntary and that
they could stop filling up the
questionnaires at any point without assigning any reasons and
would not be contacted again.
They were also told that their non-participation or
discontinuation would in no way have
any influence on their academic life in the college. Informed
consent was obtained from
students of each year group who turned up for being enlisted as
respondents for the study.
Data was collected on predetermined dates at the beginning of
the academic year in June
2014, collectively from each year group by the second author
who was available during the
session for any clarifications relating to the items of the
questionnaires. Respondents were
not required to provide their name, roll number or any other
personal identifying data.
Respondents of the Study
Data were collected from 73 students who offered to participate
and turned up for data
collection and details of students enrolled in each year as well
as those enlisted for the study
are presented in Table 1.
Results
Socio-demographic Profile of Respondents
The mean age of the respondents was 18.59 and ranged from 16

to 24 years, the majority
(68.5%) being in the 18–19-year age group. The vast majority
came from Hindu families
(90.4%) and the remaining from a Christian background. The
majority (68.5%) of students
came from a rural background and from nuclear families
(83.6%). 43.8% of them had only
one sibling and 46.6% were the eldest child in the family. The
vast majority (79.5%) had
previously gone to schools where the medium of instruction was
Tamil (vernacular) and
the remaining had attended English medium schools. The
majority of these schools (57.5%)
were located in rural areas. The majority of students during
their school days (78.1%) as
well as currently in college (64.4%) lived with their parents and
the remaining stayed/were
staying in student hostels. Educational background of parents
was considerably low with the
majority of parents having studied at different levels up to
higher secondary school. 2.7%
of fathers and 15% of mothers had never been to school. The
father was the main bread-
winner in most families and the majority (50.7%) were engaged
in farming or employed as
casual labourers (called ‘coolie’ in the vernacular), while the
majority (76.7%) of mothers
were homemakers and not in paid employment. The reported
total monthly family income
Table 1. table depicting the number of Students Enrolled and
Enlisted for the Study.
year/stage of study Students enrolled respondents
1 39 34
2 32 22

3 28 17
total 99 73
ranged from Rupees 1000 to 70,000 with a mean of Rupees
11,100 (approx. 178 USD) per
month. The socio-demographic profile reflects a lower middle-
class background with low
parental levels of education and income.
Regarding their motivation to do a social work degree the
majority reported it was
encouragement received from family and friends (56%) and 30%
said they were influenced
by their former teachers. The majority (84%) said their career
aspiration was to become
a social worker/counsellor with others wanting to join other
professions. 98.6% felt that
they had made the right choice of joining this degree and used
words like happy (16.4%),
interesting (27.4%) and useful (24.7%) when asked their
opinion about the course. When the
2nd- and 3rd-year students were asked if the course had changed
them in any way, some of
the responses received were that it had increased their
awareness of social problems (23%);
they had started helping others (24%), and that it had changed
their behaviour (13%) and
attitude (8%) towards others; however, 24% felt that the course
had not brought about any
significant change in them.
Stress, Anxiety, Resilience and Coping

Table 2 shows the extent to which students of all three years
manifested the subject
dimensions.
Table 2 shows that stress and anxiety levels are high in newly
admitted students (1st year)
and highest in 3rd-year students but lower in students in their
2nd year. However, both
resilience and coping scores increase with the year of study
being lowest in the 1st year and
highest in the final year of the course.
Table 2. distribution of respondents by Mean Scores on Subject
dimensions and Year of Study.
year of study Stress anxiety resilience Coping
1 8.56 8.85 64.32 65.79
2 4.94 6.59 69.82 68.00
3 11.82 12.55 74.68 75.27
Table 3. one Way analysis of Variance based on Year of Study
for all Subject dimension.
variable Source df Sum of squares Mean square F p
Stress Between groups 2 454.77 227.39 21.04 0.000
Within groups 70 756.60 10.81
total 72 1211.37
anxiety Between groups 2 362.13 181.07 11.18 0.000
total 72 1495.97
resilience Between groups 2 1459.84 729.92 3.46 0.037
Within groups 70 14770.68 211.01

total 72 16230.52
coping Between groups 2 1230.10 615.05 8.05 0.001
total 72 6580.02
Ta
bl
e
4.
t
te
st
r
es
ul
ts
o
n
S
ub
je
ct
d

im
en
si
on
s
an
d
S
el
ec
te
d
S
oc
io
-d
em
og
ra
p
h
ic
V
ar

ia
b
le
s.
n
ot
e:
F
ig
ur
es
in
p
ar
en
th
es
es
a
re
re
sp
on
d

en
t n
um
b
er
s.
*d
f =
7
1;
p
>
0
.0
5.
va
ri
ab
le
s
St
re
ss

*
a
n
xi
et
y*
r
es
ili
en
ce
*
C
o
p
in
g
*
M
ea
n
Sd
t
M

ea
n
Sd
t
M
ea
n
Sd
t
M
ea
n
Sd
t
n
at
iv
it
y
ru
ra
l (
50
)

8.
76
3.
99
0.
19
9.
10
4.
51
0.
93
68
.3
8
14
.8
2
0.
29
69
.8
0
9.

32
0.
84
u
rb
an
(2
3)
8.
57
4.
44
10
.1
7
4.
67
69
.4
7
15
.7
3
67

.7
8
10
.1
4
M
ed
iu
m
o
f
in
st
ru
ct
io
n
En
g
lis
h
(1
5)

8.
80
3.
99
0.
11
8.
53
4.
16
0.
86
67
.2
7
13
.8
2
0.
42
68
.5
3
9.

02
0.
29
ta
m
il
(5
8)
8.
67
4.
17
9.
67
4.
67
69
.1
0
15
.4
0
69
.3

3
9.
76
re
si
d
en
ti
al
st
at
us
H
os
te
lle
rs
(2
6)
8.
46
4.

40
0.
37
9.
08
5.
18
0.
50
69
.4
6
12
.4
6
0.
31
70
.6
9
8.
93
1.
02

d
ay
s
ch
ol
-
ar
s
(4
7)
8.
83
3.
96
9.
64
4.
22
68
.3
2
16
.3
7

68
.3
2
9.
88
One Way Analysis of Variance
In the next phase of analysis, students of all three years were
compared with regard to the
subject dimensions using one way analysis of variance, results
of which are presented in
Table 3. The results indicate significant statistical differences
on all the subject dimensions
based on their year of study. Post hoc Scheffe analyses reveal
that the differences were sig-
nificant between all the three cohorts (1st- & 2nd-year; 2nd- &
3rd-year as well as 1st- &
3rd-year students) for the stress, anxiety as well as coping
scores. However, for the resilience
scores the difference was statistically significant only for the
1st- and 3rd-year students (but
not between 1st- & 2nd-year or 2nd- & 3rd-year students).
t Test Comparisons
Students were then compared based on differences in socio-
demographic variables such
as rural/urban background; medium of instruction prior to

joining the social work degree
(in school) and whether they were hostellers or day scholars. t
Test results in Table 4 show
no significant differences among respondents differentiated on
these variables (N = 73).
Correlational Analysis
Pearsons correlation coefficients were computed among the
subject dimensions studied as
well as with other numerical background variables such as age,
duration of parents’ edu-
cation and their income. The inter-correlation matrix (Table 5)
shows highly significant
positive correlations between the anxiety and stress scores as
well as the resilience and
coping scores for all students. Significant correlations are also
seen between the stress and
coping scores as well. In terms of background factors there is a
significant positive correla-
tion between the age of the students’ and coping (r = 0.27;
p < 0.05). A negative correlation
was seen between fathers’ education (number of years) and
students’ anxiety (r = −0.27;
p < 0.05) and their mothers’ income and stress levels (r = −0.25;
p < 0.05). However fathers’
income, mothers’ education, number of siblings or students’
birth order did not enter into
any significant correlations with any of the subject dimensions.
Multiple Regression Analysis
A multiple regression was conducted to see if anxiety,
resilience and level of coping predicted
the manifestation of stress in the respondents. Using the enter
method it was found from the

ANOVA table that resilience, coping and anxiety levels
explained a significant amount of
the variance (47%) in the manifestation of stress in the students
(F (3, 62) = 20.22, p < 0.001,
Table 5. inter-correlation Matrix for Subject dimensions.
*p < 0.05.
**p < 0.001.
dimensions Stress anxiety resilience Coping
Stress 1 0.68** 0.16 0.20*
anxiety 0.68** 1 0.19 0.18
resilience 0.16 0.19 1 0.48**
coping 0.20* 0.18 0.48** 1
R2 = 0.47, R2
Adjusted
= 0.45). The analysis also showed that resilience (β = 0.02, t
(69) = 0.14 ns)
and coping (β = 0.09, t (69) = 0.92 ns) did not significantly
predict the manifestation of
stress. However the level of anxiety significantly did predict the
level of stress experienced
by the respondents (β = 0.67, t (69) = 7.40, p < 0.001).
Implications
The findings suggest that both 1st- and 3rd-year social work
undergraduate students need
extra measures to deal with the anxiety and stress that they

experience. For 1st-year stu-
dents this means that conscious attention needs to be paid
during the induction of students
as soon as they enrol on the programme. At present this is not
being done in a planned
manner to brief students about the nature of the course, the
institutional ethos, the subjects
that they will be taught and aspects relating to assignments,
examinations, evaluation and
other academic requirements. They also need to be made aware
of various institutional
procedures, infrastructure and support systems available to
them. A one-week ‘induction
programme’ could be planned by the department to orient the
freshers about these issues. It
is also suggested that the academic lead (staff member) for the
1st-year cohort should meet
with the whole group at least once a month to enable students to
vocalise their difficulties
and to seek clarification on various issues that they perceive to
be difficult. Student tutorials
are a practice that could immensely benefit students in the first
year and the department
may consider assigning four or five students to a named tutor
who has weekly/fortnightly
meetings with these students, enables them to share their
anxieties and to seek support and
clarification from their tutor.
Final-year students could also benefit from such support
systems (tutor groups, monthly
cohort meetings) being put into place. Their anxieties usually
revolve around clearing their
final examination and any arrears (examinations not passed in
the previous years) that add
to their academic baggage, anxieties relating to whether to

pursue a postgraduate degree
or to explore vocational options. Social work is not seen as a
remunerative career option
and the pressure to economically contribute to one’s family of
origin, which has funded
their education, is often an issue for many first-generation
learners. The title of ‘social
worker’ is not protected by statute and there is increasing
competition in the employment
market from students from allied disciplines. Most social work
students will eventually
find employment in the private/voluntary sector which is a
thriving but largely unregulated
area of employment. A series of sessions inviting well-placed
alumni of the department to
share experiences with students in the final year will serve as a
morale booster. Many of
them would be under pressure from their families to get married
on course completion.
Completion of higher education is frequently perceived as a
milestone, the attainment of
which is often indicative that women are ready for marriage
unless they have serious career
intentions. A personal tutor assigned to them will enable them
to better navigate difficulties
and anxieties in their personal and academic lives.
Limitations
The absence of a comparative group of non-social work students
from other degree
programmes limit drawing inferences relating whether the
manifestation of the subject

dimensions on the social work degree is relatively ‘high’ or
‘low’ when compared to students
from other degree programmes.
The cross-sectional nature of the study does not provide an
insight if the dimensions
studied increase or decrease over time as students progress from
one year to the next of
their degree.
A major limitation in terms of statistical analyses is that it does
not take into consider-
ation how life experiences have shaped the personality of
individuals which could have a
major impact in how resilience develops and influences
perceptions relating to life events
and stressors.
Features unique to the design and delivery of taught content as
well as those that arise
from the placement experiences of students owing to contextual
factors limit the generali-
sation of findings to other undergraduate social work
programmes in India and elsewhere.
As the respondents were drawn from a women’s college only, it
is not possible to say
whether the experiences of students in colleges for men only or
in co-educational institu-
tions is similar.
Conclusion
This study compared students across three years of their

undergraduate social work degree
in a women’s college in Trichy, Tamil Nadu, India. In spite of
the limitations pointed out
earlier, this study adds to the extant literature on undergraduate
social work student expe-
riences in India. It shows that entrants to the degree and those
in the final year of their
course experience more stress and anxiety when compared to
students in the second year.
For students in the first year of study this could be owing to
uncertainties relating to the
‘newness’ of their programme of study and the nature of the
programme which is quite
‘different’ from conventional academic degrees. For third-year
students, this could be due
to anxieties relating to employment and career. Also for many
women students’ getting a
college degree is also seen as the right time to get married and
start a family and there could
be anxieties relating to this. The findings of the study point
towards the need to provide
additional support services for students to deal with their
personal situation and experiences
of student life. This is particularly important to strengthen
coping strategies, providing them
with opportunities for ventilation, provision of guidance and
psychological support and to
thereby enable them to manage their anxieties in a more
appropriate manner.
Acknowledgement
The authors thank the Principal (Dr. V. Sujatha) and the Head
of the Social Work Department
(Dr. G. Kanaga) of Cauvery College for Women,
Tiruchirappalli, India for enabling the execution

of this study.
References
Carver, C. S. (1997). You want to measure coping but your
protocol is too long: Consider the brief
cope. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 4, 92–100.
Coffey, M., Samuel, U., Collins, S., & Morris, L. (2014). A
comparative study of social work students
in India and the UK: Stress, support and well-being. British
Journal of Social Work, 44, 163–180.
Collins, S. (2008). Statutory social workers: Stress, job
satisfaction, coping, social support and
individual differences. British Journal of Social Work, 38,
1173–1193.
Collins, S., Coffey, M., & Morris, L. (2010). Social work
students: Stress, support and well-being.
British Journal of Social Work, 40, 963–982.
Connor, K. M., & Davidson, J. R. (2003). Development of a
new resilience scale: The Connor–
Davidson resilience scale (CD-RISC). Depression and Anxiety,
18, 76–82.
Coughlan, S. (2013, October 15). Wilshaw’s tough message on
child protection services. BBC News.
Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-24533502
Coyle, D., Edwards, D., Hannigan, B., Fothergill, A., &

Burnard, P. (2005). A systematic review of
stress among mental health social workers. International Social
Work, 48, 201–211.
Evans, S., Huxley, P., Gately, C., Webber, M., Mears, A.,
Pajak, S., … Katona, C., (2006). Mental health,
burnout and job satisfaction among mental health social workers
in England and Wales. The British
Journal of Psychiatry, 188, 75–80.
Goldblatt, H., & Buchbinder, E. (2003). Challenging gender
roles: The impact on female social worker
students of working with abused women. Journal of Social Work
Education, 39, 255–265.
Koeske, G. F., & Koeske, R. D. (1991). Student “burnout” as a
mediator of the stress-outcome
relationship. Research in Higher Education, 32, 415–431.
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, coping and
adaptation. New York, NY: Springer.
Lovibond, P. F., & Lovibond, S. H. (1995). The structure of
negative emotional states: Comparison
of the depression anxiety stress scales (DASS) with the beck
depression and anxiety inventories.
Behaviour Research and Therapy, 33, 335–343.
Pooley, J. A., & Cohen, L. (2010). Resilience: A definition in
context. Australian Community
Psychologist, 22, 30–37.
Razack, N. (2001). Diversity and difference in the field
education encounter: Racial minority students
in the practicum. Social Work Education, 20, 219–232.

Richardson, G. E. (2002). The metatheory of resilience and
resiliency. Journal of Clinical Psychology,
58, 307–321.
Spielberger, C. D. (1972). Anxiety-current trends and theory.
New York, NY: Academic Press.
Thompson, N., Murphy, M., & Stradling, S. (1994). Dealing
with stress. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Tobin, P. J., & Carson, J. (1994). Stress and the student social
worker. Social Work & Social Sciences
Review, 5, 246–255.
Weaver, H. N. (2000). Culture and professional education: The
experiences of native American social
workers. Journal of Social Work Education, 36, 415–428.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-24533502
Copyright of Social Work Education is the property of
Routledge and its content may not be
copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv
without the copyright holder's
express written permission. However, users may print,
download, or email articles for
individual use.
AbstractObjectives of the StudyMethodsResearch
DesignMeasuresSetting for the StudyData
CollectionRespondents of the StudyResultsSocio-demographic
Profile of RespondentsStress, Anxiety, Resilience and
CopingOne Way Analysis of Variancet Test
ComparisonsCorrelational AnalysisMultiple Regression
AnalysisImplicationsLimitationsConclusionAcknowledgementR
eferences

Imagining Social Work A QualitativeStudy of Students’ Persp.docx

Imagining Social Work A QualitativeStudy of Students’ Persp.docx

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to Imagining Social Work A QualitativeStudy of Students’ Persp.docx

Similar to Imagining Social Work A QualitativeStudy of Students’ Persp.docx (20)

More from sheronlewthwaite

More from sheronlewthwaite (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Imagining Social Work A QualitativeStudy of Students’ Persp.docx