Sixty first year students in the Portland State University School of Social Work were given the Baker--Schulberg Community Mental Health Ideology Scale. The resultant scores are reported for Community Mental Health Training Project (CMHTP) Students, Direct Service Students and Planning Students. The Scores are compared with each other and with the original norming groups for the instrument. CMHTP students were found to have a significantly stronger adherence to the community mental health ideology than other students, but all groups examined were found to be sympathetic to the ideology.

According to a front page editorial in the Wall Street Journal of January 27, 1976, the major barriers to employment of eight million disabled people are attitudinal. Understanding of attitudes - their sources, and their dynamics - must be achieved in order to progress toward a goal of acceptance of handicapped persons as full and equal partners in our society.

Objectives: Few research studies have analyzed college students' attitudes of health reform caused by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Specifically, no studies exist looking at undergraduate and graduate social work students' views on current health reform. The study will ask two questions: (1) What do Social Work students know about the components and potential impacts of the ACA, and (2) Are there any characteristics of students associated with their level of knowledge or attitudes about the Act? Methods: A 53-item survey questionnaire inquiring knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions related to health reform and the Affordable Care Act was dispersed to a convenience sample of 105 undergraduate and graduate social work students from the University of Central Florida School of Social Work in January-February 2014. Results: Students had favorable views on how the health reform will be funded and how health reform could support specific social issues such as acknowledging the need for reform and believing health care should be a basic right. There were fewer clear trends in students' attitudes about reform implementation and knowledge of specific ACA provisions. There were no significant associations between student's knowledge of the ACA and their insurance status or political affiliation. Conclusions: Students' beliefs on health reform are inconsistent. Ethnicity was the only demographic characteristic that affected students' views. This study advocates the need for more in-depth health policy education within the social work program curriculum.

Women have continually become more visible in the military. With the recent changes that now allow women to participate in direct combat occupations, various questions and concerns emerge about how the public perceives these new role changes for women. This exploratory-descriptive study examined the perceptions of 50 University social work student's (B.S.W. and M.S.W.) about women's roles in the military. This research was conducted using Qualtrics.com, and included demographic questions. Frequencies, chi-squares and cross tabulations were used to examine relationships between variables. The results indicated that although no significant relationship between these variables was found, other possible considerations on the topic emerged. One important, though not statistically significant finding of this study was that social work students are accepting of women in the military. This research has implications for social work education as well as, in practice. Evaluating social work student perceptions toward women serving in the military can lead to a better understanding of biases against women in military roles.

Despite recent advancements in legislation and policies regarding gay and lesbian Americans, negative attitudes and perceptions toward this population still exist. Anecdotal information from social work classroom interactions suggests that biases against gays and lesbian families may exist among those being trained as helping professionals. This study examined social work student comfort with gay and lesbian families. The researcher used an exploratory-descriptive research design, with a sample of 85 Bachelors level social work students (BSW) and Masters level social work students (MSW) who completed the 52 item online questionnaire related to gay and lesbian parenting. The findings from the research suggest the presence of a statistically significant relationship between students' attitudes towards gays and lesbians and students' comfort level with same sex parents. The researcher discusses the significance of the study and the implications for social work practice and education.

The purpose of this study is to analyse and describe social work students’ view on a person with self-injurious behaviour and the following issues. The aim and focus is on the general depiction. The theoretical perspectives have been intersectionality and its focus on social constructivism, and gender perspectives. The method was semi-structured interviews with eight social work students at Linnaeus University Kalmar. The collected data was the social work students’ opinions and it was contrasted with the previous research and was analysed from the above perspectives. The main conclusion is that social work students’ view on a person with self-injurious behaviour generally not consistent with the previous research. Previous research says that a person with self-injurious behaviour generally is a young, blonde, normal female. The majority of the social work students say that a person with self-injurious behaviour is a depressed, young female with dark hair and dark clothes. The social work students focus more on why a person goes to such extremes and hurts themselves.

Aim. This study examines the attitudes of social work students towards LGBT-persons, and whether the students perceive that the content of the social work program provides competence on LGBT related questions. The theoretical frame of reference is based upon queer theory. Method. A quantitative method was adopted to address the aims and objectives of this study. The study is limited to comprise of social work students from 3-7 semesters, from a Swedish university. A survey based upon earlier surveys and containing 41 statements was translated from English to Swedish. The survey was emailed to 245 social work students through the university’s email system.  Results. Findings suggest that the majority of the social work students demonstrate tolerant attitudes towards LGBT-persons while a minority show negative attitudes. Further results suggest that most students do not believe that the educational content of the social work program sufficiently addresses LGBT related questions. The majority of the social work students estimates their competence in LGBT-questions as neutral or neither. The results further show a significant negative correlation between attitudes towards LGBT-persons and educational content, as well as between content and competence. Significant differences between semesters and perceived educational content was found. Conclusion. The study concludes a low level of heterosexism among social work students, a lack of competence of LGBT-related questions and an insufficient course content. The results partially confirm the study's hypotheses but also indicate other correlations. Course content offering more in-depth insights into LGBT-issues is seen as an area of improvement within the social work program. To conclude, this study is the first to investigate the subject at national level and therefore further research within this field is both suggested and recommended. / Syfte. Denna studie undersöker socionomstudenters attityder gentemot LHBT-personer och huruvida de anser att utbildningsinnehållet på socionomprogrammet ger kompetens om LHBT-frågor. Studiens teoretiska referensram är baserad på queerteori. Metod. Studien använder kvantitativ metod för att besvara studiens syfte. Studien är avgränsad till att innefatta socionomstudenter mellan termin 3–7 på ett lärosäte i Sverige. Enkäten innehåller 41 påståenden vilka är baserade på tidigare studier. Påståendena är översatta från engelska till svenska och har mailats till 245 socionomstudenter via lärosätets mailsystem. Resultat. Enkätstudiens svar fann att de flesta socionomstudenter uppvisar toleranta attityder gentemot LHBT-personer, men att det också finns studenter som uppvisar negativa attityder. Vidare framkommer att de flesta studenter upplever att utbildningsinnehållet på socionomprogrammet berör LHBT-frågor i låg utsträckning. Majoriteten av socionomstudenterna skattar sin kompetens om LHBT-frågor som varken eller. Resultaten visar att det finns ett signifikant negativt samband mellan attityder och utbildningsinnehåll samt mellan utbildningsinnehåll och upplevd kompetens. Signifikanta skillnader går att finna mellan terminer och upplevt utbildningsinnehåll. Slutsats. Sammanfattningsvis fann studien en låg grad av heterosexism bland socionomstudenter, en avsaknad av kompetens kring LHBT-frågor samt bristande utbildningsinnehåll. Resultaten bekräftar delvis studiens hypoteser men påvisar också andra samband. Kursinnehåll som mer specifikt behandlar LHBT-frågor ses som ett förbättringsområde på socionomprogrammet. Den aktuella studien är den första att undersöka ämnet på nationell nivå och vidare forskning inom ämnet föreslås och rekommenderas.

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The social services in Sweden currently face significant issues regarding recruitment and layoffs. A substantial portion of the public debate and media coverage casts a negative light on social services. The aim of this study is to examine the attitudes of future social workers towards social services as an employer. Furthermore, the study aims to investigate how social work students perceive and are influenced by both public perceptions and negative media coverage. This study is based on semi-structured interviews with six social work students in their seventh semester at Malmö University. Social interactionism is used as the theoretical framework for analyzing the collected data material. The data has been analyzed using thematic analysis. The results indicate that the majority of social work students hold a negative view of social services as a future employer. They also perceive public attitudes as primarily negative, with the negative media reporting having a significant role in shaping these negative perceptions of the social services. The results further demonstrate that social work students have adapted various behaviors to cope with the public attitudes both privately and professionally. A key finding is that social work students' prior experiences and associations with social services strongly influence their prospective choice of employer. The findings of this study show that social work students experience prejudice and a lack of understanding for their occupation. This perception is embedded in the public's ignorance and the media's negative coverage. The results suggest a need for increased awareness about the profession's nature and complexity among the general public.

This essay investigates the attitudes of social work students’ from Stockholm University, Sweden, towards people with autism and ADHD. The students participated in focus groups, where they discussed their thoughts and potential actions in the meeting with people with autism and ADHD. Through a thematic analysis, we identified the four following themes: perceptions; ignorance and its consequences; adaptation and actions tendencies; and needs of change. The results were then analyzed with a classic attitude theory. The results show that social work students mostly have positive attitudes towards people with autism and ADHD and that it is important to consider them like anybody else and to have knowledge about the disabilities, which leads to a helping and supporting preparedness towards them. Social work student has a strong will to help people with autism and ADHD but sometimes feel that society and organizations prevent them from doing so. In conclusion, social work students have a caring attitude, wants more knowledge about diagnoses and wants to help and do more for people with autism and ADHD.