BELIEFS ABOUT SUBSTANCE ABUSING CLIENTS AMONG SOCIAL WORK STUDENTS

• Main Authors: Soto, Seidy Jhosselyn, Stuart, Marry Jean
• Format: Others
• Published: CSUSB ScholarWorks 2014
• Subjects: substance abuse; beliefs; social work; students; negative; education; Social Work
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd/17; https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1032&context=etd

This study was a quantitative survey and explored beliefs about substance abusing clients among sixty-three social work students. The study focused on the extent to which social work students display bias toward clients with a substance abuse disorder. The study also explored the attitudinal domains of permissiveness, treatment intervention, non-stereotypes, treatment optimism, and non-moralism. The study found that social work students who have taken a substance abuse education class are less like to attribute substance abuse addiction to a weak will in the client. The study recommends that future studies on beliefs about substance abusing clients among social work students include qualitative interviews to determine how substance abuse education reduces bias toward substance abusing clients among social work students.