A Japan-Korea Comparative Study on Welfare Professional Training

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between grit and self-esteem scores among university students taking welfare professional training courses in Japan and South Korea (Korea). The grit and self-esteem scores of 100 first-to fourth-year students at a Japanese university adopting a 4-year curriculum for certified social and care worker training and 100 first-to second-year students at a Korean college adopting a 2-year curriculum for social worker training were measured using the Japanese-version Short Grit Scale and Rosenberg's Self-esteem Scale to analyze the relationship between the 2 scores, as well as differences between Japan and Korea. An anonymous online questionnaire survey was conducted using Google Forms, and 92 and 93 responses were obtained in Japan (valid response rate: 92.0%) and Korea (93.0%), respectively. There was a weak positive correlation between the grit and self-esteem scores, and both scores were significantly higher in Korea, suggesting the necessity of assessing the trainability of Japanese university students with lower grit and self-esteem scores.Future studies should examine whether these scores change as the school year progresses and whether grit and self-esteem scores improve with training.