Social worker characteristics associated with perceived meaning in life

Abstract

Meaning in life is an important element in the context of the workplace. The purpose of this study was to explore how certain factors, namely: subjective well-being, professional quality of life (compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue, burnout), loneliness, personal work-related subjection to violence, fear of being subjected to violence, age, parental status, and marital status can predict meaning in life among social workers in Israel. An extensive battery of online questionnaires was administered to 501 participants. A hierarchical regression analysis was used to examine the association between a series of independent variables and meaning in life among social workers.Findings: The findings suggest that age, subjective well-being, compassion satisfaction and fear of being personally subjected to violence were positively associated with meaning in life. However, loneliness and burnout were negatively associated with meaning in life. The other variables were not significantly associated with meaning in life.Applications: Social work educators and managers must consider the importance of meaning in life when developing social care curricula and policies. Social workers must be aware of the importance of enhancing their sense of meaning in life for increasing their job satisfaction as well as improving the service provided to their clients.

Life goals of Finnish social services students

“…Finland and abroad, since social work professionals who have developed a purpose are better equipped to face the stressors of the work than those who are merely self-focused (see Itzick et al, 2016). Furthermore, acknowledgement of age appropriateness of life goals may help educators to design courses and lectures to support individual paths to purpose.…”

“…Salaries are low, which means these professionals likely are driven by motives other than economic rewards. Given these challenges, life purpose can shield social services workers' ability to deal with stressful and emotionally demanding situations at work, and purpose has been shown in other countries to induce job satisfaction and work engagement (Itzick, Kagan, & Ben-Ezra, 2016).…”

Finnish social services students’ perceptions of purpose and helping unknown others

“…Why, then, should our students become purposeful helpers? In having a purpose in helping, they would feel more content with the actual client work (Itzick et al, 2018;also Ponton et al, 2014), perhaps even succeed better with their studies (Knezievik and Ovsenik, 2015) and overall they could experience greater wellbeing than they would without a purpose in life (Damon et al, 2003). Generally, in social services work we should be able to attract people who identify themselves with social services work core values such as the social change mission of the profession (Biggerstaff, 2000).…”

“…Purposeful people are better able to promote the purpose development of others (Tirri and Kuusisto, 2016) and they demonstrate greater wellbeing than people who show precursor forms of purpose (Damon et al, 2003). Sense of purpose in social services work has been linked with wellbeing and committed work practices and, therefore, to the provision of better services (Itzick et al, 2018). Conversely, purposelessness can cause depression, self-absorption and unstable interpersonal relationships (Damon et al, 2003).…”

What field education experiences do social services students regard as meaningful?

“…(Damon et al 2003. ) Having a sense of purpose in social services work has been associated with better job satisfaction in comparison with having no sense of purpose (Itzick, Kagan & Ben-Ezra 2018). Social services professionals should also be able to recognize how their position values in their clients' lives: how their own cultural practices, values and purposes influence clients (McBeath & Webb 2002).…”