“Self-Care Benefits Me and Those Around Me”: Perceptions of Self-Care Among MSW Students

Background and Purpose: Engaging vulnerable populations is at the core of the social work profession. However, it can be emotionally overwhelming and lead to burnout or secondary stress, particularly for professionals-in-training new to the field.  Self-care, the cultivation of personal health and well-being, is demonstrably beneficial for both preventing and alleviating such difficulties.  Despite the potential benefits, participation among Master of Social Work students in a university’s self-care program has been chronically low.  The purpose of the current study is to understand students’ perspectives on self-care in order to better serve their needs.

Methods: An online survey was administered to MSW students at a mid-Atlantic school of social work.  A total of 209 students responded to the survey; the majority of the respondents were full-time (58.7%), in their Foundation Year (60.6%), 21 to 25 years old (43.8%), female (85.4%), and single (68.4%).  Students received an email with the link to a Survey Monkey site.  Their perceptions of self-care and experiences related to self-care as students were explored with two open-ended questions: “What does self-care mean to you?” and “If self-care is incorporated into social work courses, what material would you want it to include?”  A thematic analysis was used to search for important concepts, categories, and themes, as well as the relationships among them through constant comparison. In order to maintain scientific rigor, and as a way of peer-debriefing, the data analysis was conducted independently by two researchers who then reached a consensus after discussion.

Findings: For the first question, students’ perceptions of self-care, data analysis revealed five themes, including health, time, activities, balance, and professionalism.  First, students understood self-care as the cultivation of their emotional, psychological, physical, and mental health.  Second, they mentioned the act of “taking time” to care for their health and well-being.  Next, self-care was defined as intentionally engaging in enjoyable, relaxing activities.  Balancing competing demands and integrating various roles was also of importance.  Lastly, care-for-self was recognized as a prerequisite to providing care for others as a professional.

The second question, students’ experiences, desires, and challenges around self-care, resulted in three themes: academic program experiences, resources, and modeling.  First, students conveyed frustration in trying to practice self-care amid the demands and pressures of the academic program.  Second, students voiced a desire for workshops and accessible research to deepen their knowledge of self-care.  Lastly, students requested tips from professionals and professors on how to effectively practice self-care as social workers.

Conclusions and Implications:  Findings highlighted the significant barriers to students’ self-care – mostly lack of time and skills.  Students seemed to experience difficulties fully integrating self-care into their lives without a transformation of their experience.  Without practicing care for themselves, their ethical and professional obligations to the field and clients may be jeopardized.  Students’ voices and concerns can be taken into consideration and utilized in the future planning and implementation of self-care programs.