Changing Social Work Students’ Perceptions of the Role of Government in a Policy Class
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-2-2018
Description
Understanding student political attitudes—feelings about government and perceptions of its role—has long been of interest to social scientists. One factor that may influence political attitudes is belief in a just world, a complex psychological construct well established in the literature. Our study explores changes in social work students’ perception of a supportive role of government and their beliefs in a just world after one policy course using a pretest and posttest design. Student perceptions changed toward a more supportive government role, but there was no significant change for belief in a just world. The study contributes to empirical evaluation of the social work education policy class in terms of the Council on Social Work Education competencies.
Citation Information
Granruth, Laura Brierton; Kindle, Peter A.; Burford, Michael L.; Delavega, Elena; Johnson, David H.; Peterson, Susan; and Caplan, Mary A.. 2018. Changing Social Work Students’ Perceptions of the Role of Government in a Policy Class. Journal of Social Work Education. Vol.54(1). 110-121. https://doi.org/10.1080/10437797.2017.1404524 ISSN: 1043-7797