Public perception survey for social workers in Turkey: What do people think?

Abstract

This study sought to investigate the public perception of social workers in the Eastern Black Sea Region, Turkey. In this research, a questionnaire developed by Bolg & uuml;n and & Scedil;ahin (2019)was employed, and using the convenience sampling method face-to-face interviews were held with a total of 600 participants. Using various statistical tests, normally distributed scores were compared. The independent samples t-test was used for gender, previous social service applications, and contact with social workers. ANOVA compared age, education, household size, income, and residence city, with LSD post hoc tests for significant differences. Pearson correlation assessed the relationship between knowledge and attitude toward social workers, while multiple regression analyzed the effect of knowledge on attitude. The participants' knowledge of the working fields, client profiles, and roles of social workers, as well as the total score of the knowledge about social workers, was found to be at a moderate level. Their attitudes toward social workers were generally good level; however, the majority of the participants (n = 501) think that social workers are not well known in the society. Despite the positive attitude scores of the participants, there is a need for promotional activities, advertisements, meetings, and television and radio programs raising the social awareness of social workers to a higher level, which would raise public perception.