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BJSW Advance Access published online on October 20, 2008
British Journal of Social Work, doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcn137
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved

Working with Alcohol and Drug Use: Exploring the Knowledge and Attitudes of Social Work Students

Sarah Galvani and Nathan Hughes

Correspondence to Dr Sarah Galvani, Research Fellow, Institute of Applied Social Research, University of Bedfordshire, Park Square, Luton, Bedfordshire LU1 3JU, UK. E-mail: sarah.galvani{at}beds.ac.uk


  Abstract

Many social workers in the UK work daily with the social harms linked to problematic substance use. Historically, however, their drug and alcohol training needs have been overlooked. This study set out to achieve two key objectives: (i) to assess social work students' knowledge of, and attitudes towards, working with people with substance problems; and (ii) to develop and test a questionnaire to meet this objective. A four-part self-completion questionnaire was developed and administered to a purposive sample of 156 social work students. The focus of this article will be on the results of Part 2 of the pilot survey, which focused on the students' attitudes towards, and knowledge of, substance use. One hundred and twenty-one completed questionnaires were used as the basis for analysis. Three factors emerged as the key explanatory factors demonstrating significant relationships between them: ‘knowledge’, ‘support from colleagues’ and ‘legitimacy of role’. Social work training needs to recognize the need for alcohol and drug education within social work qualifying programmes in order that future social workers will feel equipped with the knowledge and legitimacy to do their job and meet the needs of people who have problems with alcohol and drugs.

Keywords: Alcohol, drugs, social work, attitudes, knowledge


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