Effects of Client Violence on Social Work Students: A National Study

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Pam Criss's article in the Journal of Social Work Education, titled Effects of Client Violence on Social Work Students: A National Study shows results on the effects of direct and indirect client violence against a random sample of MSW and BSW students from the National Association of Social Works in the United State. This study looks at how workplace violence is a concern for social work students entering their field placement. These types of violence may be a major factor in the student’s choice of decreased commitment to the occupation. One act of violence can lead the student to fear more acts of violence. In addition, it looks at how a social worker can be affected vicariously by hearing of colleagues being harmed or threatened. Furthermore, a relationship between violence in the work place and the social worker deciding to leave the workplace because of decreased effective organizational commitment due to the negative effects of stress and burnout is also shown (Criss, 2010) More than two dozen studies have already reported violence occurring to social workers in their work place. National rates shows 65% to 86% of social workers have faced violence by clients during their career, and 47% of social workers have concerns for their safety. Every type of violence except direct physical assault is included in this study. Violence was labeled as intentional property damage, threats, verbal abuse, and physical harm whether attempted or actual. In addition threats of lawsuits against social workers by clients past or present is included as they can cause immense stress. The hypotheses used a work stress theory of the effects of client violence toward social workers and the relationship between experiencing violence, fear of futu... ... middle of paper ... ...hs in this article. Statistical findings are something that most people can easily read and understand. In addition another strength was in which the author went into such detail as to the methods, measures and clearly stated the variables within her study. On the other hand, a weakness of the article was the language used to explain the results could become confusing. Another weakness would have to be the over repetition of many of facts. As I read the article and summarized it I found many time the explanations of types of violence and commitments were re-addressed in depth over and over, which made for a longer reading and writing process. Works Cited Criss, P. (2010). Effects of client violence on social work students: A national study. Journal of Social Work Education, 46(3), 371-390. Retrieved October 11, 2011, from Academic Search Complete database.

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