A Sense of Optimism among Students of Social Work

Abstract

Social work is about supporting people experiencing life’s hardships. The profession of a social worker belongs to the category of human services, in which a close relationship with another person is the essence of professional activity, as a consequence of which an employee may be exposed to confrontation with unpleasant emotions or other people’s sufferings. Students preparing to perform this profession should be equipped with skills such as an optimistic approach to life, because such an attitude definitely helps in dealing with difficulties and failures. The research shows that a significant percentage of social work students have a relatively low sense of optimism in all analyzed dimensions. The tendency to pessimistic perception of experienced events may result in low effectiveness of tasks implementation as well as negative consequences in the field of mental health.