ABSTRACT

While negative attitudes within the social work community toward clients struggling with addiction may not be ubiquitous, there is evidence that such attitudes remain problematic. Interestingly, there is very little research available concerning factors that may be involved with these adverse attitudes. While extant research suggests social workers demonstrate low empathy toward clients with a Substance Use Disorder (SUD), there is little empirical exploration of the relationship between dispositional empathy and subsequent attitudes. Similarly, a practitioner’s spirituality may also influence their views of SUD clients, yet there is little evidence investigating this relationship. This study explored the relationship between empathy, spirituality, and attitudes toward clients with SUDs. Results demonstrated that both empathy and spirituality have some predictive potential and that some dimensions of empathy and spirituality interact. The results also showed that different dimensions were important for social work students and social work practitioners.

摘要

虽然社会工作界对成瘾患者的消极态度可能并不普遍，但有证据表明这种态度仍然存在问题。有趣的是，很少有关于可能与这些不良态度有关的因素的研究。虽然现有的研究表明，社会工作者对患有物质使用障碍 (SUD) 的客户表现出低同理心，但对性格同理心与后续态度之间关系的实证研究却很少。同样，从业者的灵性也可能影响他们对 SUD 客户的看法，但几乎没有证据调查这种关系。本研究探讨了同理心、灵性和对 SUD 客户的态度之间的关系。结果表明，同理心和灵性都具有一定的预测潜力，并且同理心和灵性的某些维度相互作用。结果还表明，不同的维度对社会工作学生和社会工作从业者很重要。