EMPATHY AS A PERSONAL ASSUMPTION OF A SOCIAL WORKER
/EMPATIA AKO OSOBNOSTNÝ PREDPOKLAD SOCIÁLNEHO PRACOVNÍKA/

Daniela BARKASI

associate professor, St. Elizabeth University of Health and Social sciences, Institute of Beatific M. D. Trček in Michalovce, Partizánska 23, Michalovce 071 01, Slovakia, daniela.barkasi@gmail.com, ORCID: 0000-0001-8266-5302

Richard BÁRTA

assistant professor, St. Elizabeth University of Health and Social sciences, Institute of. Beatific Z. J. Mall, Hlavná 89, 04001 Kosice, Slovakia, bartarichardsp@gmail.com, ORCID: 0000-0001-7712-7745

Abstract

In the present paper, we address the area of student motivation to study Social Work. The choice of profession is a very important link in every person's life. The decision to study at a university can be influenced by several factors. In our research, we focused on examining motivation in terms of the form and degree of study. We used as an instrument a questionnaire by the authors Leczova et al. (2014), which consists of statements classified into three categories of motivational factors, namely prosocial, career and conformity motivational factors. The work of a social worker requires both professional theoretical knowledge, practical skills and also personality requirements. Our research shows that students chose this field of study mainly because of prosocial motivational factors, which indicates that they possess certain prosocial qualities, like working with people and like to help others.

Keywords

Motivation, social work, prosocial motivational factors, career motivational factors, conformity

SUMMARY

Based on our results, we can conclude that the choice of a field of study is influenced by a range of motivational factors and it is never just one motive that motivates and influences a student in deciding to pursue that field of study. Further, it has been found that specific motivational factors are characteristic of particular groups. Which is consistent with other research studies that have already been conducted in the subject area. Age can be considered as the most significant indicator that determines, perhaps, the basic motivational tendencies in the choice of the field of study Social Work.
The work of a social worker requires both professional theoretical knowledge and practical skills, but also important personal prerequisites and skills that predispose him to perform well in his profession. Our finding was that students choose this field of study mainly because of prosocial motivational factors, which is a very positive finding because it signals that they like working with people, want to be helpful to them and see meaning in this field of study. This signals a positive relationship with people and important personality prerequisites for a social worker. The least significant factors influencing the choice of studying the field of social work were motivational factors from the category of conformity.

(Language: slovak)

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