Perspectives of social work students, practitioners, and academics on self-compassion

Self-compassion is the adoption of an understanding, kind, and accepting attitude toward oneself instead of judgmental and self-critical tendencies. Especially for social work students, practitioners, and academics, self-compassion is a significant concept both for maintaining personal well-being and for effectively engaging in intervention processes with clients. However, when the national social work literature is examined, it appears that studies focusing on self-compassion remain limited in number. This study, designed in a qualitative pattern, aims to examine the awareness and recognition of self-compassion as a concept and practice among social work students, practitioners, and academics, as well as its use in social work practices. Within the scope of the study, individual interviews were conducted with a total of 31 participants — 12 undergraduate social work students, 12 social work practitioners, and 7 academics — using a semi-structured interview form. The interviews were conducted online or face-to-face and recorded with participants' consent. The recordings were transcribed and analyzed using the MAXQDA 2024 software. Based on the findings obtained from the participants, four main themes were identified. The first theme includes the participants' views on the theoretical background of the concept of self-compassion. The second theme addresses the participants' reflections on the importance of self-compassion in human life. The third theme involves their personal experiences with self-compassion and their individual relationships with the concept. The final theme presents findings on the relationship between the discipline of social work and self-compassion, based on participants' statements. According to the research findings, it was concluded that self-compassion has not been sufficiently included in the social work discipline and has not been addressed comprehensively at either the theoretical or practical level. The integration of self-compassion into the field of social work at both theoretical and practical levels should be supported.