Examination of the public's views and opinions about social workers: Manisa example

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the public's views and opinions about social work profession and social workers. Materials and Methods: The research is a cross-sectional study that has been made in the city center of Manisa, by cluster sampling method. It was carried out on 500 individuals who are over the age of 18. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire based on self-reports of participants. In this context, basic socio-demographic informations of the participants has been obtained. In addition to that, some questions were asked in order to evaluate the knowledge of the participants. Moreover, questions were asked to evaluate both general public's and clients' attitudes about social workers. Research data were obtained through face to face interviews in December 2015. The data processing and analysis stage of the study was conducted with SPSS 15.0. In analyzing the comparative findings; Chi-Square (χ2), Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis H tests were used. Findings: The data obtained in this study shows that %53 of respondents did not hear social work profession before. In addition to this, an important part of the respondents sees social work profession and social workers more associated with traditional workspace, client groups, roles and functions. Participants of this study generally seem to have a positive opinion and reveal positive attitude about social work profession and social workers. Result: Social work is a profession related to public and works with each member of it. For this reason alone, both public's acquaintence with social work profession and social workers, and public's knowledge and attitudes about social work are considerably important. Anahtar Kelimeler: Social Work, Social Workers, Perception about Social Work, Social Attitudes, Image of Social Work