What creates the public’s impression of social work and how can we improve it?

Abstract

This paper presents results from a study in Aotearoa New Zealand 1 which explored the ideas of social work practitioners on public perceptions of social work and how to improve them. This qualitative research was part of a Master’s project for two of the authors and followed on from two previous quantitative studies on this topic in Aotearoa. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 social work practitioners. Thematic analysis was used to create themes concerning what the perceived public perception was, what contributed to it, and how to improve it. The findings have implications for being better able to understand factors that contribute to the public perception of social work so that it may be improved, for increasing the public’s understanding of social work, and for recruitment of students into the profession.