Empathy yes... empathy no? Training social workers in empathy.
Social work moves on contexts and operational methods steeped in empathy, so it can be called an empathic profession. In light of this, the social work profession can and must strike the right balance between governing empathy or being overwhelmed by it, risking becoming alternately too close-connec...
| Publicado en: | Social Work Education Vol. 45; no. 5; pp. 1280 - 1297 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Aug2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=195360924&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 195360924 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 02615479 36Q jtl: Social Work Education issn: 02615479 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Aug2026 vid: 45 iid: 5 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 195360924 10.1080/02615479.2025.2563167 ppf: 1280 ppct: 17 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 583KB tig: atl: Empathy yes... empathy no? Training social workers in empathy. aug: au: Carbone, Silvia affil: Department of Political and Social Sciences, General Sociology, University of Messina, Messina, Italy su: Empathy Occupational training Action research Social work students Social services Professional competence sug: subj: Empathy Occupational training Action research Social work students Social services Vocational Rehabilitation Services Other Individual and Family Services Professional competence keyword: skills social work sociology theory-practice training skills social work sociology theory-practice training ab: Social work moves on contexts and operational methods steeped in empathy, so it can be called an empathic profession. In light of this, the social work profession can and must strike the right balance between governing empathy or being overwhelmed by it, risking becoming alternately too close-connected or, conversely, too far-disconnected. For social service students, learning to be able to 'govern' empathy in professional practice represents a skill, a competency, that is indispensable to learn and acquire. Based on this problematic issue, through this research, we propose a reflection on professional practice in terms of applying models of professionalism. The underlying hypothesis of this research is: how can empathic subjectivity be combined with the professional competence of the social worker? To answer this research question, we involved, through an action research, students (interns) of the Bachelor of Social Work at the University of Messina, who observed and interviewed some social workers (business tutors) in their work context. It was thus possible to highlight possible professional ideal types. From the results obtained, it was possible to detect three recurrent professional models of competence, based on empathy: close/connected; neutral/balanced; distant/disconnected. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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