A comparison of protective service workers' values with professional social workers' values

The social work profession has long emphasized the concept of relationship in the client-worker alliance. The principles and values inherent in the establishment of this relationship have been elaborated in the social work literature and supported by various studies. The purpose of this study was to compare the values of protective service workers with the values of a group of NASw members.

The group of protective service workers were selected as the test sample and the NASw members the control group representing a cross section of social work job settings. These groups were selected on the basis of their relevance to the study, economy, convenience, and time. The hypothesis was that the NASw members would agree to a greater extent than the protective service workers to those value dimensions associated with the social work profession on the Social Values Test.

Data was collected using Meyer's (1962) Social Values Test which consists of ten bipolar value dimensions. The protective service workers were administered the test at a monthly supervisory meeting, and the NASw members were mailed the questionnaire in the fall of 1979. The data was then analyzed using a variety of statistical tests, including: the t test, chi square test, and Kendall's tau beta correlation test.

Only two of the ten value dimensions, public aid and social causation, were found to differentiate between the two groups. These differences were found to be in agreement with the direction of the hypothesis. Though the NASW members generally indicated a higher percentage agreement with the values associated with social work, these differences were not found to be significant enough to reject the null hypothesis.

The two groups were also found to differentiate on two value dimensions when analyzed with education, or training. After analzing this demographic variable with the value dimensions on the chi square test, it appeared as though education and job setting interacted in some way on the differentiation of the two groups on the value dimensions of public aid and social causation.

Despite the differences between the two groups on both education and job setting, only two of the ten value dimensions indicated significant differences between the two groups. Since this difference was not generally significant enough to reject the null hypothesis, the study suggests that social work education reexamine the effects of its training on workers values. Although the scope of the project was somewhat limited, the study did seem to indicate that certain areas of study should be investigated. It was suggested that the Social Values Test be further elaborated in terms of its validity and reliability, that

Bachelor's level training and in-service training for social workers be examined, and that the possibility of value shifts over the past decade be investigated. To summarize, it was felt that the most significant finding of the study was the lack of significant difference between the two groups despite the differentiation of job setting and education between the groups.