Baccalaureate social work curriculum: A study examining student attachment styles, capacity to mentalize, and reflective learning style

Undergraduate students choosing to major in social work undertake an educational experience that includes curricular challenges about what they know to be true about themselves, others, communities, society at large, and the complex relationships that exist at, among, and between each level. Students are called upon to learn and grapple with content that is relational in nature. The main aim of this study was to understand the associations between attachment styles of undergraduate students and their capacity to accurately read other people, and how various styles of reflective thinking were used.;Findings revealed that social work majors used high levels of critical reflection. Insecurely attached students were shown to have a lowered capacity to accurately read others, regardless of year of study. Additional trends suggest that insecurely attached students use different styles of thinking, both in general and as they gain social work experience. The content of the social work curriculum inherently pulls for students to use a varied set of tools that they themselves embody: intellect; emotions; behaviors; body sensations; interpersonal skills; and self perception. Hence, these finding raise awareness, and support the inclusion of unconscious prior learning as it is applied to social work education.