The Role Discomfort And Adjustment Of Student Interns In Master Of Social Work (MSW) Program

Social work is a profession with three major approaches,which is aimed to solve community problems,promote social harmony and stability through direct engagement with problems.It is a practical,operational and professional discipline.Practical social work is not just a phase,but a process of continuous development,which runs through all aspects of social work to meet the needs of society.This feature indirectly shows the importance of internship in social work education.As the executors of social work internship,students play an irreplaceable role in the whole process.With the continuation of education reform,in order to promote social development,we urgently need to establish a social work talent team with high-level professional knowledge and rich practical experience.However,at present,though there are multiple sources of social work professionals in China,there has been a lack of unified standards and norms,this has become a severe challenge for the development of social work.As role adaptation problems have become more prominent for MSW student interns,their impact on productivity also increases.Therefore,conducting research on the role discomfort and adjustment of MSW student interns not only has great theoretical significance,but also has practical implications.Social role theory is a theoretical framework for in-depth exploration of how social relationships affect people’s behavior.Based on this,this research will explore the mechanism of social role’s influence on MSW student interns behaviors.By analyzing the challenges during internship,this research identify the practical problems that may be encountered at work.Fifteen MSW student interns from a university in Chengdu were interviewed by this research project.Based on the social role theory,this research combines in-depth interview and participant observation to analyze the roles of MSW student interns.Upon exploring related policy documents,interns’ perceptions,as well as others’ expectations of interns’ roles,this research examines the problems of role discomfort during internship and analyzes the causes;discusses the strategy of interns’ role adjustment,so that related suggestions can be provided for future MSW student internship training and education.This research shows that there is significant difference between the roles student interns should play based on on policy documents and the role they in real settings.Student interns need to interact with other characters in playing their roles,but due to the variety of role requirements and expectations,they may encounter situations of discomfort,such as unclear expectations,role conflicts,and overburdened roles.There are not only internal reasons causing to role discomfort,but also external factors from institutional environment.During the internship process,due to their improper role positioning and overburdened roles,the interns are not able to adapt to the new working environment.Meanwhile,there are also factors such as pressure from other roles and problematic institutional settings,which lead to considerable stress of interns at work as well as the inability to adapt to the role.It has been found that there are both internal and external approaches to engage in student interns’ role adjustments.With regard to their strategies of self-adjustment,MSW student interns should focus on improving their role understanding,enhancing their role capabilities,cultivating their self-confidence,and shaping their role image;in terms of external adjustment,it is necessary to establish a standardized management system for MSW student interns,to ensure their benefits from resources,improving the supervision and management mechanism of student interns,and maintaining positive interactions between interns,universities and institutions.