Predicting empathy in helping professionals: comparison of social work and nursing students

There is a growing trend in social work to produce social work students who demonstrate empathy. Empathy levels in social work students are not well-researched, especially in comparison with students in other helping professions. This cross-sectional study explored the relationship between empathy, self-esteem, and work engagement in 472 undergraduate and graduate students in the helping professions. Comparisons between BSW, MSW, and nursing students found overall high levels of affective empathy. Graduate MSW and nursing students scored higher than BSW students on most empathy constructs, self-esteem, work engagement, and had more work and volunteer experiences. A hierarchical multiple regression model was used to assess predictors of comprehensive empathy. Significant predictors of comprehensive empathy, as measured by the Empathy Assessment Index, included volunteer experience, work engagement, and affective empathy. Demographic variables such as age, gender, ethnicity, and years of work were non-significant predictors. Different constructs of empathy emerged, and implications of how empathy is relevant to social work practice are discussed with recommendations for social work education.     

Going missing from residential and foster care: linking biographies and contexts

Summary The findings discussed here derive from a Department of Healthfunded study into young people who go missing from foster andresidential placements. We found going missing to be a widespreadphenomenon especially, though not exclusively, in residentialcare. The risks encountered by young people included involvementin offending, substance misuse, rough sleeping and sexual exploitation,including prostitution. However, patterns of going missing werecomplex. Different patterns were identified for those who wentmissing to be with friends or family as compared to those whoran away, the latter group tending to place themselves at greaterrisk. Those who went missing repeatedly were at risk of increasingdetachment from substitute carers and school and were more likelyto have offended in the past. However, these longer-term risksdiffered significantly from those who had first gone missingfrom home when compared to those first missing from substitutecare. The complex motivations that prompt young people to gomissing are also discussed and the balance between individualand environmental factors in explaining this phenomenon is explored.     

The Good, the Bad, and the Social: On Living as an Answerable Agent

This article describes answerability, a fundamental component of social reason and action. "Holding answerable" and "being answerable" are characterized in terms of their roles in the drama of human relations, and our general tendency to anticipate answerable, rather than ethical, behavior in situations that are ethically problematic is discussed.     

Student Training Promotes Mentoring Awareness and Action

Student training is a critical but often overlooked aspect of the mentoring process. Composite mentoring, involving the strategic selection of a diverse set of mentors, is proposed to guide students to take a more active role in their own mentoring experiences. A mentoring program with composite mentoring as a guiding framework was designed and implemented for college women pursuing science careers. The effectiveness of the program is illustrated, and students reported enhanced mentoring and career‐related experiences. Implications for advising, career counseling, and mentoring program design are discussed.