Self-Compassion in Qualified and Student Social Workers: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis

Social work is an intrinsically challenging profession, with high levels of distress and burnout reported amongst professionals. Self-compassion has been suggested as a coping resource that may benefit social workers and reduce levels of distress. There is reason to believe that low self-compassion may confer a vulnerability in social workers, particularly student social workers. The current review aimed to examine how reported levels of self-compassion in social workers compare to the general population and how they compare between qualified and student social workers. Additionally, this review explored the relationship between self-compassion and age, sex/gender, psychological distress, and work-related psychological wellbeing within social workers.

A systematic literature search was conducted using APA PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL, and Medline. Twenty-nine articles met inclusion criteria and were assessed for risk of bias. Meta-analysis was used to synthesize the results.

The meta-analysis found that qualified social workers reported significantly higher levels of self-compassion than student social workers and published general population estimates, although heterogeneity was high. There was some evidence to suggest that levels of self-compassion are related to age, but not to sex/gender. Self-compassion was significantly negatively correlated with psychological distress.

The tentative conclusion that qualified social workers may report relatively high levels of self-compassion is encouraging, given the evidenced negative relationship with psychological distress. Given student social workers appear to report lower levels of self-compassion, they may benefit from interventions/support to bolster it, although systemic factors influencing wellbeing must also be considered.