Social Work Education in a Correctional Setting - Some Proximate Changes Linked to Rehabilitation (From Proceedings of the Thirty-Sixth Annual Correctional Education Association Conference, P 40-45, 1981 - See NCJ-85125)

• NCJ Number: 85130
• Author(s): L Fontana; A Beckerman
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 6 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

There are indications that a social work education program in a prison may have a positive socialization effect on inmate values and attitudes through the value-laden content of the curriculum and the supervised field experiences.

Abstract

A 'new careers' education for inmates generally places great emphasis on a value component. The emphasis is on the inculcation of appropriate attitudes as well as knowledge and skills, since those who enter the social work profession must have a certain value orientation. The field work, which often involves inmate students helping other inmates, aids behavior and attitude change toward a helping motif and also tends to improve self-respect. Very few studies have attempted to assess the proximate effects of human service training, and of the few studies that have been conducted, none were concerned with prison inmates. Those studies that have been published seem to indicate that personality and attitudinal changes are connected to social work education; for example, Collins, Kent, and Bhavnani (1977) compared a personality profile of students at intake with that at the end of their first year of social work training. Certain personality dimensions and values had been significantly altered during the first year, notably in the areas of trustfulness and adaptability. Thirteen references are listed.