Motivations, Values, and Conflict Resolution: Students' Integration of Personal and Professional Identities

ABSTRACT

Edicts within the Council on Social Work Education's 2008 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards address the importance of understanding the intersection of personal and professional values. Twenty MSW students, chosen on the basis of diverse cultural and personal characteristics, were interviewed about their motivations for pursuing a MSW degree and their personal and professional values. Thematic analysis yielded an emergent model relating the intersection of multiple forms of motivation, encountering and resolving value conflicts, and integrating personal and professional identities. Implications for education and practice are (1) the intersection of personal and professional identities should be explicit components of curriculum; (2) strategies for managing value conflicts should be an integral part of the curriculum; and (3) the relationship between identity integration and practice needs to be delineated.

CITATION

Osteen, P.J. (2011). Motivations, Values, and Conflict Resolution: Students' Integration of Personal and Professional Identities, Journal of Social Work Education, 47(3), pp. 423-444. 
DOI: 10.5175/JSWE.2011.200900131

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