
A small sample of 16 UK social workers took part in semi-structured interviews in which four main themes were identified.
1. The experience of negative public perception
Social workers experience a stigma and a public mistrust of the profession and felt that they were often singled out as the "failing" profession in the wake of a negative event: "Quite often, in cases, education had been lacking or health had been lacking, but you don't see doctors, nurses or teachers being villain-ised in the same way."
Participants identified a lack of public awareness regarding the complex nature of a social worker's role: "People just think ‘social worker, oh my God, they're going to take my kids away'." Social workers also felt undermined by professional colleagues - concerning for a sector that depends on the multi-professional collaboration.
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