PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY IN A FLUID PANDEMIC CONTEXT. MEASURING ACADEMIC WORRIES OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: INITIAL VALIDATION OF A SCALE

Authors

  • ALEXANDRU-COSMIN APOSTOL PhD assistant professor “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University, The Faculty of Philosophy and Social-Political Sciences, The Department of Sociology and Social Work.
  • MIHAELA RĂDOI PhD Associate professor “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University, The Faculty of Philosophy and Social-Political Sciences, The Department of Sociology and Social Work.
  • CRISTINA MARIA BOSTAN PhD Scientific Researcher, “Gh. Zane” Institute of Economic and Social Research, Romanian Academy, Iasi Branch.
  • GABRIELA IRIMESCU PhD Associate professor “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University, The Faculty of Philosophy and Social-Political Sciences, The Department of Sociology and Social Work.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47743/asas-2021-2-664

Keywords:

Social Work students, academic concern, professional identity, Covid-19, fluid identity

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to test the validity and highlight the psychometric properties of a scale  about  the  academic  worries  of  students   in  the  pandemic  context  (Pandemic Academic  Worries  among  University  Students  scale  -  PAWAUS scale), following  a quantitative   research  study  consisting  of  a  self-administered  questionnaire  within  a university   in   north-eastern    Romania   in   May   2021.  The   sample   comprised   282 undergraduate   and  master  students   in  the  Social  Work  field.  The  factor  analysis performed shows an initial validity of the PAWAUS scale. Generally, the findings of this study indicate that the students adapted rapidly and (relatively) fluidly to the new context but reported worries related to their academic and professional path. The premise from which we started  was the following: the Social Work students  follow, in the pandemic context, a speciality where the combination of theoretical knowledge with practical skills even from the undergraduate  period is essential, which may contribute to the formation of their professional identity. The second objective of the paper consisted of analysing the emotional  impact of the  pandemic  among  the  Social Work  students  using  a recently- developed  tool  –  PEIS (Ballou  et  al.,  2020). Through   the  specific  analysis  of  the relationship  between  the  two scales, we have identified that  the  worries  of the Social Work  students  are influenced  significantly  by the  emotional  impact generated  by the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Additional Files

Published

29-12-2021