The treatment of the mentally ill people is a challenge across the world, and different professionals, such as doctors, social workers, psychologists, or nurses, take care of this group. Nonetheless, mental health is not a vocational sector preferred by students and professionals of many of these careers. Research has proposed that professional preference for a patient group would be positively influenced by intergroup contact (quantity and quality) and empathy (perspective‐taking), and negatively associated with intergroup anxiety and social distance. However, the evidence testing this proposal was partial and mainly referring to other patient groups such as minorities or immigrants. The major aim of this cross‐sectional study was to clarify two research questions referring to mentally ill persons: Do contact and empathy protect undergraduates from intergroup anxiety and social distance and promote professional preference? Do intergroup anxiety and social distance predict professional preference and mediate the influence of contact and empathy in professional preference? A convenience sample of 409 Social Work undergraduates (81% females) from three Spanish universities completed a questionnaire between February and June 2020. Concerning direct relationships, the structural equation model showed that the quantity of contact only predicted intergroup anxiety negatively; quality of contact and empathy negatively predicted intergroup anxiety and social distance; intergroup anxiety positively predicted social distance; intergroup anxiety and social distance negatively predicted professional preference. Concerning mediated relationships, the influence of quality of contact and empathy on social distance was mediated by intergroup anxiety; social distance mediated the relationship of intergroup anxiety with professional preference; both anxiety and distance mediated the influence of quality of contact and empathy in professional preference. These results encourage interventions aimed at enhancing professional preference for mental illness by improving contact, knowledge, and empathy and reducing stigma in students and workers from diverse mental health careers.

No abstract

Many states’ social policies have implemented austerity and cuts in the resources dedicated to social services and privatisation in providing these services, all of which have contributed to practitioners’ precariousness in this sector. This study carried out with 448 Spanish social workers assessed job demands, organisational and personal resources, and individual reactions that enhance or impair well-being. The study examined the extent to which demands, resources and reactions differ according to: (i) organisation sector, that is, governmental (GO), private (PO) and third sector (TSO); (ii) employment status, that is, full-timers versus part-timers and (iii) the interaction between organisation sector × employment status. Regarding the organisation sector, the best results were for TSO, followed by GO and PO; according to employment status, full-time employees obtained a better profile than part-time employees; with regard to interactions, part-time employees of PO obtained the worst scores on adaptive variables and the highest scores on maladaptive ones. The article concludes by highlighting some reasons why privatisation, precariousness and bureaucracy benefit employers and the state, whilst harming service users and workers.

No abstract

No abstract