The Personality Dispositions and Resilience of Social Workers

Monika Punová

Abstract:
OBJECTIVES: The empirical essay answers the question: What are the relationships between the personality and resilience of social workers in the realization of their profession?
THEORETICAL BASE: The issue of personality dispositions is considered in terms of the so-called five-factor model of personality (the “Big Five”). The perspective of resilience is used, which represents developmental processes, thanks to which the workers are able to cope with the difficulties of their profession and achieve the desired level of well-being, even though they may have experienced a difficult situation in connection with their performance.
METHODS: A mixed strategy was used to answer the question. The research was conducted by social workers in the Czech Republic through qualitative interviews and a standardized questionnaire.
OUTCOMES: We have found that each type has a potentially positive and negative impact on the resilience of the performance of the profession. Among the workers, the most representative of the personality type is the conscientious and agreeable worker; most workers have a medium rate of resilience. The greatest potential for being resilient was found in the emotionally stable personality type; the least resilient were in the conscientious and agreeable personality type. SOCIAL WORK IMPLICATIONS: We encourage the resilience of practitioners and students through the development of self-knowledge of their own personality, the cultivation of their personality growth, development of resilience knowledge and ability to focus on developing resilience strategies.

Keywords:
resilience, personality, big five, social work