Date of Award

6-2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Social Work

Department

School of Social Work

First Reader/Committee Chair

Rigaud Joseph

Abstract

The purpose of this research study was to assess how social work students cope with interrole conflict. This study attempted to capture the depth and breadth of this issue by adopting a mixed-method research design. The quantitative aspect to the study involved the assessment of coping mechanisms among participants with different levels of interrole conflict. For the qualitative portion of the study, the participants were asked to identify their ways of dealing with interrole conflict. All participants in this research were graduate students from a master’s of social work program in a large, Hispanic-serving institution in Southern California. A non-parametric technique, the Kruskal-Wallis H Test, was used to analyze the quantitative part of the research, while thematic analysis was applied to the qualitative piece of reported information. The Kruskal-Wallis H Test results indicated no statistically significant difference in coping mechanisms among students dealing with different levels of interrole conflict. Meanwhile, results from thematic analysis of the data revealed ten positive coping mechanisms and five negative coping approaches. Organization, social support, self-care, orientation toward solution, spirituality/religiosity, physical activity, and therapy were the most salient ways participants cope with interrole conflict. From a negative coping perspective, as many as 18 participants reported negative coping methods, including unresponsiveness, over/under sleeping, eating, and drinking. Implications for family, workplace, and social work were discussed.

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