Acceso usuarios
Málaga, España
Los trabajadores sociales tienen unas elevadas exigencias laborales como consecuencia, entre otros factores, de la excesiva burocratización de las organizaciones de servicios sociales. Ante esta realidad, durante su proceso formativo, los estudiantes de trabajo social deben desarrollar competencias emocionales para hacer frente a estas demandas profesionales que pueden afectar a su bienestar y rendimiento laboral. Se realizó un estudio descriptivo y correlacional de corte transversal del que participaron 187 estudiantes del primer y segundo curso (n = 105 y n = 82, respectivamente) de Trabajo Social de la Universidad de Málaga (España). El 89.30 % eran mujeres y la edad promedio fue de 20.38 años (DT = 3.35). Se desarrolló un modelo de regresión lineal múltiple para evaluar el papel predictor de la inteligencia emocional (atención emocional, claridad emocional y reparación de las emociones) sobre la felicidad subjetiva percibida en estudiantes de trabajo social. La claridad emocional y la reparación de las emociones fueron predictores significativos positivos de la felicidad subjetiva, mientras que la atención emocional fue un predictor significativo negativo. Los estudiantes y futuros trabajadores sociales tienen que entender y manejar sus estados emocionales, de tal manera que les permita tanto afrontar sus propias frustraciones como constituirse en referentes de los usuarios para imponerse a sus dificultades. Se corrobora la necesidad de fomentar la inteligencia emocional entre los estudiantes y futuros trabajadores sociales, ya que esto constituye un factor de protección que puede aumentar su bienestar y concretamente, su felicidad subjetiva. Las experiencias de afecto negativas que sufren los trabajadores sociales demandan planes de estudio en los que se fomente la inteligencia emocional.
As a result of the excessive bureaucratization of social service organizations, among other factors, social workers have many job responsibilities (López & Chaparro, 2006; Montagud, 2016). Social workers suffer negative experiences and a high psychosocial risk which affect their well-being and work performance (i. e., emotional fatigue, job dissatisfaction, mental overload, burnout, decrease in happiness, ethical conflicts) (Bunce, Lonsdale, King, Childs, & Bennie, 2019; Caravaca, Carrión, & Pastor, 2018; Grootegoed & Smith, 2018; Prada-Ospina, 2019; Sabater, De Armas, & Cabezas, 2019; Urien, Díez, & Osca, 2019; Vallellano & Rubio-Valdehita, 2018).
Given this reality, it is very important that Social Work students develop, during their training process, emotional competencies to cope with such professional demands (Bedoya-Gallego, Buitrago-Duque, & Vanegas-Arbeláez, 2019; Stanley & Bhuvaneswari, 2016). The characteristics of the job require knowledge of the mechanisms that influence the welfare of Social Work students in order to incorporate specific training strategies into teaching plans that prepare them to face the high work demands that can affect their welfare and performance (Blakemore & Agllias, 2019; Borrego-Alés, Vázquez-Aguado, & Orgambídez-Ramos, 2020; Fernández-Berrocal & Extremera, 2009). Despite the considerable shortage of research about the implications of emotional intelligence in the field of Social Work, emotional competence has proven to be essential to explain the personal well-being of students and social intervention professionals, characterized by a high burden of work and high rates of psychological distress and burnout (Bae et al., 2020; Esteban, 2014; Mikulic, Crespi, & Radusky, 2015).
A descriptive and correlational cross-sectional study was carried out. 187 students of first (n = 105) and second year (n = 82) of the University of Malaga´s Social Work Degree (Spain) participated. 89.30 % of them was women and the average age was 20.38 years (SD = 3.35). A multiple linear regression model evaluated the predictive role of emotional intelligence (attention, clarity and emotional repair) on the subjective happiness perceived in Social Work students. Emotional clarity and emotional repair were significant positive predictors of subjective happiness, while emotional attention was a significant negative predictor. Of the three independent variables, emotional repair was positioned as the strongest predictor of the perception of subjective happiness. This fact corroborates that emotional repair is especially important to predict the levels of subjective happiness and life satisfaction of university students (Cejudo, López-Delgado, & Rubio, 2016; Extremera, Salguero, & Fernández-Berrocal, 2011).
High levels of emotional repair are essential for proper psychological functioning and mental health. In this sense, people tend to develop pleasant activities that distract them and therefore contribute to their happiness (Guerra-Bustamante, León-del-Barco, Yuste-Tosina, López-Ramos, & Mendo-Lázaro, 2019). Individuals who can clearly identify their emotions and believe that they can repair their negative moods minimize the impact of stressful events and generate more positive emotions (Extremera et al., 2011). In social workers, emotions can be understood both as a dynamic resource, whose research can protect professionals and users, and as patterns of organizational and professional relationships, in which emotional states are constituted as phenomena that can be managed and controlled during professional practice (O’Connor, 2020).
The need to foster emotional intelligence among students and future social workers is confirmed. It constitutes a protective factor that can increase their well-being and, specifically, their subjective happiness. The negative experiences of affection that social workers suffer demand curricula that promote emotional intelligence. The students and future social workers have to understand and manage their emotional states. It allows them both to face their own frustrations and to become referents for the users when they overcome their difficulties.
