2021 34(1 )

DOI :
PSHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING PROFESSIONALS THE SOCIAL
SPHERE DEPENDING ON THEIR WORLD ASSUMPTIONS
Olena Bondarchuk,
SHEI «University of Educational Management»,
National Academy of Pedagogical Science of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
Valentyna Balakhtar
Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, Chernivtsi, Ukraine
Olena Gorova,
SHEI «University of Educational Management»,
National Academy of Pedagogical Science of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
Natalia Pinchuk,
SHEI «University of Educational Management»,
National Academy of Pedagogical Science of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
Kateryna Balakhtar
Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, Chernivtsi,
SHEI «University of Educational Management»,
National Academy of Pedagogical Science of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine

Abstract
The article presents the results of an empirical study of indicators of psychological well-being
of Social Work specialists as a type of professional activity, characterized by multifunctionality,
wide functional and role repertoire, significant psycho-emotional loadings associated with
providing assistance to vulnerable people. The low levels of psychological well-being were found in
a large number of people under investigation. Groups of Social Work professionals with high and
low levels of psychological well-being were identified and their socio-demographic characteristics
were characterized. Gender-age differences in the psychological well-being of the investigated are
determined, as well as differences in psychologically prosperous and disadvantaged professionals,
depending on their level of education, place of residence and employment in the professional
sphere, indicating a lack of psychological well-being in social work statistics significant
relationship between the psychological well-being of the researchers and their world assumptions
about the environment, other people and themselves. The expediency of organizing a special
psychological support of social work specialists in the context of facilitating the transformation of
basic installations in the constructive direction, and, as a consequence, ensuring their psychological
well-being have stated.
Keywords: Social Work specialist, psychological well-being, world assumptions, the stages of
professional formation.

Introduction
The quality of citizens’ life in the conditions of nowadays is determined not only by the level
of socio-economical development of the country, but also by the level of healthy environment for
humans, enhancing the social dimension of sustainable development (Peeters, 2012). As a
consequence, the psychological well-being of citizens becomes important, especially in a Covid-19
environment (Cameron, 2010; Allin & Hand, 2017; Kuhfeld, M., Soland, J., Tarasawa, B., Johnson,
A., Ruzek E., & Liu, J. etc). Psychological well-being is particularly important for social work
professionals whose professional activity is aimed at providing social services, meeting the needs
and interests of the most vulnerable sections of the population, their social protection, etc., and has a
direct bearing on ensuring the psychological well-being of citizens. However, there are key
contradictions in the professional activities of social work professionals, due to both the specificity
of their activities (information saturation, a wide functional and role repertoire of the specialist,
psycho-emotional load, etc.), and the changing conditions of the present, characterized by high 27
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social tension. It is a contradiction between: the declared status of a person as the highest value of
our society, which determines the relevant priorities of social work, and the threat of realization of a
humane mission of a specialist against the background of anomie of spiritual values, a sharp fall in
the standard of living of a large part of the population of our country; between the high qualification
requirements for the personality of a social work professional and his/her low status in society;
between the need to promote the development of personality of professionals in the process of their
professional training and the lack of coverage in its content issues of formation a specialist, etc.
This may adversely affect the psychological well-being of social work professionals and, as a
consequence, the successful implementation of their professional functions.
Psychological well-being has already been studied by scientists in various aspects: as
subjective well-being, which is a cognitive-judgmental process which determined satisfaction with
life (Diener, Kahneman, Schwarz, 1999), as a concept of positive psychology in terms of personal
happiness (Seligman, 2006; White, 2007), as an indicator of substantive freedom, which determines
the ability of people to live the life they value themselves (Sen, 2001; Graham, 2010), characterizes
the temporary states of experience of the person of the present, past and future (Durayappah, 2011),
as a multidimensional indicator of personal and psychological health (Riff, 2016), as a subjective
emotional evaluation of the personality of oneself and one's own life, which determines the
peculiarities of realization of oneself in the profession and self-realization of one's own potential
(Kossewska, Monika, 2015; Serdiuk, Danyliuk, & Chaika, 2018, etc.).
In spite of such a large number of works, the problem of psychological well-being of social
work specialists in particular needs attention. As the desire for well-being is one of the main driving
forces of the human community, his/her subjective experience is an important condition for a
complete life of the individual (Ryan & Deci, 2001), especially when a specialist in his / her job
responsibilities is called upon to promote the well-being of others.
The problem of research is to find out the peculiarities of the psychological well-being of
social work professionals that affect their satisfaction with life, activity and themselves in general.
Indicators related to their baseline settings for the environment and themselves are compared (in
particular, world assumptions about the world, other people, themselves; the perception of society
as one that promotes creative potential; attitude towards oneself as a specialist in the field of social
work).
The object of research: peculiarities of the psychological well-being of social work
professionals related to their world assumptions and attitude towards themselves as a social worker
The research aim Identify the psychological well-being of social work professionals related
to their world assumptions about the environment, other people, and themselves compared to those
who are not psychologically well-off.
Organisation and methods of the research
The theoretical basis of our study was the C. Ryff multicomponent theory (2016; 2019), according
to which psychological well-being appears as a complex, integral phenomenon, characterized by
positive functioning of the individual and manifested in the subjective experience of life satisfaction and
the realization of one's own potential.
To find out the peculiarities of psychological well-being and selection of psychologically
prosperous and disadvantaged specialists, the Ukrainian-language version of the K. Riff Scale of
Psychological Well-Being Questionnaire was used in the adaptation of S. Karaskanova (2011).
Also studied: 1) world assumptions of specialists, their ideas about the world, about other people
and themselves by the R. Janoff-Bulman method “World assumptions scale” (Janoff-Bulman, 1989); 2)
peculiarities of perception of the professional environment as one that supports the creativity of a
specialist according to the scale “My work environment” of the questionnaire “Your creative potential”
(Nikiforov, Dmitriyeva, & Snetkov, 2003); 3) treating yourself as a specialist in the social sphere by the
author's method “My attitude towards myself as a social work specialist” (Balakhtar, 2019).
The first phase of the study 625 social work professionals were involved from different regions of
Ukraine, which were divided into 3 groups - with high, medium, and low levels of psychological well-
being (hereinafter referred to as PWB). High-level specialists made up a group of the well-to-do (215 28
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people with high PWB), low (256 people) to the disadvantaged (Table 1).
Table 1
Groups studied in terms of their levels of psychological well-being, %
Low level High level
Indicators of psychological well-being of psychological well- of psychological well-
being (N = 256) being (N = 215)
Self-acceptance 49.1 64.8
Positive relations with others 51.2 68.3
Autonomy 49.7 58.3
Environmental mastery 50.1 63.9
Purpose in life 51.5 66.7
Personal growth 50.4 66.9
Total % 54.4 45.6
p < 0.01
Statistical data processing and graphical presentation of the results were performed using the
SPSS statistical software package (version 23.0).
Analysis of the research results
Social and demographic characteristics of the research sample
471 social workers with low and high levels of well-being between the ages of 18 and over 60
years have been included to the main sample of the study.
In total, 74.9% of women and 25.1% of men made up the sample, which reflects the percentage of
the general population of social work professionals in Ukraine. It was found that the percentage of
women and men of different ages is different in the groups of psychologically prosperous and
disadvantaged social work professionals (Table 2).
Table 2
Groups of the respondents with different levels of з psychological well-being according to
their gender and age, (%)
Levels of psychological до 23 23-30 30-40 40-50 50-60 over 60
Total
well-being years years years years years years
Male = 118
Low level (N = 74) 38.1 10.2 5.9 8.5 0.0 0.0 62.7
High level (N = 44) 1.7 5.9 5.1 0.0 11.9 12.7 37.3
Female = 353
Low level (N = 182) 28.6 5.7 3.7 2.3 4.2 7.1 51.6
High level (N = 171) 1.4 9.6 15.3 8.8 9.9 3.4 48.4
p < 0.01
As can be seen from Table 2, out of 100% of women, 51.6% are characterized by low levels of
PWB, compared to 62.7% among men. At the same time, 37.3% of women and 48.4% of men had
high levels of PWB (p < 0.05).
Gender differences in psychological well-being are evidenced by other studies (Gomez-Baya,
Lucia-Casademunt & Salinas-Perez, 2018, etc), by which women reported lower psychological well-
being and more health problems than men. At the same time, according to another study (Matud,
Curbelo & Fortes, 2019) women and men whose self-concept includes both masculine-instrumental
and feminine-expressive characteristics have greater well-being. Verification of these facts in the
Ukrainian sample can be a promising line for the further research.
The age of people with different levels of psychological well-being is an important factor as well
(K. Springer, T. Pudovska, R. Hauser, 2011, etc). Indeed, Table 2 shows that most professionals with
low levels of psychological well-being occur in the age group of up to 23 years. (p < 0.01). This fact is
of concern, because it is about the specialists who are in the first stage of professional formation and
receive appropriate education. This state of affairs can adversely affect both the quality of their 29
education and the success of their future careers.
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Psychological well-being is also correlated with the level of education of specialists, which is
consistent with other studies on statistically significant positive correlation between education levels
and PWB indicators such as “personal growth” and “goals in life” (Carvalho & Vale-Dias, 2013, etc).
This connection is confirmed in our study (Table 3).
Table 3
Groups of of the respondents according to their education level, (%)
low level of psychological high level of
Total
Education level well-being psychological well-being
male female male female
Secondary education 32.4 30.2 0.0 2.3 17.6
Higher education (BA) 29.7 37.9 4.5 20.5 27.2
Higher education (MA) 37.9 31.9 95.5 77.2 55.2
p < 0.01
An analysis of the data in Table 3 concludes that there is a direct link between the level of
education and the psychological well-being of professionals: respondents with high levels of well-being
are identified mainly by those with higher education, especially among men. Instead, there are quite a
number of psychologically disadvantaged social work professionals with only secondary education
(32.4% male and 30.2% female, p < 0.01).
Another important line of analysis of the sample was based on the assumption of the differences
of the PWB of specialists depending on their place of residence as a specific social and cultural
environment. (Ryff, Love, & Miyamoto, 2013). The distribution of professionals with different levels of
psychological well-being, depending on their place of residence is presented in Table 4.
Table 4
Groups of of the respondents
according to their place of residence, (%)
low level of psychological high level of psychological
Place of residence well-being well-being Total
male female male female
City 55.4 68.7 81.8 81.7 75.7
Village 44.6 31.3 18.2 12.3 24.3
p = 0.1
According to Table 4, the assumption of a link between the place of residence and the
psychological well-being of professionals is confirmed at the trend level (p = 0.1): there are more
psychologically prosperous social work professionals in the city than in the village, which is
probably due to the greater variability of the professional development paths provided by the city.
Attention is also drawn to the data on differences in PWB indicators depending on the
employment of professionals in the professional field. Indeed, the ability of a specialist to realize
their own personality, become and creator of their own lives is possible through engaging in
professional activities. (Serdiuk, Danyliuk & Chaika, 2018). An analysis of the distribution of
psychologically disadvantaged and disadvantaged professionals, depending on their employment in
professional activity, shows significant differences (Table 5).
Table 5
Groups of specialists in social work with different levvels of psychological well-being
depending on employment in professional activity, (%)
low level of high level of
Employment in psychological well-being psychological well-being Total
professional activity male female male female
future education 59.5 59.9 4.5 2.9 32.4
specialists
working social work 40.5 40.1 95.5 97.1 67.6 30
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professionals
p < 0.01
Table 5 shows that future education professionals rate themselves as less prosperous than
working professionals (p < 0.01), consistent with previously identified age-related trends in
psychological well-being of the subjects. After all, most of the specialists who receive education in
their chosen profession are persons under the age of 23 years.
Thus, a comparative analysis of the socio-demographic characteristics of the surveyed
respondents leads to the conclusion that the level of psychological well-being in the various
executions of social work professionals is insufficient and the expediency of finding and analyzing
the factors of its provision. Among these factors, in our view, of particular importance are the basic
attitudes of specialists in the environment, other people and themselves.

Features of the psychological well-being of specialists in relation to their world

assumptions about the environment and other people
The study suggested that psychological well-being depends on an attitudinal system for the
environment, a system of values and beliefs, the ability to feel meaningful and valuable enough to
be involved in solving life and professional challenges in the current crisis. Indeed, it is found that
world assumptions about the environment of social work professionals with different levels of
psychological well-being differ significantly (Table 6).
Table 6
Groups of specialists in social work with different levels of psychological well-being
depending on the world assumptions
low level of psychological high level of psychological
World assumptions
well-being well-being
(BW) benevolence of the world 19.1 14.8
(BP) benevolence of people 17.3 15.1
(J) justice 14.8 13.4
(C) controllability 15.5 13.2
(R) randomness 15.3 14.1
(SW) self-worth 16.9 13.5
(SC) self-controllability 17.4 14.1
(L) luck 16.1 14.2
p < 0.01
From the data in Table 6 it follows that all the world assumptions of psychologically
prosperous social work professionals are more positive and constructive compared to
psychologically disadvantaged professionals (p< 0.01).
The differences are particularly clear in the benevolence of the world (averaging 19.1 points
against 14.8 points in psychologically disadvantaged professionals, p< 0.01). Therefore,
psychologically prosperous professionals perceive reality through the lens of benevolence, which is
very important in general and for their social mission in particular, because “…human prosperity
and happiness can be achieved through it” (Srivastava, Chaudhury, Bhat, & Mujawar, 2018).
Social work needs a flexible, creative solution to the many problems that arise in the process
of social protection of the population. Instead, the respondents’ positioning of their professional
environment as one that promotes the creative potential of the individual is rather ambiguous.
Due to the ANOVA results, it has been found that professionals with high levels of
psychological well-being are more likely than psychologically disadvantaged professionals to
perceive the work environment as contributing to the development of their potential (p < 0.01),
whereby both men and women.
31
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Features of the psychological well-being of specialists in relation to their world

assumptions about themselves in general and as a social work specialist in particular.
The link between self-esteem and psychological well-being has been the subject of a number
of studies (Bajaj, Gupta & Pande, 2016; Kovalenko & Spivak, 2018, etc). Self-esteem is related to a
variety of positive psychological outcomes, including psychological adjustment, positive emotion,
and prosocial behavior (Leary & MacDonald, 2003).
Indeed, as can be seen from the data in Table 6, higher values of “I” are inherent in
psychologically prosperous social work professionals (an average of 16.9 points, while in
psychologically disadvantaged people - 13.5 points, p <0.01). These findings are consistent with a
number of studies showing the leading role of positive self-esteem in shaping psychological well-
being (Shamionov, 2014, etc).
A global understanding of the value of the “I” of psychologically prosperous people has a positive
impact on their attitude to themselves as social work professionals (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Features of treating yourself as a social work specialist

Estimated Marginal Means of self_worse as specialist in social work

2,4 gender
female
male

2,2
Estimated Marginal Means

1,8

1,6

1,4

low level of psychological well- high level of psychological well-

being being

groups of specialists in social work on level of

psychological well-being

Fig. 1 shows that psychologically prosperous professionals value themselves more as a social
work specialist than psychologically disadvantaged professionals (p < 0.01).
Thus, according to the study, there is a direct link between the world assumptions of
environmentalists and their psychological well-being, the strongest predictors of which are the
belief in the value of “I” and the commitment of the world.
Discussion of Results
The results obtained allow us to assume the important role of psychological well-being
(PWB) in the professional development of social work professionals. In particular, Italy's social
workers have been found to have an impact on career growth, while emphasizing that professionals'
personal resources and a good working environment can be interconnected (Aiello & Tesi, 2017).
Psychological well-being prevents professional burnout of employees. This is confirmed by
the results of the study (Hombrados-Mendieta & Cosano-Rivas, 2011), which demonstrates that
workplace support is a mediating variable between job satisfaction and burnout, minimizing its
negative impact on social workers. Therefore, finding resources for overcoming occupational stress
and its consequences and, as a result, increasing employees’ psychological well-being, is important.
In particular, Lithuanian and UK social workers identify the types of resources for coping with
stressful situations: self-training (self-training; self-control; spiritual meditations, etc.) and
interpersonal (peer support, specialist counseling, supervision, family support) (Alifanovienė,
Šapelytė, & Gerulaitis, 2018). It is important, as we think, to extrapolate these types of resources to
the socio-cultural context of professional work in the field of social work and to representatives of 32
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other countries.
It should also be taken into account that one of the important factors of psychological well-
being is the specificity of the profession of a specialist. In particular, according to C. Ryff’s
research, entrepreneurs have higher levels of psychological well-being than other professions (Ryff,
2019). In addition, there is evidence of gender, age, and marital status at the PWB level (Ahrens &
Ryff, 2006; Friedman, Ruini, Foy, Jaros, Sampson, & Ryff, 2017, 2014, etc). Similar differences
were found in our study. However, their genesis remains uncertain and needs more thorough
research and interpretation.
Conclusions
Solving the problem of the study the peculiarities of psychological well-being of social work
professionals have been revealed, depending on their world assumptions about the environment,
other people and themselves compared to those professionals who are not psychologically well-off.
1. According to the results of a comparative analysis of two groups of respondents, it was found
that psychologically disadvantaged specialists make up a much larger group than psychologically
prosperous specialists.
2. Gender-age differences in the manifestations of psychological well-being of social work
professionals have been identified: women are less psychologically well-off than men, especially those
of younger age. Psychologically prosperous professionals also differ from those who are disadvantaged
in terms of: level of education (with increasing level of education, the number of psychologically
prosperous respondents increases), place of residence (more psychologically prosperous social work
professionals in the city than in rural areas), employment in the professional field (working in
psychology) more prosperous than those who only receive professional education).
3. There is a direct connection between the world assumptions of environmentalists, other people
and themselves and their psychological well-being, the strongest predictors of which are the belief in the
value of “I” and the commitment of the world. World assumptions about the environment of
psychologically prosperous social work professionals, compared to psychologically disadvantaged
professionals are: more positive and constructive. Such professionals are more likely to perceive the
work environment as contributing to the development of their potential, more value themselves as a
representative of the field of social work.
4. The expediency of psychological support of the professional activity of social work
specialists was established, which would contribute to their achievement of psychological well-
being on the basis of the detection and correction of destructive world assumptions.

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PSHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING PROFESSIONALS THE SOCIAL SPHERE

DEPENDING ON THEIR WORLD ASSUMPTIONS
Summary
Olena Bondarchuk, University of Educational Management,
National Academy of Pedagogical Science of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
Valentyna Balakhtar, Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, Chernivtsi, Ukraine
The article presents the results of an empirical study of the peculiarities of the psychological
well-being of social work specialists as a type of professional activity, which provides the provision
of social services, meeting the needs and interests of the most vulnerable sections of the population,
guaranteeing the population social rights, etc., and has a direct bearing on the provision of citizens’
psychological well-being. The object of research: indicators of the psychological well-being of
social work professionals, related to their world assumptions and attitude towards themselves as a
social worker. The purpose of the study is to identify the main indicators of the psychological well-
being of social work professionals related to their world assumptions about the environment, other
people and themselves compared to those professionals who are not psychologically well-off.
The key contradictions in professional activity, which are caused by the specificity of their
activity in the system “human- human” in the context of social protection of citizens (information
saturation, wide functional and role repertoire of the specialist, psycho-emotional loadings, have the
greatest influence on the achievement of psychological well-being of social work professionals. ),
meeting the needs and interests of the most vulnerable, and the changing conditions of today, which
are characterized by high social tensions and can negative im way affect their well-being and
successful realization of professional functions. In order to identify the peculiarities of the
psychological well-being of social professionals, we compared variables related to their basic
attitudes toward the environment and themselves (in particular, world assumptions about the world,
other people, themselves; perception of society as contributing to creative potential; attitudes
toward him/herself as a social work specialist). 471 social workers with low and high levels of well-
being between the ages of 18 and over 60 years have been included to the main sample of the study. The
results of the study showed that psychologically prosperous specialists (215 with high level of well-
being) were socially realized, capable of continuous personal development, realization of their own
potential opportunities, experiencing feelings of happiness, satisfaction with life and activity, and
psychologically disadvantaged (256 persons with low level of professionalism), characterized mainly by
negative experiences about their own unrealized, lack of opportunities and resources on the way to self-
realization, etc. At the same time, one third of women and less than half of men were psychologically 35
well-off, especially for people under 23 years of age.
2021 34(1 )

The indicators of psychological well-being depend on the system of attitudes to the

environment, the system of values and beliefs, the ability to feel meaningful and valuable enough to
be involved in solving life and professional problems in the current crisis. At the same time, the
world assumptions about the environment of psychologically prosperous social work professionals
compared to psychologically disadvantaged professionals are: more positive and constructive (p<
0.01); are more likely to perceive the work environment as contributing to the development of their
potential (p < 0.01), with both men and women.
A direct link is established between the world assumptions of environmental professionals
and their psychological well-being, the strongest predictors of which are the belief in the value of
“I” and the commitment of the world (p < 0.01). Thus, it is advisable to provide social and
psychological support for the professional activities of social work professionals, which will help them
achieve psychological well-being based on the identification and correction of destructive world
assumptions.

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