Shame and Pride among Social Workers in Israel: A Concept Map

The research on shame and pride among social workers is in its infancy. Given the potential consequences of these emotions on social workers and social work practice, this study had two main aims: (i) to identify practice situations in which social workers in Israel felt shame and pride and (ii) to classify and map these situations into conceptual domains. A concept mapping approach was used to achieve these aims. Eighty social workers recruited via social networks and snowballing participated in the statement generation of experiences of shame and pride in their daily practice. The sample was diverse in terms of seniority, role (managerial/frontline), populations served and agencies. The process yielded ten clusters, six of them representing sources of shame and four sources of pride. Based on the statements comprising the clusters, it can be argued that the ability of social workers to advance change can serve as an organising concept for comparing shame and pride. Not being able to promote desired change induces shame, while promoting such change fosters pride. These outcomes can be explained by self-discrepancy theory. The article discusses the implications of the study's results for theory, practice and research.