Students' Perceptions and Attitudes Towards Ex-inmates

Social workers play a crucial role in the reintegration process of ex-inmates. Thus, it essential that future social workers preparing to work with this category of individuals approach cases with professionalism and empathy, avoiding stigmatization of ex-inmates. Furthermore, the attitudes and perceptions of students as future professionals play a significant role in shaping a society that supports and understands the needs of ex-inmates. This study explored the perceptions and attitudes of social work students toward ex-inmates. A questionnaire was administered to a total of 80 respondents from the social work specialization at Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, specifically in their second and third year of study. The social work students who were surveyed in this study generally have positive attitudes and perceptions towardex-inmates. Despite this, it is important to mention that after analysing the data, more than half of the students have a generally negative attitude towards associating with such a person. This may suggest that some responses may have been influenced by social desirability, leading participants to answer in ways they perceived as socially expected.


Keywords: perceptions, attitudes, ex-inmates, stigmatizations, deviance