Self Disclosure In Social Work

Barker (2014) in the Social Work Dictionary, states that empathy is “the act of perceiving, understanding, experiencing, and responding to the emotional state and ideas of another person” (p. 139). This summary of empathy can only scratch the surface of how empathy is displayed in an interview between a social worker and client. In social work practice, a clinician strives to connect with clients by meeting them where they are at with compassion and empathy, but how does self-disclosure incorporate into this environment? Self- disclosure in the social work interview brings forward mixed emotions; the issue of self-disclosure will be explored through this paper with perspectives from both the social worker and the client.

Empathy Effect on Self-disclosure

In a research study conducted by Knight, she found that in One hundred ninety-two social workers, eighty-five percent on no occasion or on a rare occasion shared personal information to the client (2012). Knight further found, that participants were far more likely to allow their clients see their emotional reaction to the subject matter that was being presented; specifically, the research revealed that forty percent of participants often allowed clients to see their emotional reaction to the subject matter that was shared (2012). Lastly, in this study Knight found that the social worker had an optimistic attitude and that eight percent felt comfortable participating in self-disclosure (2012). The research revealed that overall social workers have a positive attitude towards self-disclosure and social workers readily show emotions in the interview process even though the social workers did not disclose personal information to their

A small study conducted by Audet found this statement to be true amongst nine adult participants, five participants in this study had a positive experience with self-disclosure, two participants had a negative experience, and the last two participants had both positive and negative experience when the social worker self-disclosed (2011). This study found that the amount of self-disclosure affects the clients experience; the study conveyed that some participants felt that self-disclosure humanized the social work professional while other participants felt that it distorted the lines of professionalism, and made some participants feel like they were talking to a friend instead of a professional (Audet, 2011). Every client that a social worker encounters brings different life experiences these experiences affect the way a client may view self-disclosure creating a thin boundary which the social worker must navigate in each