Examining self-care practice frequency among social workers: an international comparison

The importance of self-care among social work practitioners notwithstanding, research literature is in the nascent stages of examining this area inquiry. This exploratory study examined the frequency of self-care practices among social work practitioners in Czech Republic, Finland, Poland, and Slovakia. Utilising data collected as part of Wave I of the Global Self-Care Initiative, a large-scale exploratory study designed to examine self-care practices among diverse practitioner groups, researchers sought to investigate differences in practitioners, by country. Analyses revealed significant cross-country differences. Both hierarchical regression and regression tree analyses showed country to have significantly explanatory effect. Practitioners from Finland reported engaging in self-care significantly more frequently than did practitioners in the other countries. Implications derived from contextual practice environments and areas for apposite research inquiry are discussed.