Social Worker's Image Perceived by Middle and High School Students -Comparison of the Image of Social Worker and Nurse-

The aim of this study was to understand the difference between the image of social-workers and nurses perceived by middle school and high school students, and determine the experience related to social workers and the role of social workers projected in the media. The subjects of this study were 386 students of middle and high school located in S city. Data were collected from Oct. 15, 2013 to Nov. 23, 2013 and analyzed using the SPSS win 18.0 program. A comparison of the image of nurses and social workers in two groups showed that middle school students tended to have a more positive image of nurses than high school students, and the image of nurses appeared to be more positive than that of social workers. As a result of analyzing the contents exposed in media, the students received most of their information on social workers from TV. Therefore, it is necessary to have a strategy to help students choose a major or a job by reinforcing mass media monitoring based on TV, which may have a major impact on the image of social workers and provide them with the correct information on the profession.