Social work competencies: a descriptive analysis on practice behaviours among Romanian social workers

The study analyses how social work professionals from Romania relate to a set of 45 practice behaviours further classified as professional and transversal competencies. During the last 30 years, upon the reinstalment of the profession in the early 90s, Romanian social work has gone through systemic changes in the areas of education and practice. We consider that this study contributes to strengthening the workforce in dealing with the current social work challenges. The study is exploratory and employs an electronic survey on a sample of 740 licensed social workers. The findings indicate that the most valued competency was Promoting Diversity and Difference in Practice, while the lowest agreement was for Engaging in Practice-Informed Research and Research-Informed Practice and for Engaging with individuals, families, groups, organisations, and communities. While there were no significant differences according to socio-demographic variables, results carry significant conceptual and practical implications in defining and implementing a competency-based social work approach in Romania.