Özet:

Poverty is an important social problem of our age. Due to its multidimensional structure, it is subject to different explanations and interpretations, and accordingly the meaning and definition of poverty may change. Social workers are struggling with this problem by working with the poor. However, the lack of research on the causes of poverty and the lack of determination of social work students' attitudes towards poverty constitute the main problem of future efforts to combat poverty. In this direction, the aim of the research is to analyze the attitudes of social work students towards the causes of poverty. The research includes students receiving social work undergraduate education in Turkey. Using the Higher Education Information System (YÖKSİS) data on 25.10.2022, 232 students were selected from among the 3rd and 4th grades selected from the universities with the highest base scores. Measurement tools such as the "Personal Information Form" and the "Causal Attributions to Poverty Scale", which included the sociodemographic characteristics of the participants, were used. In the study, it was found that students' perceptions of the causes of poverty were mostly structural; It has been seen that the idea that social work practices for the poor should be carried out with a rights-based approach is widespread. It was concluded that as the socioeconomic status deteriorated, the levels of structural attribution increased and women made more structural references to the causes of poverty than men. In addition, individuals who define themselves as social democrats make structural references, those who define themselves as religious, fatalistic, and those who define themselves as conservative make individual references. Social workers should implement interventions appropriate to the needs of clients with a human rights-based approach. The role of the social worker in making professional interventions by putting personal values in the background is important. One of the main responsibilities of the social worker is to defend the rights of clients and to respect diversity.

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