A Comparative Study of Social Work Students in India and the UK: Stress, Support and Well-Being

This paper compares the key findings from the first piece of research in the UK to focus exclusively on 'stress, support and well-being of social work students' (n = 76), with findings from a cohort of Indian social work students studying in the Tamil Nadu region in Southern India (n = 235), using the same questionnaire. This comparative international study highlights a range of differences in the key outcome variables, namely British students reported significantly higher levels of demands and significantly lower levels of support than their Indian counterparts; however, despite the lower levels of demands and higher levels of support reported by Indian students, they had significantly poorer well-being than their British counterparts. In the Indian study, there were no significant correlations between the main outcome variables of demands, support and well-being; however, in the British study, support was negatively correlated with well-being (measured using the GHQ-12), indicating that those who reported higher levels of support also reported better well-being. This study draws particular attention to the potentially differing contexts of 'support' amongst both groups, and raises questions concerning the challenges of using questionnaires to capture culturally specific stressors and support mechanisms.