The moderating role of victim-related education in social work: examining the relationship between unjust/just-world beliefs and prejudice towards crime victims.

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Title: The moderating role of victim-related education in social work: examining the relationship between unjust/just-world beliefs and prejudice towards crime victims.
Authors: Gönültaş, Burak M.1 (AUTHOR), Türk, Sena2 (AUTHOR), Öztürk, Meral1 (AUTHOR), Türk, Ahmet3 (AUTHOR) aturk@sinop.edu.tr, Ari, Furkan1 (AUTHOR)
Source: Social Work Education. Aug2026, Vol. 45 Issue 5, p1213-1226. 14p.
Subject Terms: *Educational intervention, *Social work students, Prejudices, Worldview, Cognitive bias, Crime victims
Abstract: This study aims to examine the relationship between social work students' unjust/just world beliefs and their prejudiced attitudes toward victims, as well as the moderating effect of victim-related education on this relationship. The study's sample comprised 412 social work students. Just World Belief Scale and the Perceptions of Victims Scale was used. The regression analysis, underpinned by the bootstrap technique via the Process Macro plug-in, was utilized to ascertain the moderating effect of victim-related training programmes. Results indicated that unjust world beliefs did not interact significantly with victim-related education in predicting prejudice. In contrast, victim-focused education significantly moderated the association between just world beliefs and prejudicial attitudes. Among students without such training, stronger endorsement of just world beliefs was associated with a marked increase in prejudice toward victims. However, this effect was substantially weakened among students who had received victim-related instruction. This study has produced two significant insights: First, pervasive societal judgments internalized by students can shape their attitudes toward victimized groups. Second, targeted educational interventions can attenuate the biasing influence of just world beliefs. Incorporating victimization-focused content into social work curricula is thus essential for mitigating prejudicial tendencies and fostering more equitable, empathetic professional practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Social Work Education is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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DbLabel: Education Research Complete
An: 195360920
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PubTypeId: academicJournal
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  Data: The moderating role of victim-related education in social work: examining the relationship between unjust/just-world beliefs and prejudice towards crime victims.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Social+Work+Education%22">Social Work Education</searchLink>. Aug2026, Vol. 45 Issue 5, p1213-1226. 14p.
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  Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Educational+intervention%22">Educational intervention</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Social+work+students%22">Social work students</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Prejudices%22">Prejudices</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Worldview%22">Worldview</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Cognitive+bias%22">Cognitive bias</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Crime+victims%22">Crime victims</searchLink>
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: This study aims to examine the relationship between social work students' unjust/just world beliefs and their prejudiced attitudes toward victims, as well as the moderating effect of victim-related education on this relationship. The study's sample comprised 412 social work students. Just World Belief Scale and the Perceptions of Victims Scale was used. The regression analysis, underpinned by the bootstrap technique via the Process Macro plug-in, was utilized to ascertain the moderating effect of victim-related training programmes. Results indicated that unjust world beliefs did not interact significantly with victim-related education in predicting prejudice. In contrast, victim-focused education significantly moderated the association between just world beliefs and prejudicial attitudes. Among students without such training, stronger endorsement of just world beliefs was associated with a marked increase in prejudice toward victims. However, this effect was substantially weakened among students who had received victim-related instruction. This study has produced two significant insights: First, pervasive societal judgments internalized by students can shape their attitudes toward victimized groups. Second, targeted educational interventions can attenuate the biasing influence of just world beliefs. Incorporating victimization-focused content into social work curricula is thus essential for mitigating prejudicial tendencies and fostering more equitable, empathetic professional practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
  Label:
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Social Work Education is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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        Value: 10.1080/02615479.2025.2558115
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      – Code: eng
        Text: English
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        PageCount: 14
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        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Social work students
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Prejudices
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      – SubjectFull: Worldview
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      – SubjectFull: Cognitive bias
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      – SubjectFull: Crime victims
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            – D: 01
              M: 08
              Text: Aug2026
              Type: published
              Y: 2026
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