NASW's consumer Website, HelpStartsHere, hosted a survey among users to gain insight into who was visiting the site and for what reasons.

Theresa Spinner, senior Web communications associate at NASW, said among the 690 visitors who completed the online survey, 32 percent accessed the site to research a topic for schoolwork. Fourteen percent were visiting to gain information about a personal issue.

Six percent visited to help a friend or relative address a problem and 6 percent were there to find a social worker. Forty-two percent selected "other," which, among the reasons listed, was to find more information about social work as a career.

Seventy-three of the respondents said they were able to find the information they were looking for and found the Web site helpful. Ninety-two percent said they would recommend the site to family and friends.

Nearly three-fifths, or 57 percent, of the survey respondents were members of the general public. Women totaled 86 percent of visitors, versus 14 percent for men.

Age ranges were also calculated.

Twenty-five percent were between 20-79 years old; 22 percent were between 30-39; 21 percent were between 40-49; 19 percent were between 50-59; the remaining 13 percent were under 20 or more than 60 years old.

Spinner said that since a large percent of visitors to the site appears to be the general public, the site can serve as a useful tool for recruiting people into the profession.