Child Welfare Workers: What You Need to Know

Introduction 

Child Welfare Workers (CWW) often experience burnout, occupation stress, and fatigue due to the nature of their work. In fact, the social work profession has been labeled as a high-risk profession due to the numerous challenges eminent in the workplace. Furthermore, the CWWs working in rural areas are the ones who are more susceptible to suffering from these work-related issues or stressors. In particular, rural social workers are at an increased risk of experiencing burnout, occupation stress, and fatigue. This is because these workers face unique challenges, such as isolation and limited resources. Thus, special attention needs ought to be given to them. 

Problem Statement 

Social workers are at an increased risk of developing burnout, work-related stress, and fatigue because of the nature of their work. CWWs face several workplace issues, including extensive workload, job dissatisfaction, and exposure to traumatic situations. These issues ought to be addressed to increase social workers' purpose and work engagement. This research study seeks to explore how burnout, occupation stress, and compassion fatigue lead to high turnover rates in social work agencies to establish best practices for increasing retention rates. 

Significance of the Study 

This seeks to explore the best practices that social work agencies can use to reduce turnover rates. Thus, the findings of this study can be used by other agencies to increase the retention rates of their social workers as well as decrease the workplace stresses that these workers often face. This includes burnout, occupational stress, and compassionate fatigue. 

Theoretical Framework 

The interactional model of stress and social learning theory will be used to ground this study. This model is often employed to understand how people, social workers, in this case, interact with their environments, social and psychological pressures. The interactive model will be used in this study because it emphasizes the need to understand the environment and individual differences and thinking and reactions to stress in order to understand occupational stress. Furthermore, the social learning theory will be used to analyze the behaviors of CWWs and how the child welfare system and rural and organizational behavior influence the behavior of SWWs. 

Literature Review 

Search Strategy 

A comprehensive search strategy was developed to review prior literature on burnout, occupational stress, and fatigue. The search was limited to scholarly articles published between 2015 and 2021. Any prior literature that preceded 2015 was excluded. Furthermore, keywords were carefully selected, and Boolean operators "AND" and "OR" were used interchangeably when searching for literature. The aim was to expand or narrow down the search results. Some of the keywords that were used include "burnout," "occupational stress," "fatigue," "Child Welfare Workers (CWWs)," and "turnover rate," among many other keywords. From the literature search, a total of 25 articles were generated. The articles were screened, and 15 articles were selected for review. All the articles were scholarly; they were all published in a peer-reviewed journal. The articles selected covered a wide range of topics, including burnout, occupational stress, compassion fatigue, empathy, and workplace support. 

Burnout 

Burnout is a distinct work-related stress characterized by emotional exhaustion and diminished feelings of accomplishment. Just like any other profession, burnout due to job stress is prevalent in social work settings (Travis et al., 2016; Wagaman et al., 2015; Kheswa, 2019; Olaniyan et al., 2020). Social workers face several workplace issues, including extensive workload, job dissatisfaction, and exposure to traumatic situations. Coupled with staff shortages and limited resources, the risk of burnout among social workers is significant (Wilson, 2016). Many social workers may experience burnout at some point in their careers. If not addressed, burnout can result in increased turnover rates, job dissatisfaction and negatively impact an individual's health (Scanlan & Still, 2019). With regard to health, burnout can lead to psychological and mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, and eating disorders. 

CWWs are susceptible to experiencing burnout due to the nature of work. The tasks they often undertake surround child neglect, assessing families, haphazard and intricate cases (Olaniyan et al., 2020). In some cases, social workers are forced to fulfill two or more conflicting roles, which can be stressful. Coupled with extensive workload, limited resources, lack of support, and lack of autonomy, social workers are more susceptible to burnout. 

Despite recognizing burnout as a significant issue in social work, social work agencies fail to employ effective strategies to mitigate burnout development. Burnout can lead to turnover, absenteeism, employee disengagement, and job dissatisfaction, among many other work-related issues (Dyrbye et al., 2019). Prior literature has identified workplace support as one of the strategies to address this issue. This intervention will help address some components of empathy that contribute to stress and burnout (Wagaman et al., 2015; Olaniyan et al., 2020). Empathy may increase employee burnout. 

Arguably, burnout is a serious problem in social work. Prior literature suggests that workplace support can be viable interventions for addressing burnout in the workplace (Nowrouzi et al., 2015). This will, in turn, help boost employees' retention, job satisfaction, and productivity (Olaniyan et al., 2020). Thus, social work agencies should adopt these mitigation strategies, among many other best practices, to reduce burnout-related issues in the workplace. 

Occupational Stress 

Another work-related issue that social workers, including CWWs, face in their line of work or work environment is occupational stress. Moyane (2016) defines occupational stress as a "condition or intermediate arousal state between objective stressors and strain," with the strain being "reactions to the conditions of stress" (10). In recent years, occupational stress has become a matter of great concern both locally and internationally. Work stress is on the increase due to the changes that always affect the work environment and nature of work. Some of the factors that can lead to stress among social workers are lack of adequate resources and support, extensive workloads, work significance and performance pressure, organizational culture, and organizational culture (Bhui et al., 2016; Mbidoaka, 2017). Stress has been reported to have a negative impact on both the employees and organizations. According to Bhui et al. (2016), stress negatively impacts an individual's thinking, productivity, and health. In an attempt to understand stress, a wide range of studies have explored the various types of stresses in the workplace. 

Some of the stresses that social workers often experience include emotional stress, physical stress, behavioral stress, mental stress, and health (Willems, 2014). This indicates the consequences of different occupational stress that employees can potentially experience. Social workers provide interventions that are aimed to promote holistic functioning in societies. They provide a wide range of services to diverse clients and in diverse settings. As licensed professionals, social workers are required to uphold values and ethics that promote professional mandates (Bhui et al., 11). Adhering to workplace values and ethics and other mandates can increase social workers' potential for occupational stress. 

Compassion Fatigue 

A review of the literature suggests that social workers can also experience compassion fatigue. This is particularly true when they are exposed to clients' traumatic experiences and sufferings. CWWs may provide interventions to address the trauma and abuse experienced by an individual; but, the indirect exposure to trauma may induce a number of inherent risks, ranging from behavioral changes to cognitive and emotional changes (Cooker & Joss, 2016). Repeated exposure to trauma cases may induce compassion fatigue (Rauvola et al., 2019). This can have a detrimental impact on the social worker. 

Compassion fatigue diminishes a social worker's own capacity to cope or self-care. In most cases, this results in mental and emotional fatigue. This can adversely impact social workers' professional judgment and performance (Hanson, 2015; Smith, 2015). According to Loolo (2016), the cognitive effects of compassion fatigue include lack of concentration and apathy. Research suggests that supervision, organization or workplace support, and self-care can significantly reduce the experience of compassion fatigue. 

Literature Gap 

Prior literature shows how pervasive the issue of burnout, stress, and fatigue is in social work settings. These work issues or stressors adversely impact social workers, leading to high turnover. Prior literature also documents some of the strategies that can be used to mitigate these issues, including self-care and organizational support. However, most of the literature focuses on urban social work settings. There limited research on child welfare agencies in rural communities. This research study seeks to explore how SWWs living in rural communities perceive burnout, occupational stress, and compassionate fatigue with the aim to establish best practices for increasing retention among CWWs. 

Research Question, Hypothesis, Variables 

Research Question: Can agency support help prevent or reduce burnout, work stress, and compassionate fatigue among SWWs to increase their retention rate? 

Hypothesis: I hypothesize that agency support will help prevent or reduce burnout, occupational stress, and compassionate fatigue among SWWs working in rural communities. 

Variables: The independent variables in this study (IVs) are burnout, occupational stress, and compassionate fatigue, while the dependent variable (DVs) is agency support. 

Conceptual Definitions 

Burnout 

Burnout is a distinct work-related stress characterized by emotional exhaustion and diminished feelings of accomplishment. This issue can result in increased turnover rates, job dissatisfaction and negatively impact an individual's health. With regard to health, burnout can lead to psychological and mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, and eating disorders. 

Occupational Stress 

Occupation stress is the degree of stress experienced by an employee due to work-related issues; it is a condition or intermediate arousal state between objective stressors and strain. Social workers often experience different occupational stress in the workplace: emotional stress, physical stress, behavioral stress, mental stress, and health. Some of the factors that can lead to stress among social workers are lack of adequate resources and support, extensive workloads, work significance and performance pressure, organizational culture, and organizational culture. 

Compassionate Fatigue 

Compassionate fatigue is the feelings, thoughts, and reactions that employees experience when responding to their clients. Compassion fatigue diminishes a social worker's own capacity to cope or self-care. In most cases, this results in mental and emotional fatigue. This can adversely impact social workers' professional judgment and performance. The cognitive effects of compassion fatigue include lack of concentration and apathy. 

Data Collection Tools 

This study will employ questionnaires to collect data. The interview will be composed of both open- and closed-ended questions. The questions will be tailored in such a way as to assess participants' perspectives of burnout, occupational stress, and agency support. Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, questionnaires will be used to adhere to the Covid-19 guidelines of maintaining social distancing. Some of the questionnaires will be administered to the participants via emails and platforms. Since the setting of the study is a rural community in El Dorado County, some participants may lack an Internet connection. Questionnaires will be administered to these participants on a drop-and-pick basis. 

References 

Bhui, K., Dinos, S., Galant-Miecznikowska, M., de Jongh, B., & Stansfeld, S. (2016). Perceptions of work stress causes and effective interventions in employees working in public, private and non-governmental organisations: a qualitative study.  BJPsych Bulletin ,  40 (6), 318-325. 

Cocker, F., & Joss, N. (2016). Compassion fatigue among healthcare, emergency and community service workers: A systematic review.  International journal of environmental research and public health ,  13 (6), 618. 

Dyrbye, L. N., Shanafelt, T. D., Johnson, P. O., Johnson, L. A., Satele, D., & West, C. P. (2019). A cross-sectional study exploring the relationship between burnout, absenteeism, and job performance among American nurses.  BMC nursing ,  18 (1), 1-8. 

Hanson, A. J. (2015). The impact of compassion fatigue and burnout among residential care workers on client care: Implications for social work practice. Masters of Social Work Clinical Research Papers. 5-2015. St. Catherine University. 

Kheswa, J. G. (2019). Factors and effects of work-related stress and burnout on the well-being of social workers in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa.  SA Journal of Industrial Psychology ,  45 (1), 1-10. 

Loolo, M. A. (2016). Compassion fatigue and crisis workers' attitude to work. Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. Walden University 

Mbidoaka, K. C. (2017). Strategies to Reduce Effects of Organizational Stress in Health Care Workplaces. Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. Walden University. 

Moyane, N. B. (2016).  Social workers' experiences of occupational stress: a study in the Department of Social Development, Ehlanzeni District, Mpumalanga Province  (Doctoral dissertation). 

Nowrouzi, B., Lightfoot, N., Larivière, M., Carter, L., Rukholm, E., Schinke, R., & Belanger-Gardner, D. (2015). Occupational stress management and burnout interventions in nursing and their implications for healthy work environments: A literature review.  Workplace health & safety ,  63 (7), 308-315. 

Olaniyan, O. S., Hetland, H., Hystad, S. W., Iversen, A. C., & Ortiz Barreda, G. M. (2020). Lean on me: A scoping review of the essence of workplace support among child welfare workers.  Frontiers in Psychology ,  11 , 287. 

Rauvola, R. S., Vega, D. M., & Lavigne, K. N. (2019). Compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, and vicarious traumatization: A qualitative review and research agenda.  Occupational health science ,  3 (3), 297-336. 

Scanlan, J. N., & Still, M. (2019). Relationships between burnout, turnover intention, job satisfaction, job demands and job resources for mental health personnel in an Australian mental health service.  BMC health services research ,  19 (1), 1-11. 

Smith, L. W. (2015). Compassion fatigue, burnout, and self-care: What social work students need to know. Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations. California State University. 

Travis, D. J., Lizano, E. L., & Mor Barak, M. E. (2016). 'I'm so stressed!': A longitudinal model of stress, burnout and engagement among social workers in child welfare settings.  The British Journal of Social Work ,  46 (4), 1076-1095. 

Wagaman, M. A., Geiger, J. M., Shockley, C., & Segal, E. A. (2015). The role of empathy in burnout, compassion satisfaction, and secondary traumatic stress among social workers.  Social Work ,  60 (3), 201-209. 

Willems, E. A. (2014). Stress among social work professionals in mental health care settings. Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers, 5-2014. St. Catherine University. 

Wilson, F. (2016). Identifying, preventing, and addressing job burnout and vicarious burnout for social work professionals.  Journal of Evidence-Informed Social Work ,  13 (5), 479-483.