Lean on me: The role of organizational and supervisory support in understanding work outcomes in victim advocates

Burnout, or the exhaustion caused from a buildup of stressors, is a prevalent issue amongst helping professionals such as victim advocates due to problems of high workload, understaffing, and secondary traumatic stress. Turnover is a common result of burnout when employees do not have the resources needed to counterbalance workplace demands. Voluntary turnover can be harmful to organizations and the populations they serve. Resources potentially beneficial to employees are support from their supervisor and their organization more broadly. Thus, we used a longitudinal mixed methods approach to test the effect of support on burnout and turnover intention in victim advocates working within the contexts of Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs) in the United States, a population with limited study. This sample was representative of victim advocates working within U.S. CACs. This longitudinal study disseminated three surveys over the course of one year with the purpose of examining the relationships among organizational and supervisor support, burnout, and turnover intention. Qualitative responses were also gathered to examine factors that contribute to burnout and retention of victim advocates. Findings revealed that organizational and supervisory support’s effect on turnover was mediated by burnout and that a driving force for retention was commitment to the population they serve. Potential strategies that may be used to ameliorate stress and strain, enhance well-being and work performance, and reduce turnover intention are discussed, including building a collaborative and psychologically safe interpersonal environment in the agency and with community partners and illuminating positive impact on families served.