IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v33y2011i2p358-367.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Job conditions, unmet expectations, and burnout in public child welfare workers: How different from other social workers?

Author

Listed:
  • Kim, Hansung

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to compare public child welfare workers' perception of job conditions, unmet expectations, and burnout to those of social workers in other settings. Using data from a sample of 408 social workers identified from a cross-sectional random survey of California registered social workers, a series of ANOVA and multiple regression analysis was performed. Results of ANOVA revealed that public child welfare workers experienced higher workloads, greater role conflict, and depersonalization, and had lower personal accomplishment. However, they had similar levels of unmet expectations and emotional exhaustion as other social workers. Adjusted for perceived job conditions and demographic characteristics, regression analyses revealed that public child welfare workers had significantly higher levels of depersonalization than those of private child welfare workers. Finally, workers in public settings exhibited significantly lower levels of personal accomplishment than social workers in private settings did, regardless of their practice field. Implications for organizational practices and future research are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Kim, Hansung, 2011. "Job conditions, unmet expectations, and burnout in public child welfare workers: How different from other social workers?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 358-367, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:33:y:2011:i:2:p:358-367
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190-7409(10)00335-X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lee, Raymond T. & Ashforth, Blake E., 1993. "A Longitudinal Study of Burnout among Supervisors and Managers: Comparisons between the Leiter and Maslach (1988) and Golembiewski et al. (1986) Models," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 369-398, April.
    2. Mor Barak, Michalle E. & Levin, Amy & Nissly, Jan A. & Lane, Christianne J., 2006. "Why do they leave? Modeling child welfare workers' turnover intentions," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 548-577, May.
    3. Boyas, Javier & Wind, Leslie H., 2010. "Employment-based social capital, job stress, and employee burnout: A public child welfare employee structural model," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 380-388, March.
    4. Regehr, Cheryl & Hemsworth, David & Leslie, Bruce & Howe, Phillip & Chau, Shirley, 2004. "Predictors of post-traumatic distress in child welfare workers: a linear structural equation model," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 331-346, April.
    5. Ellett, Alberta J., 2009. "Intentions to remain employed in child welfare: The role of human caring, self-efficacy beliefs, and professional organizational culture," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 78-88, January.
    6. Faller, Kathleen Coulborn & Grabarek, Marguerite & Ortega, Robert M., 2010. "Commitment to child welfare work: What predicts leaving and staying?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 840-846, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Boyas, Javier F. & Wind, Leslie H. & Ruiz, Erika, 2015. "Exploring patterns of employee psychosocial outcomes among child welfare workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 174-183.
    2. Strolin-Goltzman, Jessica & Kollar, Sharon & Shea, Karen & Walcott, Cindy & Ward, Sarah, 2016. "Building a landscape of resilience after workplace violence in public child welfare," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 250-256.
    3. Preston, Mark S., 2015. "Case manager job strain in public child welfare agencies: Job demands and job control's additive effects, and instrumental feedback's mediating role," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 30-40.
    4. Griffiths, Austin & Royse, David & Murphy, April & Jones, Olivia & Culver, Kalee & Turner, James & Smajlovic, Alma, 2023. "Exploratory factor analysis and reliability of the Child Welfare Employee Feedback Scale: Further revision (CWEFS-R)," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    5. Lizano, Erica L. & Mor Barak, Michalle, 2015. "Job burnout and affective wellbeing: A longitudinal study of burnout and job satisfaction among public child welfare workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 18-28.
    6. King, Erin A., 2021. "Child welfare workers’ experiences of client-perpetrated violence: Implications for worker mental health," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    7. Soffer-Elnekave, Ruth & Haight, Wendy & Nashandi, Ndilimeke J.C. & Cho, Minhae & Suleiman, Johara & Park, Sookyoung, 2023. "Re-orienting narratives of moral injury towards positive development: The experiences of emerging adults with child welfare histories," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    8. Orsi-Hunt, Rebecca & Harrison, Courtney L. & Rockwell, Kayla E. & Barbee, Anita P., 2023. "Addressing secondary traumatic stress, burnout, resilience and turnover in the child welfare workforce: Results from a 6-month, cluster-randomized control trial of Resilience Alliance," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    9. Chung, Youngsoon & Choo, Hyekyung, 2019. "A structural path to job satisfaction, burnout, and intent to leave among child protection workers: A South Korean study," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 304-312.
    10. Affrunti, Nicholas W. & Mehta, Tara & Rusch, Dana & Frazier, Stacy, 2018. "Job demands, resources, and stress among staff in after school programs: Neighborhood characteristics influence associations in the job demands-resources model," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 366-374.
    11. Griffiths, Austin & Royse, David & Walker, Robert, 2018. "Stress among child protective service workers: Self-reported health consequences," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 46-53.
    12. He, Amy S. & Lizano, Erica L. & Stahlschmidt, Mary Jo, 2021. "When doing the right thing feels wrong: Moral distress among child welfare caseworkers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    13. Smith, Richard J. & Clark, Sherrill J., 2011. "Does job resource loss reduce burnout and job exit for professionally trained social workers in child welfare?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(10), pages 1950-1959, October.
    14. Miriam Mutambudzi & Kene Henkens, 2020. "Chronic health conditions and work-related stress in older adults participating in the Dutch workforce," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 499-508, December.
    15. Smith, Brenda D. & Prichard, Caroline & Boltz, Laura D., 2016. "Do child welfare job preview videos reflect evidence on retention and turnover?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 210-216.
    16. Lee, Eunju & Esaki, Nina & Kim, Jeehoon & Greene, Rose & Kirkland, Kristen & Mitchell-Herzfeld, Susan, 2013. "Organizational climate and burnout among home visitors: Testing mediating effects of empowerment," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 594-602.
    17. Engell, Thomas & Kirkøen, Benedicte & Aarons, Gregory A. & Hagen, Kristine Amlund, 2020. "Individual level predictors of implementation climate in child welfare services," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    18. Boonzaaier, Emma & Truter, Elmien & Fouché, Ansie, 2021. "Occupational risk factors in child protection social work: A scoping review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    19. Salloum, Alison & Choi, Mi Jin & Stover, Carla Smith, 2018. "Development of a trauma-informed self-care measure with child welfare workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 108-116.
    20. Edwards, Frank & Wildeman, Christopher, 2018. "Characteristics of the front-line child welfare workforce," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 13-26.
    21. Griffiths, Austin & Royse, David & Culver, Kalee & Piescher, Kristine & Zhang, Yanchen, 2017. "Who stays, who goes, who knows? A state-wide survey of child welfare workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 110-117.
    22. Virat, Mael & Dubreil, Caroline, 2020. "Building secure attachment bonds with at-risk, insecure late adolescents and emerging adults: Young people’s perceptions of their care workers’ caregiving behaviors," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Smith, Richard J. & Clark, Sherrill J., 2011. "Does job resource loss reduce burnout and job exit for professionally trained social workers in child welfare?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(10), pages 1950-1959, October.
    2. Kruzich, Jean M. & Mienko, Joseph A. & Courtney, Mark E., 2014. "Individual and work group influences on turnover intention among public child welfare workers: The effects of work group psychological safety," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 20-27.
    3. Hwang, Jeongha & Hopkins, Karen M., 2015. "A structural equation model of the effects of diversity characteristics and inclusion on organizational outcomes in the child welfare workforce," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 44-52.
    4. Preston, Mark S., 2013. "Motivating child welfare case managers: An application and extension of feedback information theory," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 734-741.
    5. Lee, Eunju & Esaki, Nina & Kim, Jeehoon & Greene, Rose & Kirkland, Kristen & Mitchell-Herzfeld, Susan, 2013. "Organizational climate and burnout among home visitors: Testing mediating effects of empowerment," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 594-602.
    6. Travis, Dnika J. & Gomez, Rebecca J. & Mor Barak, Michàlle E., 2011. "Speaking up and stepping back: Examining the link between employee voice and job neglect," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(10), pages 1831-1841, October.
    7. Lee, Joohee & Forster, Michael & Rehner, Tim, 2011. "The retention of public child welfare workers: The roles of professional organizational culture and coping strategies," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 102-109, January.
    8. Chenot, David & Boutakidis, Ioakim & Benton, Amy D., 2014. "Equity and fairness perceptions in the child welfare workforce," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 400-406.
    9. Potter, Cathryn C. & Leake, Robin & Longworth-Reed, Laricia & Altschul, Inna & Rienks, Shauna, 2016. "Measuring organizational health in child welfare agencies," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 31-39.
    10. Claiborne, Nancy & Auerbach, Charles & Zeitlin, Wendy & Lawrence, Catherine K., 2015. "Climate factors related to intention to leave in administrators and clinical professionals," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 18-25.
    11. Li, Yong & Huang, Hui & Chen, Yi-Yi, 2020. "Organizational climate, job satisfaction, and turnover in voluntary child welfare workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    12. Smith, Brenda D. & Prichard, Caroline & Boltz, Laura D., 2016. "Do child welfare job preview videos reflect evidence on retention and turnover?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 210-216.
    13. Schelbe, Lisa & Radey, Melissa & Panisch, Lisa S., 2017. "Satisfactions and stressors experienced by recently-hired frontline child welfare workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 56-63.
    14. Radey, Melissa & Wilke, Dina J., 2023. "Extent, trajectory, and determinants of child welfare turnover and exit destinations," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    15. Antonopoulou, P. & Killian, M. & Forrester, D., 2017. "Levels of stress and anxiety in child and family social work: Workers' perceptions of organizational structure, professional support and workplace opportunities in Children's Services in the UK," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 42-50.
    16. Griffiths, Austin & Royse, David & Walker, Robert, 2018. "Stress among child protective service workers: Self-reported health consequences," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 46-53.
    17. Burns, Desirée D. & Langenderfer-Magruder, Lisa & Yelick, Anna & Wilke, Dina J., 2023. "What else is there to say? Reflections of newly-hired child welfare workers by retention status," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    18. Zinn, Andrew, 2015. "A typology of supervision in child welfare: Multilevel latent class and confirmatory analyses of caseworker–supervisor relationship type," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 98-110.
    19. Preston, Mark S., 2013. "Advancing case manager motivation in child welfare: Job control's curvilinear relationship and instrumental feedback's moderating influence," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 2003-2012.
    20. Salloum, Alison & Kondrat, David C. & Johnco, Carly & Olson, Kayla R., 2015. "The role of self-care on compassion satisfaction, burnout and secondary trauma among child welfare workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 54-61.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:33:y:2011:i:2:p:358-367. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.