Stress and Coping in Social Workers: A Preliminary Investigation

Correspondence to Dr Paul Bennett, School of Psychology, University of Wales College of Cardiff, P.O. Box 901, Cardiff CF1 3YG. Summary Three groups of social workers (child, adult mental health orhandicap, elderly or physical handicap) completed a questionnaireexamining sources of stress, coping strategies, and stress outcomes(e.g. anxiety, depression). All respondents reported high levelsof stress, although stress resulting from factors intrinsicto the job, relationships with other people, and from the organizationalstructure were greatest among childcare workers. In addition,these workers reported greater emotional involvement with theirclients and higher levels of general anxiety and depression,as well as job related mental distress. The implications ofthese findings are discussed in relation to training, job designand support of social workers.     

Work Satisfaction in Probation and Social Work

Correspondence to Professor Martin Davies, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ. Summary The design and preliminary development of a research instrumentintended to provide comparable measures of work satisfactionwithin different social work settings is described. The resultsof administering it to two separate samples of social workersand probation officers are presented. It appears that probation officers feel themselves more highlyregarded by members of the general public and are less likelyto say they are badly paid; they enjoy more job autonomy; rathermore social workers tend to feel alienated at work, but mostbelieve that they have better chances of career advancementthan is the case in the probation service. There are broad similarities between the two work settings sofar as work with clients and attitudes towards colleagues areconcerned; it is argued that the emergence of these similaritiesis methodologically reassuring because it suggests the stabilityof the data overall, and therefore increases the likelihoodthat the findings regarding agency differences are a valid reflectionof social reality in each setting.     

Job Satisfaction and Organizational Structure: A Comparative Study of Nine Social Service Departments

Summary The authors investigated the relationship between aspects oforganizational structure and job satisfaction as experiencedby personnel employed in nine social service departments. Aftera series of unstructured interviews from 28 respondents in oneauthority, interview schedules were used for three distinctgroups of 603 respondents in nine organizations: those makingexecutive decisions, those making supervisory assessments andthose primarily concerned with client interaction. The bestpredictors of organizational structure were dimensions of centralizationand formalization which related significantly but negativelyto job satisfaction. The relevance of these findings is discussedin relation to the rapid growth of social services and the effectit has had on social workers and other employees.     

The Role of Assertiveness in Clarifying Roles and Strengthening Job Satisfaction of Social Workers in Multidisciplinary Mental Health Settings

Correspondence to Dr Claire Rabin, Tel Aviv University, Bob Shapell School of Social Work, Ramat Aviv, 69 978, Tel Aviv, POB 390470, Israel. Summary Eighty-seven social workers, working in nine different mentalhealth settings, were administered four questionnaires tappingthe following variables: assertiveness in daily life; assertivenessin the job setting; role clarity; and job satisfaction. Stepwiseregression analysis showed assertiveness in the job settingto be strongly correlated with role clarity. Assertiveness indaily life was also significantly correlated with role clarity.Assertiveness in the work setting was significantly correlatedwith job satisfaction, although it was riot as powerful a predictorof satisfaction as of role clarity. Number of years of job experiencewas the most powerful predictor of job satisfaction. The implications for social work training and supervision aredescribed in light of the importance of assertive communicationin maintaining job clarity and job satisfaction within multidisciplinarysettings.     

Abortion: With Particular Reference to the Developing Role of Counselling

Summary This paper suggests that counselling is a rapidly expandingfield in which professional and para-professional workers mightcombine to produce an effective service, given appropriate selectionand training procedures. Initially these are seen as being providedby professionally qualified social workers with relevant experience.The author has used her own social work experience in abortioncounselling to exemplify the article and to discuss some ofthe existing problems for workers and clients alike.     

The Role of Family in Career Choices among Social Workers in China

Abstract

High turnover rate affects social work workforce development in China. Few empirical studies have been conducted to explore the factors that have influences on turnover intention among Chinese social workers. This study used data from China General Survey on Professional Social Workers to examine the influence of job satisfaction and family attitude on social workers’ career choices. The findings reveal that both job satisfaction and family’ attitude toward the profession have significant effects on social workers’ turnover intention. Family’s support or disapproval of the social work profession has moderate effect on the negative correlation between job satisfaction and turnover intention. The findings could be explained by the familyism culture of Chinese society and unique challenges of professional development experienced by social workers in China. Future studies should consider the influence of family to develop a more comprehensive research framework. Management in social service agencies should help family of social workers to learn and embrace the profession to gain their support of choosing social work as career.     

Inflated States and Empty Theories in Social Work

Summary The recommended knowledge base of social work is seen to bewide-ranging on the one hand, and subject to divides and tensionson the other. This state of affairs is reviewed briefly. Anargument is then developed which maintains that only certaintypes of activity within the considerable range often identifiedas social work, offer a clear suggestion that the job whichis being described is that of social work. These various activitiesand practices appeal to different kinds of theory and knowledge.As the knowledge base and practical possibilities of the jobhave become increasingly elaborate and extensive, an argumentwhich recommends that social workers recover a simplier notionof what they are about also entails the idea that social workis a job which is seen to have necessary and definite limitsto its practice and theory.     

Community Work: Social Realities and Ethical Dilemmas

Summary This article reviews the contributions of sociology and politicalsciences to the understanding of communities and relates theseto some of the key problems facing community workers. It suggeststhat an effective assessment of some of the ethical dilemmasfacing community workers must be based upon a cool appraisalof those urban social structures which are commonly and largelymisleadingly regarded as communities     

Child Abuse, Social Anxiety and Welfare

Summary This article attempts to locate the ‘moral panic’concerning child abuse within the context of broader changesin the material conditions and ideological forces in Britainin the early 1970s. It argues that the development of a senseof social anxiety amongst certain sections of the populationand the appeal of the New Right were crucial in the processof establishing the problem as the major issue for social workers.As a consequence social workers have been constrained into amore punitive and interventive relationship with children andfamilies, particularly the poor. The analysis illustrates thatthe way social workers experience role conflict and tensionin this area of their work reflects much wider historical andcultural confusions and contradictions.     

A Role for Anyone? A Description of Social Work with the Elderly in Two Area Offices

Summary This article analyses information from Case Review Forms completedby social workers on 199 allocated elderly clients. These peoplewere very frail, most were considered to be ‘at risk’and to require regular, reliable and frequent care. The questionof the client moving to a tafer setting arose in two-thirdsof the cases, concerning which there was often some dispute.It is argued that social workers require a high level of professionalskill in dealing with clients, and others involved, faced withsuch questions and that this requirement will remain with thedevelopment of ‘community social work’.     

Psychological Distress in Staff of a Social Services District Office: A Pilot Study

Correspondence to High Winnard, Church Road, Bishopsteignton, Devon TQ14 9QH, UK Summary This comparison study of fieldworkers and administrative workersin a social services district office addressed three researchquestions. Would fieldworkers show more internality and wouldthey perceive higher job demands than administrative workers,and would there be a positive relationship between perceivedstress and perceived job demands for all workers? The GeneralHealth Questionnaire 28 was administered, in addition to a jobdemand inventory. Self-reported absenteeism due to illness wasconsidered, and locus of control was considered as a moderatorof stress, as were years of service, age, and whether the employeeworked part- or full-time. Because fieldworkers might generallybe thought to be under more stress due to their work contentthan their support staff, data from fieldworkers were comparedwith those from administrators. Gender differences were alsosought. Statistical tests showed no significant differencesfor gender or between the administrative staff and fieldworkstaff for internality or job demand. A positive relationshipwas evident between perceived stress and perceived job demandwith a correlation of 0–40 (p <0·05). In addition,over 72 per cent of the sample scored above the cut-off pointon the GHQ 28 indicating psychiatric morbidity. The implicationsof the results are discussed.     

Organizational Research and Social Work: Issues in Application Illustrated from the Case of Organic and Mechanistic Systems of Management

Summary An increasing number of social workers are concerning themselveswith the organizational context of social work and with theapplication of organizational research material to their sphere.This article focuses upon a particular industrial study andcritically examines the recommendations by three writers, ofthe introduction in social services departments of an organizationalform identified in the study. As well as suggesting some implicationsof the study for social work, the discussion illustrates thekinds of issues and complexities which can arise in the applicationof such material     

Social Work Influence on Juvenile Court Disposals

Summary A study was made of the contents of 120 social enquiry reportswritten by social workers in relation to a sample of 50 juvenileoffenders. The criterion for inclusion in the sample was thatthe offender was subject to a supervision order made during1977, in one social services department. The analysis of the contents of the reports indicated that thesocial workers, with their own individual differences of emphasis,adhered closely to the intended welfare values of the 1969 Act;they worked for, with and on behalf of the offenders and theirfamilies; their recommendations, particularly when argued withconviction, were listened to and acted upon by the magistrates. It appeared that there might be significant decision pointsin the career of a juvenile offender: the first court appearance,when either a welfare measure or deterrent measure might beused; and the later stage where a boy of 14+ years faced thecourt following a number of convictions and the failure of previousmeasures. At both points it seemed to be the social worker recommendationwhich was influential, and which could therefore have a significanteffect on the direction of a child's future.     

Reflections From the Field: the Experience of Former CSS and CQSW Students

Summary The research reported in this paper is based on the findingsof a postal questionnaire survey with former students who had,over the last seven years, successfully completed either theCertificate in Social Service (CSS) or the Certificate of Qualificationin Social Work (CQSW) at one institution of higher education. The purpose was to collect data in a systematic way about employmentcircumstances, career development, aspirations, reflectionson the course and views of the future of education for socialwork and social service. For many of these areas a lack of comparableBritish studies is noted. The findings would seem to indicate that the type of qualificationobtained is an important variable where work setting, clientgroup, perceived professional status, job choice and attitudeto certain aspects of the course are concerned. Both groupswere largely supportive of a single award for social work throughfull-time education and training, but were ambivalent aboutthere being different routes to this qualification.     

Intermediate Treatment and Adolescents' Perceptions of Social Workers

Summary This paper reports an exploratory study of perceptions of socialworkers. Information was obtained from adolescents involvedin intermediate treatment activity groups, their parents, andtheir caseworkers. The respondents were asked to complete acard-sort of adjectives which might describe the social workers.The results suggest that adolescents may have much more positiveperceptions of their social workers than either the parentsor social workers anticipated. Parents were also found to havepositive perceptions of their social workers, especially iftheir social worker also attended the activity groups with theiradolescent. Some of the variables which were seen to have influencedthe perceptions of the social workers are discussed.     

Voices From the Front Line: State Social Workers and New Labour

Summary The article explores the condition of state social work in Englandtoday. It is based on interviews with experienced social workersemployed by local authority social services departments acrossthe north of England. These front line state social workersprovide a penetrating insight into the diverse ways in whichtheir work has been transformed and degraded and the mannerin which the needs of clients have been largely ignored. Fromtheir perspective, the election of a Labour government in 1997proved to be a massive disappointment and many social workersreported that it has further undermined state social work practice,workers and clients. The paper seeks to offer an explanationby noting the neo-liberalism of Labour's social policy and thedire consequences which flow from New Labour's fixation withwaged work as the principal solution to social exclusion andpoverty. Above all, it seeks to provide an opportunity for theviews of front-line state social workers to be heard.     

Working in the Social Services: Job Satisfaction, Stress and Violence

Correspondence to Professor Jan Pahl, Department of Social and Public Policy and Social Work, Darwin College, University of Kent at Canterbury, Canterbury CT2 7NY. Summary A major survey of the social services workforce (Balloch etal., forthcoming), carried out in the Research Unit at the NationalInstitute for Social Work, has produced new data about sourcesof job satisfaction and about the incidence of stress and violence.The survey took place in five different local authorities inEngland, and interviews were carried out with 1276 individuals,selected from four groups of staff: managers, social work staff,home care workers and residential staff. The results suggestedthat those who work in the statutory, social services do experiencemore stress and violence than workers in other parts of thehealth and welfare services. However, different jobs presenteddifferent hazards. In general, home care workers were the mostsatisfied with their jobs, and were also the group least likelyto be stressed or to experience violence in the course of theirwork. By contrast, residential workers, especially those withmanagement responsibilities, were most at risk of both violenceand stress. Men were more likely than women to experience violence,while other groups with a higher than average risk of stressincluded younger members of staff, and managers and social workstaff responsible for elderly people.     

Informal Welfare, Social Work and the Sociology of Welfare

Summary This article seeks to inject some important but neglected considerationsinto discussions about the nature of informal welfare and thenotice social workers should take of it. Following a sketchof how both sociology and social policy have regarded informalwelfare, it is argued that a sociology of welfare which is sensitiveto the definitions held by participants indicates that socialworkers would be wise to seek to ‘tap’ informalwelfare very cautiously. It is also argued that such sociologyneeds to be accorded a more prominent place in social work trainingcourses.     

The Social Worker, the Client and the Social Anthropologist

Summary City Centre Project has been working with drifting and homelessyoung people and we considered it important to study not justthe clients, but also the project workers. The discipline andmethods of social anthropology appeared to offer unique advantagesin this attempt However, in the course of our fieldwork, weencountered situations which led us to question the validityof using participant observation with clients, and to explorethe tensions between social workers and academic researchers.We then altered our methods for gathering data, and realizedthat our experience had important implications for researchersconsidering the use of qualitative methods in a social worksetting. This article is our first attempt to generalize fromour particular experience, and to raise questions about powerrelations among the parties to research and action.     

Occupational Stress in Social Work

Correspondence to Faith Gibson, Senior Lecturer in Social Work, University of Ulster at Magee College, Londonderry, Co. Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Summary This article reports the results of a study of occupationalstress undertaken with a large sample of Northern Ireland fieldsocial workers, including both main grade practitioners andfirst line senior social work managers employed as team leaders.This study formed part of a wider interprofessional study ofsocial workers, nurses and teachers; publications for the lattertwo professions along with interprofessional comparisons arein preparation and this present article focuses on the socialworker cohort. The design and methods are described and demographic characteristicsof the social work sample are provided, with their views aboutsocial work. Stressors are identified in both professional andprivate lives. The effects of stress as manifested through theGeneral Health Questionnaire and the Maslach Burnout Inventoryare examined and the social workers' views on various stresscoping strategies are discussed.