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 |
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| Institution: | 1. Tilda Goldberg Centre, University of Bedfordshire, UK;2. School of Social Work, University of Texas at Arlington, USA;3. Centre for Children''s Social Care Research and Development, University of Cardiff, UK;1. University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Department of Sociology, Lincoln, NE 68588-0324, USA;2. University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Edinburg, TX 78539, USA;1. CELCIS (Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children in Scotland), School of Social Work and Social Policy, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G4 0LG, Scotland, United Kingdom;2. School of Social Work and Social Policy, Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland;1. The University of Mississippi, Department of Social Work, United States;2. University of Southern California, School of Social Work, United States;3. The University of Texas at Arlington, School of Social Work, United States |
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| Abstract: | Child and family social workers are consistently found to have high levels of stress, and this has often been linked to burnout and retention problems in the profession. Local authorities in the UK have recently been under pressure to reform services, and one focus has been exploring how different organizational structures might reduce stress and increase well-being of workers. This paper presents data on 193 social workers from five local authorities in England. We examine the effects of different ways of organizing Children's Services on workers' well-being, with particular focus on the underlying relationship between organizational elements, workplace opportunities, and practitioners' work satisfaction. The primary outcome measure is the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12, Goldberg, 1978), a widely validated measure of stress. This data is presented alongside information exploring aspects of organizational structure and functioning. Results indicated significantly different levels of reported stress and general well-being in practitioners working in different local authorities. Implications for how local authorities might support staff to work productively in the stressful and challenging environment of child and family social work are discussed. |
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