Research That Matters (January 17 - 20, 2008)

Background and Purpose: Burnout, often operationalized as Emotional Exhaustion, has long been identified as a predictor of turnover and job dissatisfaction - enduring concerns for agencies employing child protective services (CPS) workers. The purpose of this study was to better understand previous findings in a sample of CPS workers in which 9% scored high simultaneously on measures of Emotional Exhaustion and Job Satisfaction.

Method: In-depth semi-structured interviews focusing on participants' experiences of work stress and job satisfaction were conducted with 25 individuals employed in one of four Ontario child welfare agencies. Participants had been recruited from a larger sample of 229 employees of those child welfare agencies. The larger sample had completed a questionnaire several months earlier that included the Maslach Burnout Inventory and a measure of Job Satisfaction along with other measures of workplace experience. Ten of the participants, “Category 1” (C1), had scored high on both Emotional Exhaustion and Job Satisfaction in the earlier survey. Ten participants, “Category 2” (C2), had scored in the low range on Emotional Exhaustion and in the high range on Job Satisfaction. The remaining five, “Category 3” (C3), scored high on Emotional Exhaustion and low on Job Satisfaction. At the beginning of the interview, participants were informed of the category in which their scores fell, and were asked to reflect on their individual experiences of work stress and job satisfaction at the time of the survey and over the subsequent months. Key questions guided the initial analysis of themes in the interviews, maintaining the focus on understanding how high Emotional Exhaustion and high Job Satisfaction are experienced simultaneously. In the second phase of the analysis, the content of the emergent themes were compared across the three categories of interest. Finally, characteristics of a successful front-line CPS worker were identified and a profile of each category was developed.

Results: C1 workers, while struggling with the contradictions of the work, were conscious of what is required to stay afloat, remain hopeful and actively seek ways to find positive meaning in their work. Some suggested that they did not experience high Emotional Exhaustion continuously; the intermittent nature of the exhaustion allowed them to maintain satisfaction. C2 workers, who tended to be older and in stable relationships, had a well-developed comfort level in terms of perceptions of challenge, ability to derive gratification from the work and to disengage in the service of self-care. C3 workers, while aware of what is required to cope with the job, conveyed a sense of defeat in the face of the challenges; they perceived themselves as not having what is required for a good fit with the job.

Conclusions and Implications: The findings of this study confirm that an adequate fit between personal characteristics and CPS work may be the first requirement in cultivating satisfied CPS workers; however, finding ways to help C1 workers become C2 workers may be essential to retaining those workers who have the potential to be excellent CPS workers.