Research That Matters (January 17 - 20, 2008)

Purpose: This study describes the contributors to, experiences of, and outcomes of foster care workers' positive and negative emotional responses to their work. A recent study of New York State child welfare caseworkers reported an annual turnover rate of 26% (COFCCA, 2003). Rapid staff turnover places enormous burdens on child welfare organizations, in both the time and resources required to replace employees and in the ability for workers to work effectively with their clients (Cyphers, 2001; Mor Barak, Nissly, & Levin, 2001). In addition, social worker job satisfaction has been demonstrated to have a positive impact on both client outcomes (Glisson & Hemmelgarn, 1998) and reduced job turnover (Jayaratne & Chess, 1983; Mor Barak, Nissly, & Levin, 2001).

What is attractive to child welfare workers about their work? What keeps them coming back to work every day? This study uniquely draws from several research traditions--organizational theory, positive psychology, and social work--to help answer these questions. The emerging field of positive psychology (Seligman & Csikszentmihaly, 2000) offers a paradigm-shifting direction for inquiry into the experience of child welfare workers. In addition, institutional theory (Powell & DiMaggio, 1991) is applied in understanding the larger social and political context within which foster care workers operate. Affective events theory (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996) contributed to the conceptual framework for this study.

Method: Semi-structured, in depth interviews were conducted with 25 foster care workers from five nonprofit agencies in New York City. The administration of standardized measures for job attitudes and the collection of basic organizational data round out and enrich the interviews. Multiple case study methods (Eisenhardt, 1989) that are informed by grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1990) guided the data analysis.

Results: Foster care workers made overwhelmingly negative comments about the larger environment within which their agencies were embedded. Most workers were very positive about their clients, coworkers, and supervisors, and accounts of their agencies sorted themselves out into three organizational types: Positive, Negative, and Mixed.

A typology of foster care workers, based on their levels of job satisfaction and turnover intention, was created. Three groups emerged: Happy Stayers, Satisfied Fence-Sitters, and Complacent Leavers. Most workers, regardless of group affiliation, named more negative than positive emotions. For Fence-Sitters and Leavers, it can lead to higher turnover.

Conclusions and Implications: What can be done to improve workers' emotional responses to their jobs? At the institutional level, changes in policy and funding could improve the working conditions for foster care workers. At the organizational level, agencies that are Negative or Mixed can strive to be more Positive (e.g. maintaining open communication with workers, training new workers prior to assigning a full caseload). At the individual level, agency leaders can take on a significant role in fostering a culture where workers are encouraged to name, foster, maintain, extend, and transfer their good feelings at work.