Bridging Disciplinary Boundaries (January 11 - 14, 2007)

Purpose: The wellbeing of social workers is an important issue. A workforce that is well may contribute to lower organizational costs, and better client outcomes. Historically, many studies that examined wellbeing have addressed risk factors and other associated “problems” (Deutsch, 1985; DiCaccavo, 2002; Elliot & Guy, 1995; Lamb et al., 1987; Siebert, 2003, 2004, 2005; Siebert & Siebert, 2005; Soderfeldt, Soderfeldt, & Warg, 1995). But there has been no substantive work that examines the protective factors that help social workers stay well. The purpose of this study is to examine factors that protect against problems with professional functioning. This paper reports on an explanatory study that examined these variables. Method: The cross sectional survey design utilized an anonymous internet questionnaire. A random sample of 1,250 licensed social workers in Kentucky was invited to participate via a mailed postcard. The internet survey was completed by 215 social workers, with a survey completion rate of 17%. The original study examined both risk and protective factors related to professional functioning (Pooler, 2005). This paper presents a portion of those data. The protective factors were measured by two subscales of the Corporate Behavioral Wellness Screening Inventory (CBWSI); self-esteem and coping (α=.94), and social support (α=.95) (Faul, 2002), and a 10 item subscale measuring early family experiences (α=.88) created for this study (Pooler, 2005). The outcome variable of “professional functioning” was measured with the 20 item Inventory of Professional Functioning (IPF) (α=.92) (Pooler, 2005). Results: Using multiple regression (backward method), a model of protective factors (self-esteem and coping, social support, and early family experiences) accounted for 35% of the variance in professional functioning scores (r² = .35, F = 22.53, p=.00). What was unexpected in these findings is that difficulties in social workers' early histories had a protective quality. It was hypothesized that such difficulties would place social workers at risk for problems in their professional functioning, which was not supported in this study. Implications for Practice: This study's findings have important implications for maintaining wellness among the workforce. The findings provide a platform to continue to discuss ways that social work education plays a role in the prevention of professional problems such as impairment, incompetence, and malpractice. A focus on wellness and ways to stay well should start as soon a person enters the educational process and should continue throughout the professional development of a social workers' career. Ongoing research and dialogue in this area is important for educators and practitioners (especially managers). These findings also highlight how important it is to integrate one's past experiences into one's professional self, and magnifies the need to discuss the “use of self” in practice settings, and in the educational process. These findings provide fodder for rich discussion among all helping professions with concerns about the workforce. Social work has much to learn from and much to offer other disciplines such as medicine, nursing, and psychology in learning to stay well. It is time to create and maintain a culture of wellness in social work.