Worker Stress and Well-Being in Social Work Organisational Settings: Learning from a Mixed Methods Study of UK Child Protection Services

Background: Quality of service provision is significantly affected by the ability of organisations to recruit and retain competent and committed staff. However, child safeguarding agencies still continue to experience high turnover rates resulting in staff shortage and poor outcomes for vulnerable children and families. Local authorities in the UK have recently been under increasing pressure to reform and restructure services and thus, a spotlight has been placed on exploring how different organisational structures impact on worker stress and burnout.

Methods: This paper presents data collected across three research studies, involving five local authorities (LAs) and 284 individual social workers. The effects of different organisational structures on social workers’ well-being were examined with particular focus on the underlying relationship between organisational structure, practitioners’ reported level of received support, sense of autonomy and work satisfaction. The primary outcome measure is the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ, Goldberg, 1978), a widely validated measure of stress and other data exploring aspects of work structure and environment. Coupled with qualitative data gained from interviews with workers and the examination of the organisation of child protection teams within each LA, the present study allowed for a detailed investigation into factors that influence worker reported stress.

Results: Results revealed that in the total sample there were 48 (20.5%) individuals who reported elevated GHQ scores. Analysis of Variance for GHQ scores across LAs showed a significant difference between the LAs based on the mean GHQ total scores (F=4.409, p=.001). Further analyses showed differences between LAs for worker age (F=5.161, p<.001), position types (χ²= 38.47, p<.001), and number of permanent versus temporary workers (χ²= 13.41, p=0.02), and worker level of education (χ²=27.634, p<.001). A bivariate regression models predicting the GHQ total scores demonstrated women reporting higher scores than male workers (β=1.784, t=1.969, p=.05) and higher scores among temporary workers (β= -2.311, t=2.059, p=.041). Worker reported quality of the workplace environment significantly predicted GHQ scores (β= -5.411, t=6.883, p<.001) with increased assessment of the quality negatively associated with stress scores. Qualitative analyses indicated important factors in worker stress including views on job prospects, physical working conditions, perceived use of abilities, and being pleased with the work environment as a whole. Workers also reported differences in stress levels as dependent upon the organisation of individual children protection teams (e.g., systemic unit model).

Implications: Results indicated differing levels of general stress among practitioners working in different local authority structures. The results highlight two aspects of work conditions that can be associated with work-related stress and well-being: the first aspect relates to individual worker characteristics such as level of education and time in post, and the second aspect such as worker’s sense of autonomy and perceived support is more connected to organisational structure and policies. Implications of how local authorities might work to support staff to work productively in the stressful and challenging environment of practice will be discussed.