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Schedule:
Sunday, January 14, 2018: 9:45 AM
Liberty BR Salon I (ML 4) (Marriott Marquis Washington DC)
* noted as presenting author
Background: Social workers serve vulnerable individuals, families, and communities that are at risk of experiencing traumatic events (Dombo & Gray, 2013; Wagaman, Shockley, & Segal, 2015). Chronic exposure to clients’ traumatic experiences affects social workers’ physical, emotional, and psychological status and their professional quality of life (Newell & MacNeil, 2010; Stamm, 2010). Professional quality of life includes compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress (STS) (Stamm, 2010). From a socio-ecological perspective, burnout and negative effects from STS can be prevented by increasing self-care behaviors and minimizing self-care barriers stemming from work, family, and community stressors and demands. This study examined associations between self-care barriers, self-care behaviors, and professional quality of life among bachelor-level licensed social workers.
Methods: Data were collected from August 2016 to October 2016 using a cross-sectional survey design. A total of 265 bachelor-level social licensed social workers were randomly selected from Board of Social Worker Examiners, Maryland address list and were mailed survey packets. The response rate was 27.5%. Excluding the ineligible respondents, the sample size for analysis was 61 social workers. Measures include the professional Quality of Life Scale (Stamm, 2010; Cronbach’s alphas for burnout, STS, and compassion satisfaction were .79, .79, and .88, respectively), self-care behaviors (Sousa, et al., 2010; alpha was .87), and self-care barriers (Bloomquist et al., 2016; alpha was .79). Univariate analysis and hierarchical linear regression were employed.
Results: The majority of social workers were female (91.8%) and 54.1% were White with average age of 50 years and 23 years of working experience. They reported a moderate level of compassion satisfaction (M=40.10, SD=5.57), low risk of burnout (M=21.63, SD=5.22) and low risk of STS (M=19.29, SD=4.36). Results from a hierarchical regression model of compassion satisfaction showed that self-care behavior (β= .33, t (58) =2.25, p = .029) increased compassion satisfaction; however, self-care barriers (β= -.13, t (58) =-.90, p = .371) did not significantly predict compassion satisfaction. Regarding burnout, the model (F (2,58) = 18.76, p < .001) was significant, and 37.2% of the variance in burnout was accounted for by self-care behaviors (β= -.41, t (58) = -3.16, p = .002) and self-care barriers (β= .29, t (58) = 2.29, p = .026). In the STS model, 21.4% of the variance in STS was explained by the model (F (2,58) = 9.19, p < .001). Results showed that self-care barriers significantly contributed to STS (β= .43, t (58) = 3.01, p = .004), while self-care behaviors did not significantly decrease STS (β= -.09, t (58) = -.63, p = .530).
Conclusions and Implications: Promoting self-care behaviors and decreasing self-care barriers such as unreasonable workloads can promote higher professional quality of life. In addition to social workers’ individual level self-care activities that are often stressed in prior research on STS and burnout, employers, supervisors, family members, and community members can have a role in helping to promote a manageable work-life balance for social workers, allowing them to better care for themselves and reduce risk of burnout and STS.
Methods: Data were collected from August 2016 to October 2016 using a cross-sectional survey design. A total of 265 bachelor-level social licensed social workers were randomly selected from Board of Social Worker Examiners, Maryland address list and were mailed survey packets. The response rate was 27.5%. Excluding the ineligible respondents, the sample size for analysis was 61 social workers. Measures include the professional Quality of Life Scale (Stamm, 2010; Cronbach’s alphas for burnout, STS, and compassion satisfaction were .79, .79, and .88, respectively), self-care behaviors (Sousa, et al., 2010; alpha was .87), and self-care barriers (Bloomquist et al., 2016; alpha was .79). Univariate analysis and hierarchical linear regression were employed.
Results: The majority of social workers were female (91.8%) and 54.1% were White with average age of 50 years and 23 years of working experience. They reported a moderate level of compassion satisfaction (M=40.10, SD=5.57), low risk of burnout (M=21.63, SD=5.22) and low risk of STS (M=19.29, SD=4.36). Results from a hierarchical regression model of compassion satisfaction showed that self-care behavior (β= .33, t (58) =2.25, p = .029) increased compassion satisfaction; however, self-care barriers (β= -.13, t (58) =-.90, p = .371) did not significantly predict compassion satisfaction. Regarding burnout, the model (F (2,58) = 18.76, p < .001) was significant, and 37.2% of the variance in burnout was accounted for by self-care behaviors (β= -.41, t (58) = -3.16, p = .002) and self-care barriers (β= .29, t (58) = 2.29, p = .026). In the STS model, 21.4% of the variance in STS was explained by the model (F (2,58) = 9.19, p < .001). Results showed that self-care barriers significantly contributed to STS (β= .43, t (58) = 3.01, p = .004), while self-care behaviors did not significantly decrease STS (β= -.09, t (58) = -.63, p = .530).
Conclusions and Implications: Promoting self-care behaviors and decreasing self-care barriers such as unreasonable workloads can promote higher professional quality of life. In addition to social workers’ individual level self-care activities that are often stressed in prior research on STS and burnout, employers, supervisors, family members, and community members can have a role in helping to promote a manageable work-life balance for social workers, allowing them to better care for themselves and reduce risk of burnout and STS.