Role Stress Among Child Welfare Social Workers in Pennsylvania

Background and Purpose

Bainguel (2019) reveals that stress is subjective and involves an outside force. Hussein (2018) notes that high-stress levels will cause burnout and affect how practitioners care for clients. According to Wu et al (2019), role stress is the pressure workers experience when they are incapable of learning and understanding the rights and obligations associated with their work and how to perform their role adequately.

The purpose of this study is to explore role stress among Children and Youth Services (CYS) social workers in Pennsylvania. The research can help fill the research gap of CYS workers’ role stress and improve the care provided for vulnerable children and families in child welfare. It may also increase retention of these employees.

Method

This study recruited 10 social workers who have experience in CYS agencies in Pennsylvania. The study utilized purposive sampling to intentionally access CYS participants who can provide in-depth information on the subject of role stress. The sample are 100% female, mostly hold a Master of Social Work degree (90% MSW and 10% BSW), are mostly caseworkers (50% caseworker, 20% intake supervisor, 10% intake worker, 10% investigator, and 10% director), and their average years of CYS experience is 11.4 years. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Participants were recruited through emails to CYS social workers. The interviews elicited the narratives from participants’ working experience, including their role expectation, job responsibilities, and role stressors. The individual interviews ranged from 20 minutes to 2 hours. Interviews were conducted and recorded on the Zoom. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded using NVIVO 12 software and guided by ground theory to qualitative analysis.

Findings

The findings show that role stress connects to the time constraints with work responsibilities, limited resources, and unclear job descriptions. First, participants are reporting that they find it challenging to complete their job responsibilities in the timeframes allotted, which leads to a draining effect. They may need to complete home visits, phone calls, and documentation within a short amount of time but they can only do so much in a day or a week. Second, limited resources are also causing some stress for participants regarding performing their job tasks. Several participants noted that the resources are limited in their county, such as lack of behavioral and mental health services, not having enough resources to assist children’s school learning, and a shortage of CYS workers. Third, unclear role expectations and job responsibilities make CYS workers feel drained, stressed, and angry. Many participants mentioned that they are required to perform responsibilities that are either outside the scope of their job descriptions or outside their expectations.

Conclusions and Implications

The findings revealed that role stress for CYS workers is coming from limited time, lack of resources, and unexpected and unclear job descriptions. It is important for the CYS agency to be clear about job responsibilities, advocate for resources within the community, and provide effective trainings for the CYS workers so that the CYS workers can better serve the children and their families.