Abstract: (Converted as ePoster, See Poster Gallery) Secondary Traumatic Stress and Burnout Among Child Welfare Workers in China: The Roles of Social Support and Resilience (Society for Social Work and Research 26th Annual Conference - Social Work Science for Racial, Social, and Political Justice)

Schedule:

Sunday, January 16, 2022

Independence BR H, ML 4 (Marriott Marquis Washington, DC)

* noted as presenting author

Yanfeng Xu, PhD, Assistant Professor, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC

Ning He, MSW, PhD student, New York University, New York, NY

Wei Lu, PhD, Associate Professor, Xiamen University, China

Background and Purpose

Child welfare workers face a range of traumatic and adverse events in their work. Experiencing secondary trauma may prevent them from being fully engaged in their work, which, in turn, increases the likelihood of burnout (Dombo & Blome, 2016). As we aim to build a resilient workforce, understanding the linkages between resilience and secondary traumatic stress (STS) and burnout among child welfare workers is needed. Therefore, this study aims to examine risk and protective factors associated with STS and burnout among child welfare workers in China and further examine the mediating role of social support on the associations between resilience and STS and burnout, respectively.

Methods

We collected cross-sectional survey data from child welfare workers (N = 620) via the Bureau of Civil Affairs in Southern China in July 2020. In the present study, dependent variables were child welfare workers’ STS and burnout, measured using the Professional Quality of Life scale (Stamm, 2010). We used 23 as a cutoff score to indicate whether they had moderate levels of STS and burnout (Stamm, 2010). Independent variables included child welfare workers’ age, gender, education, income, license status, years of working experiences, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), social support, and resilience. Logistic regression was used to examine risk and protective factors associated with STS and burnout. Mediation analyses were further conducted to investigate the mediating role of social support on the association between resilience and STS and burnout, respectively. Data analyses were performed using STATA 15.0.

Results

The majority of child welfare workers were female (86%) with an average age of 29 years and three years of working experience. About 66% were licensed social workers, 51% had an undergraduate degree, 45% had an income < RMB 60,000/year, and 17% experienced more than three ACEs during their lifetime. Results indicated that having a higher income (OR = 0.63, p = 0.029) was a protective factor of burnout, and being older (OR = 0.95, p = 0.019) protected them from experiencing STS. However, being a licensed social worker (OR = 2.31, p < 0.001) was associated with higher odds of experiencing STS. Resilience and social support were protective factors of STS (resilience: OR= 0.26, p < 0.001; social support: OR = 0.74, p = 0.028) and burnout (resilience: OR = 0.23, p < 0.001; social support: OR = 0.54, p < 0.001). Mediation analysis further suggested that social support mediated the relationships between resilience and STS (indirect effect: 0.81, 95% CI [0.67, 0.97]) and burnout (indirect effect: 0.67, 95% CI [0.55, 0.82]), respectively.

Conclusions and Implications

This study identified risk and protective factors associated with STS and burnout among child welfare workers in China. Furthermore, this study highlighted the protective roles of resilience and social support in preventing STS and burnout. The results suggest that it is crucial to improve child welfare workers’ resilience and build a resilient work environment via providing continued social support to them. Fostering resilience and promoting social support among child welfare workers would eventually decrease STS and burnout.