Validation of the Belonging Barometer with Child Welfare Workers

Background: Belonging—a fundamental human need involving feelings of acceptance, inclusion, and connection—is critical in organizational settings. It is linked to higher job satisfaction, commitment, and performance. In contrast, lack of belonging can result in dissatisfaction, burnout, and turnover. Child welfare work is inherently challenging, often characterized by high caseloads, emotional stress, and exposure to traumatic situations. These factors can undermine workers' sense of belonging, especially in organizations with limited support structures and high turnover rates. Research highlights that organizational culture and climate significantly influence child welfare workers' sense of belonging. Currently, there are no specific measures for belonging validated with the child welfare workforce.

Methods: This study used secondary data from the Alliance for Workforce Enhancement Inventory (AWE-I), a comprehensive organizational health assessment administered to child welfare organizations. The sample included 217 caseworkers who completed items from The Belonging Barometer—a 10-item scale with a proposed three-factor structure: psychological safety, co-creation, and social connection. All caseworkers were employed by one child welfare organization. We conducted both exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) to examine the structure of Belonging among this workforce.

Results: After addressing missing data, the sample was reduced to 193 valid cases. Using EFA for dimension reduction, we identified two sub-factors that emerged independently, suggesting a different factor structure than the original Belonging Barometer. A single-factor CFA model showed poor fit, but a two-factor model significantly improved fit indices (e.g., RMSEA, SRMR, CFI/TLI). Standardized factor loadings ranged from .478 to .847 and were all statistically significant. The two sub-dimensions—co-worker belonging (6 items, α = .88) and organizational belonging (4 items, α = .74)—demonstrated good internal consistency, supporting the use of a two-factor model to conceptualize Belonging in child welfare settings.

Conclusions and Implications: This study has three main implications. First, the original structure of The Belonging Barometer did not align with how child welfare workers experience belonging, suggesting their perception of belonging is unique. The two-factor model indicates that workers distinguish between co-worker and organizational belonging, reflecting both lateral and hierarchical connections. Second, interventions to foster belonging should be multifaceted, addressing both team-level and organizational-level dynamics. Third, due to the unique demands of child welfare work, there is a need for further research to develop and validate a belonging measure specifically tailored to this workforce.