Social Work Commons^™

The Relationship Between Adverse Childhood Experiences And Resilience In Social Work, Margeaux Wilkins, Jazmine Salazar

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

High turnover rates continue to plague the field of social work highlighting the need for a new approach. This mixed-method study explores the relationship between the adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) of social workers and their resilience in the field. Quantitative data was gathered from an online survey including demographic information and social workers’ ACEs scores. Qualitative data was gathered from interviews relating to social workers’ resilience and coping mechanisms employed in the field. The quantitative data was analyzed for any correlations and patterns based on demographic information. A thematic analysis was completed to identify common themes and points of discussion …

Caseworker Turnover In Foster Care Services: Problem Or Symptom? A System Dynamics Approach, Marian Joan Stahlschmidt

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Problem: Child welfare (CW) caseworkers perform a crucial role in our society--ensuring the safety, permanency, and well-being of one of our most vulnerable populations, victims of child maltreatment. Yet, since its inception in the early 20th century, CW, including foster care services, has been plagued by high turnover rates that have been associated with delayed permanency and recurrent maltreatment. This dissertation aimed to develop a dynamic hypothesis about the system structure that produces turnover in foster care services, to create a formal system dynamics simulation model representing the problem, to develop an intervention to reduce the problem, and to test …

Unheard Warriors: Creating An Effective Child Welfare Workforce, Yina Cordero

Community Engagement Student Work

As child abuse and neglect cases continue to increase in the United States, child welfare workers continue to experience challenges that have made it increasingly difficult to adequately care for the children and families in the child welfare system. Unfortunately, this has led to increased turnover rates among child welfare workers. Policy surrounding the child welfare workforce have pushed for changes that do not appropriately address issues such as the lack of education, training, and unsafe organizational environment that child welfare workers experience daily. An extensive overview of the current state of the child welfare workforce, has demonstrated a need …

Examining Trauma Exposure, Organizational Climate, And Job Outcomes In Child Welfare, Shano Rodgers

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Exposure to traumatic situations is routine for child welfare workers in California, and the attrition rate for newly hired social workers in some states is estimated to be nearly 50% in the 1st year of employment. Prior research has indicated that reasons for dissatisfaction included dysfunctional organizational climate and culture. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which trauma exposure contributed to secondary traumatic stress and intent to quit and to examine the degree to which organizational climate moderated the exposure among direct service child welfare employees. Kurt Lewin's field theory, Figley's theory of secondary traumatic …

Service Before Self: The Health Consequences Of Working In Public Child Welfare, Austin Garrett Griffiths

Theses and Dissertations--Social Work

Child welfare workers respond to human tragedy and the job stresses associated with their positions that may result in their own trauma, secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, emotional exhaustion, and burnout. Workers continue to leave their positions at alarming rates, influencing service quality and the ability to meet the needs of vulnerable populations. Decades of research have attempted to solve this national crisis by identifying salient factors found to influence the child welfare worker's experience and intention to leave their position. However, the problem prevails.

Addressing a major gap in the literature, this mixed methods study took a unique approach …

Understanding Inclusion-Exclusion In Social Service Organizations, Eva Andrea Rizzo

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the present study was to explore the effects inclusion-exclusion on the job-related attitudes of the organizational workforce. These attitudes included job satisfaction, organizational commitment, burnout, and turnover intention. A quantitative survey was conducted using a sample of employees of a social service organization in San Bernardino County. Participants include employees from all levels and program areas of the social service organization. Study data was collected through the use of a self-report questionnaire. Measures were used to explore commitment to the organization, diversity perception, job satisfaction, turnover intention and burnout, the dependent variables. Using SPSS software to …

Factors That Contribute To Foster Parent Turnover, Tricia M. Favela, Cristina Velazquez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Foster parents play a key role in providing care to children that have been removed from their families. The purpose of this quantitative study was to identify factors that contribute to foster parent turnover. A self-administered survey included 6 questions in each section of the following sections; interaction with agency staff, communication, and foster parent training. The study’s findings indicated that over 36% of the study’s participants reported that they were hesitant to discuss concerns with agency workers, and almost 45% were unsure of or did not believe that their worker was open and honest in providing relevant background information …