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A B S T R AC TIn response to a study of Canadian child welfare workers that unexpectedly found participants scoring high on a measure of emotional exhaustion (burnout) and, at the same time, high on overall job satisfaction, this paper reviews research that has investigated these constructs in the social work literature as well as in selected studies from sociology, social psychology, management and women's studies. The review reveals that some previous studies also report the coexistence of high levels of emotional exhaustion and strong job satisfaction in child welfare and social worker samples. Several studies have suggested that individual characteristics, including finding reward in helping others, having a commitment to the mandate of child welfare and believing that one's labour is 'making a difference', contribute to satisfaction with child welfare work in spite of work overload and emotional exhaustion. Attributions regarding causes of exhaustion, coping strategies and goal orientation may also attenuate the expected negative effects of emotional exhaustion. Considerable evidence supports the positive influence of variables organizational managers can control, including job autonomy, supportive supervisors, workload, promotional opportunities and perception of personal safety. The degree to which this phenomenon is associated with female socialization and the 'ethic of care' underlying social work is discussed. Implications for child welfare research, practice and policy are offered. I N T R O D U C T I O NThis paper was prompted by unexpected results from a study assessing burnout 1 and job satisfaction (JS) among direct service workers of four child welfare agencies. The study was implemented during transitions within child welfare agencies in Ontario, Canada, associated with changes in legislation that broadened the legal definition of a child in need of protection, demanded shorter time parameters for response and increased required documentation. We hypothesized that levels of emotional exhaustion (EE/ burnout) would be high, and JS would be low, because of long-standing reports of high turnover and stressful working conditions in these agencies. The study found that, of 220 direct service workers (181 women and 39 men), 44% scored in the high range on EE (48% of the women and 28% of the men); 32% scored in the moderate range (30% of the women and 38% of the men); and 24% scored in the low range (22% of the women and 33% of the men) ( χ 2 (2, n = 220) = 5.382, P = 0.068).Of 232 direct service workers (192 women and 40 men), 41% (41% of the women and 40% of the men) were highly satisfied with their jobs overall; 49% were moderately satisfied (51% of the women and 45% of the men); and only 8% of the women and 15% of the men were low on overall JS. We were surprised by these high levels of JS, especially in view of the relatively high levels of EE. We were even more surprised

Many of the studies have methodological limitations, and future research requires increased use of standardized measures, control groups and larger and more diverse samples.

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Wide recognition that families in the child welfare system experience multiple stressors has resulted in the development of a range of prevention and intervention strategies at individual, family, and policy levels.1 This article reports on a research study with minority immigrant families. The aim was to understand stressors they perceived as contributing to child welfare interventions, and services they found helpful or unhelpful. Using the conservation of resource (COR) theory, the findings highlight the erosion of resources that increases their vulnerability. Themes that emerged were: loneliness, betrayal, hopelessness, and financial and language struggles. Application of the COR theory combined with contextual insights from participant perspectives can guide policy and practice to focus on resource gain and prevent resource attrition.

IntroductionObesity and associated diseases place a severe burden on healthcare systems. Behavioural interventions for weight loss (WL) are successful in the short term but often result in weight regain over time. Self-regulation of eating and activity behaviours may significantly enhance weight loss maintenance (WLM) and may be effectively augmented by contextual behavioural approaches to emotion regulation. The NoHoW trial tests the efficacy of a theoretically informed, evidence-based digital toolkit using a mobile-enabled website, activity trackers and Wi-Fi scales for WLM aiming to target (1) self-regulation and motivation, and (2) emotion regulation in adults who achieved clinically significant (≥5%) WL in the previous 12 months (initial body mass index (BMI) ≥25 kg/m2).Methods and analysisThe study is an 18-month, 3-centre, 2×2 factorial single-blind, randomised controlled trial, which recruited 1627 participants achieving ≥5% WL between March 2017 and March 2018. Participants are randomly allocated to one of four arms: (1) self-monitoring only (self-weighing and activity tracker), (2) self-regulation and motivation, (3) emotion regulation or (4) combined self-regulation, motivation and emotion regulation. Participants attend four clinical investigation days at 0, 6, 12 and 18 months and are instructed to use the digital toolkit for 18 weeks during the first 6 months and at their discretion for the remaining 12 months. The primary outcome is change in weight (kg) at 12 months from baseline. Secondary outcomes are body composition (eg, bioimpedance analysis), health biomarkers (glycated haemoglobin, lipids, blood pressure, hair cortisol), dietary intake, physical activity, sleep, motivational, self-regulatory, emotion regulatory moderators/mediators of WLM, engagement, user experience, acceptability and cost-effectiveness of the interventions.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval was granted by Institutional Ethics Committees at the Universities of Leeds (17–0082; 27 February 2017), Lisbon (17/2016; 20 February 2017) and Capital Region of Denmark (H-16030495, 8 March 2017). Results will be published in scientific journals.Trial registration numberISRCTN88405328.

Ethno‐racial minority families who come in contact with child protection services face unique challenges that include different ideas about appropriate child rearing practices, possibly different definitions of child maltreatment, the possibility of racial biases and service provision that does not address their particular needs. Ethno‐racial minority immigrants encounter additional barriers to services associated with the challenges of settlement in a new cultural environment. Although considerable research has explored these issues, knowledge of the experiences of ethno‐racial families who have been in contact with child protection is limited. The current paper provides insights from a qualitative study that explored the experiences of one ethno‐racial group (South Asians) in Canada. Findings suggest a variety of reasons that families come into contact with the child protection system, and the characteristics of the sample highlight their difficult financial and employment circumstances. Themes include participants' desire to be better informed about the reasons for child protection involvement and about what they can expect from the worker and the agency. They also identified a wish for services that not only recognize their cultural diversity but also respond to the needs of the whole family. In‐home services were especially appreciated. The findings reveal the resilience and personal agency among participants that can be enhanced through strength‐based approaches to practice. Helping others, establishing community networks and developing needed services were avenues of resilience identified.

This article extends earlier reports of an ongoing qualitative inquiry on childhood sexual abuse survivors' experiences with health professionals. In this paper, we aim to enhance understanding of male survivors' experience. While male and female participants express similar anxieties and fears about their encounters with health professionals, there are gender-based differences related to the perceptions of victimhood and manhood; guilt and shame; homophobia; disclosure of abuse; and the expression of vulnerability. The implications of these differences for sensitive health care practice are analyzed within the context of gender relationships and the differential socialization of men. Malecentric communication is proposed as a method for addressing the specific experiences of male survivors in their encounters with health professionals.