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

A B S T R AC TThe authors conducted a mixed-method study after a previous study of child welfare employees revealed a subgroup exhibiting surprisingly high levels of both emotional exhaustion (EE) and job satisfaction (JS). This subgroup included direct service workers, supervisors and managers. As these findings appeared to conflict with previous studies, we re-reviewed the literature and undertook the current study to account for the co-existence of EE and JS. We explored and compared this subgroup with two others: workers who found their work satisfying without experiencing high levels of EE and those whose high levels of EE were associated with low JS. Using a survey that included several standardized measures with 226 employees and semi-structured interviews with a criteria-based subsample of 25, we explored the role that personality, career expectations, coping styles, stage of life, education, gender and social networks play in outcomes for individual employees. Analyses of quantitative and qualitative data yielded a profile for each subgroup, offering insights into the subjective experiences of workers within individual, social and organizational contexts. These findings have implications for recruitment, training and support of child welfare workers.

This article discusses a grounded theory project designed to explore client satisfaction within a community-based counselling centre. Twenty-two client participants and seven worker participants shared their perspectives. It was found that elements related to the client, the worker, the therapeutic relationship and the organizational setting factored into assessments of satisfaction and/or dissatisfaction with the helping/healing process. The analogy of the dance was used to frame the findings.The field of social work is comprised of a workforce of people willing to help others. Contained within any gesture of help is inequality (Rossiter, 2001) between helper and helped, between resources and vulnerability. Human capacity to make choices and decisions means that social work clients are free to accept or reject the gesture of help, and to engage or not engage with the helping process. The gesture of help is in itself contained within larger social, cultural, political and economic contexts. The helping process in social work is more than merely the delivery of service, which often implies a simple and linear offering of aid or support. Instead, the helping process in our systems of care involves a complex social system (Nelson, Lord and Ochocka, 2001) directly involving the client, the helper, and often, the organizational setting in which service is set; with each aspect impacting, and being impacted by, the other. It is not a faceless, decontextualized interaction, rather it is situated in time and place and relationship and often permeated by power and risk. Indeed, the helping process is complex and multiperspectual.This article discusses a research project designed to explore and describe the complexity of the helping process; in particular, it sought to explore factors or situations that had an impact on clients' assessments of satisfaction and/or