Independent Children’s Social Work Practice Pilots

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate whether a new model that delegates some out-of-home care services from the public to the private and not-for-profit sectors in England enhances practitioners' job control and stress levels. Methods: A 3-year longitudinal matched-control evaluation examined changes in Karasek demand-control model and Maslach burnout levels of 2,050 staff working in five social work practice (SWP) pilots, their host local authorities and comparable sites. Results: Mixed-effect models indicated no significant difference in main outcomes among SWP staff when compared to staff in host and comparison local authorities. There were notable differences in relation to job insecurity and social support. Conclusion: The minimal effects observed may relate to the diverse nature of SWPs with no specific work model predominating.

Prevalencia y factores de riesgo asociados al síndrome de burnout entre los profesionales del trabajo social en servicios sociales municipales en España

“…Recientemente, autores como Crowder & Sears (2017) o Bakker & Demerouti (2007), afirman que el burnout es frecuente y se encuentra vinculado de forma directa con el Trabajo Social, dado que el principal factor asociado al burnout es el desequilibrio existente entre la demanda y los recursos disponibles. Durante la última década, diferentes estudios llevados a cabo a nivel internacional, han puesto de manifiesto una elevada prevalencia de burnout entre los profesionales del Trabajo Social en diferentes áreas geográficas como Estados Unidos (Kim & Stoner, 2008;Siebert, 2006;Travis, Lizano & Mor-Barak, 2016), Europa (Evans et al, 2006;Ben-Porat & Itzhaky, 2015;Hussein et al, 2014;Winstanley & Hales, 2014) o Asia (Abdallah, 2009;Padyab, Richter, Nygren, y Ghazinour, 2013;Shinan-Altman, Werner & Cohen, 2016;Tartakovsky & Walsh, 2016).…”

Working conditions and wellbeing in UK social workers

“…This is poignant as administrative tasks are known to be contributory towards social worker burnout and connected with depersonalisation (becoming less sympathetic with service users due to the pressures of paperwork) (Hussein, 2018). While this clearly has a detrimental impact on the service received by users, administrative tasks also lack a sense of fulfilment, value, and reward for social workers (Hussein et al, 2013;McFadden, Campbell, & Taylor, 2014). Furthermore, methods of case allocation were important considerations, making both quantitative and qualitative workload distinct considerations when allocating new cases to workers.…”

Commonalities and Differences in Social Work with Learning Disability and Child Protection: Findings from a UK ‘Burnout’ National Survey

“…The implications for child protection social work are also stark -these is a group of often younger and sometimes inexperienced staff -but these points have been made by others in several contexts (see Hussein et al 2014a;2014b). For social work regulators this analysis suggests the potential for asking registrants about their area of practice and their main user group(s).…”

“…Child protection social work is widely viewed as one of the most challenging areas of practice with high levels of burnout and turnover (McFadden et al, 2014;Hussein, et al, 2014a;2014b). Pressure on child protection social work has increased with a litany of Serious Case Reviews alleging failure on the part of social workers in preventing child abuse and child death tragedies (Jones, 2014) (SCRs have also focussed on failings in the care and safeguarding of adults with learning disabilitiessee Manthorpe and Martineau 2015).…”