Work-related trauma exposure: Influence on child welfare workers’ mental health and commitment to the field.

Abstract

The field of child welfare continues to be plagued by high rates of worker turnover that further complicate the challenging work of protecting and enhancing child welfare in the United States. The child welfare workforce plays a crucial role in promoting child well-being and preventing abuse and neglect, but safety, permanence, and well-being outcomes of children are negatively impacted by high rates of workers leaving their jobs. Numerous organizational and individual factors have been studied in relation to worker turnover, and while there is a foundation of research related to direct and indirect trauma separately, different typologies of trauma have rarely been studied together. This study examined child welfare workers' exposure to work-related trauma from a stress-response framework. A statewide sample of child welfare workers (n = 657) responded to items relating to their experiences of client perpetrated violence, deaths or injuries on their caseloads, and secondary trauma. They completed scales measuring their current levels of depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and overall commitment to the field of child welfare. Three typologies of trauma emerged: primary trauma, caseload trauma, and secondary trauma. Structural equation modeling analysis indicated that primary trauma had a small, but positive relationship with commitment to the field (B = .17, p , .05). Caseload trauma predicted workers' levels of secondary trauma (B = .14, p , .05), and secondary trauma had a strong, predictive relationship with worker mental health (B = .77, p , .001). Creating typologies to distinguish different kinds of trauma allowed for a nuanced look at workers' experiences and how they influence outcomes related to the mental health of workers and commitment to the field.

Exposure to Client-Perpetrated Violence in the Child Welfare Service: Prevalence and Outcomes Using Two Different Measurement Methods

“…One possible explanation for this underreporting could be that those exposed, consciously or unconsciously, find it threatening to their self-esteem to label themselves as victims ( Nielsen et al, 2010 ). Other possible explanations could include the stigma child welfare workers feel related to being a victim or an underlying fear of being blamed for the incident ( King, 2019 ). Moreover, given that workplace violence is deemed to be an inevitable part of their job ( Lamothe et al, 2018 ), the threshold child welfare workers have for perceiving and reporting something as actual violence might be considerably higher compared to workers in other sectors in which workplace violence is not a prominent issue (e.g., within construction or finance).…”

“…Combined, having this mindset may increase the employees’ threshold for labeling these aggressive acts as violent incidents. Additionally, child welfare workers might hesitate to label aggressive acts as violent incidents due to the stigma related to being a victim, as well as an underlying fear of being blamed for the incident ( King, 2019 ; Munobwa et al, 2021 ).…”

Organizational justice and secondary traumatic stress among child welfare workers: The moderated mediation model.

“…While these job functions are essential for enhancing child safety, permanency, and well-being, these can be emotionally challenging and result in a higher level of STS. Many studies have shown that STS harms child welfare workers’ health, well-being, high-quality services, and retention (Caringi & Hardiman, 2011; King, 2022; Rienks, 2020). Furthermore, child welfare workers’ STS can lead to long-term negative consequences for children and families with whom they work together, including decreasing their safety, permanency, and well-being (Denne et al, 2019; Hensel et al, 2015).…”