Stress Prevention in Social Workers at Different Stages of Their Careers

• In Event: 31.083 - International Perspectives on Occupational Stress, Coping, and Resilience in the Helping Professions

Abstract

The profession of social work plays an important role in western societies. Given that the profession aims to enhance the well-being of a society and all its individuals (National Association of Social Workers, 2008), being a social worker means taking on complex and challenging responsibilities within a very heterogeneous field of work. Social workers in many cultures face many different kinds of demands. They work in health care, non-profit social service agencies, government sponsored social welfare programs, and in private practice. Their working conditions can include low salaries and benefits, limited options for career advancement, and low recognition in society, all leading to occupational dissatisfaction (Karges & Lehner, 2003).
Many factors inherent to the work itself involve direct contact with people in great distress while they negotiate through psychologically demanding circumstances. They often interact with individuals during times of acute need, stress, and life transition. Although it is well known that stress and burnout is especially common among people working in the field of human services (e.g. Poulsen, 2010), research on social workers is comparably rarely found (Allroggen, Fegert, & Rau, 2017; Henn, Lochner, Meiner-Teubner, & Strunz, 2017). To get a clearer picture regarding when social workers start to experience stress and burnout, and to get information on what resources help them cope with stressful experiences and prevent burnout, this study has focused on different stages of the social work career.
This presentation gives an overview of the results on stress and burnout among German social workers using data that have been collected in Germany during the years 2015-2017. The samples were 407 social work students from two different German universities, 257 interns after their university program, and 107 students doing an internship that is integrated into their university program. Data from structured interviews with another 10 practicing social workers who were in their first two years of job experience was included. In all parts of the quantitative studies, stress or burnout was measured along with stress prevention resources or/and coping strategies. Descriptive statistics, multiple linear regression, and structural equation modeling analyses demonstrated the associations between different stress prevention resources and coping strategies, and the development of stress and stress related outcomes among social workers.
Given the relative paucity of research on the occupational demands of the social work profession, the results of this range of studies has been summarized into a set of guiding principles regarding the relationships between stressors, coping resources, and resilience among social workers. Suggestions are offered for a comprehensive theory of social work career development with a particular emphasis on supporting social workers as they face the unique challenges of the profession across the career span.

Author

• Andrea Daniela Schwanzer, Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences