James C. Caringi

Child Welfare Design Teams: An Intervention to Improve Workforce Retention and Facilitate Organizational Development

Workforce turnover in public child welfare is a national problem. Individual, supervisory, and organizational factors, individually and in combination, account for some of the turnover. Complex, comprehensive interventions are needed to address these several factors and their interactions. A research and development team is field testing one such intervention. The three-component intervention encompasses management consultations, capacity building for supervisors, and a cross-role, intra-agency design team (DT). DTs consist of representative workers from pilot child welfare systems. A social worker from outside the agency facilitates team problem solving focused on retention of workers. DT problem solving combines action research and learning. DTs and their facilitators rely on specially designed tools, protocols, and social work research as they address retention-related priorities. Intervention research findings as well as successful examples of retention-related problem solving indicate the DT interventions potential contributions to social work education, research, and practice.

Secondary traumatic stress in school personnel

Although research has examined secondary traumatic stress (STS) among mental health workers, no studies have systematically addressed STS among public school personnel. Given the amount of time children spend in school (7–8 h per day) and high national estimates of youth trauma exposure, this line of inquiry is warranted. Participants included 229 school staff members across six schools in the northwestern USA. Results indicated that school staff reported very high levels of STS, despite also deriving satisfaction from doing their job well at levels that approximate national averages of job satisfaction. Their levels of job burnout are remarkably average. Although individuals working in mental health receive training in recognition of STS in self and colleagues, and are provided with STS referral, mitigation, and treatment opportunities on the job, no opportunities such as these are routinely provided for school personnel. Implications and recommendations for such programs are discussed.

Secondary traumatic stress and licensed clinical social workers.

This study examines levels of secondary traumatic stress (STS), compassion fatigue, burnout, and compassion satisfaction in social workers in the State of Montana. It also seeks to explain how specific organizational factors or peer support can potentially reduce the impact of these phenomena. A mixed methodology was utilized. Respondents (N = 256, response rate = 56%) completed 4 short measures: (a) the Social Work Demographics/Workplace Questionnaire, (b) the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS; Bride, Robinson, Yegidis, & Figley, 2004), (c) the Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL) (Stamm, 2010), and (d) an original peer support survey. A smaller sample (N = 15) of follow-up interviews were conducted to collect qualitative data. A theory-based approach guided the qualitative data analysis, for which ATLAS-Ti software was used. Findings indicate that social workers in the sample experience significant levels of STS (M = 33.63, SD = 11.30), with 40.9% (n = 105) meeting the criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder, using the STSS (&agr; = .92) as a proxy measure. ProQOL (&agr; = .76) results confirm the presence of high levels of burnout and compassion fatigue on subscale scores, with t tests indicating that individuals performing case management reported lower levels than other groups. Age and time in current job were not found to be significant factors, whereas lower levels of job satisfaction and intent to look for other work were predictive of higher burnout and compassion fatigue scores. Qualitative data analysis revealed themes related to worker perceptions of factors that contributed to their levels of STS. Implications for policy and practice changes are offered.

NCWWI Tribal Traineeship Programs: Promoting Diversity in the Child Welfare Workforce

Twelve universities and one American Indian (AI) tribal college were selected for the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute’s 5-year stipend traineeship program. These tribal traineeships were designed to provide social work child welfare education for tribal and nontribal students. Twenty-two AI students and 58 nontribal students completed a bachelor or master’s of social work degree. The students’ field placements were in tribal agencies or public agencies that served a segment of the AI population. These programs were enhanced through the use of valuable relationships (i.e., partnerships, mentorships, allies), and cultural competence was a key aspect of the students’ education. The students’ education was enriched with a specific child welfare curriculum, cultural teachings, tribal traineeship collaborations, and tribal community events.

Secondary Traumatic Stress in Public School Teachers: Contributing and Mitigating Factors.

Although research has examined secondary traumatic stress (STS) among mental health workers, child welfare workers, and other human service professionals, such examination among public school teachers has only recently begun. This study represents the first investigation to examine the factors that influence STS levels in public School teachers. Qualitative methods were utilized to develop a thick description of the experience of educators relative to their STS level in public school settings. Themes that were explored included characteristics of students, class load size, and a personal history of trauma. Additional themes emerged during data analysis. The assessment also included extrapolation on the quantitative measures that were described in a previous study. Implications and recommendations for such programs are discussed.

Designing Evaluations in Child Welfare Organizations: An Approach for Administrators

Evaluations in child welfare settings present challenges and opportunities for administrators. This paper presents a framework for considering such evaluations and proposes mixed methods to assess participatory interventions for sustainable organizational change. A progression of three studies illustrates this approach and draws on results to demonstrate how evaluation designs impact findings.