Arches, J. (1991). Social structure and job satisfaction. Social Work, 36(3),  202-206.

Arches (1991) surveyed social workers to better understand burnout and job satisfaction.  Results indicated workers were most satisfied when they were autonomous, not hampered by funding source demands, nor bound by numerous bureaucratic controls.

CalSWEC Report:  A report on the Public Child Welfare Workforce Council on Social Work Education Statistics on social work education in the United States, 1998.

Dickinson, N.S. & Perry, R. (1998). Why do MSWs stay in public child welfare?: Organizational and training implications of a retention study. California Social Work Education Center. (Presented at 11th National Conference of National Staff Development Training Association.)

Dickinson and Perry (1998, in press) highlight eight practice and work environment conditions that enhance feelings of job satisfaction: (1) personal growth and development opportunities; (2) co-worker support and recognition; (3) opportunities for enhancing knowledge and skills; (4) a personal sense of accomplishment; (5) the authority to make professional decisions; (6) ways to make a difference in client lives; (7) extent of global satisfaction with job; and (8) level of personal influence to positively affect clients.

Glisson, C. & Hemmelgarn, A. (1997). The effects of organizational climate and interorganizational coordination of the quality and outcome of children’s services systems.  Child Abuse & Neglect, 22(5), 401-421.

Glisson and Hemmelgarn (1997) examined the impact of organizational climate and staff morale on outcomes for children.  Children served by child welfare offices with a positive climate showed greater improvements in psychosocial functioning. 

Jayaratne, S. & Chess, W. (1984). Job satisfaction, burnout, and turnover: A national study. National Association of Social Workers.

Jayaratne and Chess (1984) examined burnout among CWS, mental health, and family services workers and found that the determining factors varied by field.  For example, CWS workers reported significantly higher levels of depersonalization, role ambiguity, role conflict, and stress than did mental health or family services workers.  When compared with mental health and family services workers, CWS staff carried the smallest number of cases on the average, though 43 percent considered their caseload too high. 

Koeske, G.F., & Koeske, R.D. (1989). Work load and burnout: Can social support and perceived accomplishment help?  Social Work, 34(30), 29-36.

Koeske and Koeske (1989) suggest that agencies focus on creating a socially supportive work environment.  Koeske and Koeske (1989) tested the impact of social support and perceived accomplishment on employee satisfaction and perception of burnout.  Their results indicate that a demanding workload contributes to burnout under the following specific conditions: low social support (especially low co-worker support) combined with a sense of being ineffective with clients.

Maslach, C. (1982). Burnout: The cost of caring.  Engelwood Cliffs, NJ: Prenice Hall.

In a seminal book, Factors Contributing To Burnout, Maslach (1982) identified several factors that contribute to “burnout” among health and human services employees:  (1) working with families in crisis; (2) receiving little positive feedback or support; (3) having an outward focus; (4) lack of power or control to change problems combined with the influence of funding source requirements; (5) difficulty in defining role as a result of the conflict between the implicit and explicit rules governing the client/worker relationship; (6) experience in field of CWS is fairly narrow focus which creates difficulty in changing careers; (7) demanding workload; (8) low social support; and (9) feeling ineffectual.

Samantrai, K. (1992).  Factors in the decision to leave: Retaining social workers with MSWs in public child welfare.  Social Work, 37(5), 454-458.

Shapiro, J. P., Burkey, W.M., Dorman, R.L., Welker, C.J. (1982).  Job satisfaction and burnout in child abuse professionals:  Measure development, factor analysis, and job characteristics.  Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 5(3), 21-38; 1996.

Um, M & Harrison, D. (1998).  Role stressors, burnout, mediators, and job satisfaction: A stress-strain-outcome model and an empirical test.  Social Work Research, 22(2), 100-115.

Um and Harrison (1998) employed a causal model to identify processes that trigger burnout and job dissatisfaction for social workers.  Specifically, they examined burnout, role stressors, individual coping skills, and social supports.  Results indicated that role conflict increases the amount of burnout and job dissatisfaction, however social supports may be intervening and moderating factors. 

Verstraete, P.A. (1992). Burnout stress syndrome in child protection.  Colorado’s Children, 12(1) 4-7; Fall-Winter 1992.
Verstraete (1992) recommends reducing social worker burnout by incorporating flexible work hours, career planning, and benefit packages targeted at individual needs.  Additionally, the author recommends micro level approaches such as training in stress management, health education, mandated vacations, and personal counseling.