Running head: WHAT MAKES AN EFFECTIVE CHILD WELFARE CASEWORKER 1

Chandler Rose

What Makes an Effective Child Welfare Caseworker?

Seton Hill University

3/26/18

Abstract
WHAT MAKES AN EFFECTIVE CHILD WELFARE CASEWORKER 2

Caseworkers face many hardships in their career and must acquire a set of skills in order

to perform their work ethically and effectively. This paper aims to clarify what goes into

becoming an effective caseworker. Through research, collected data, and personal survey results

from caseworkers in child and youth services, this paper will cover what skills are required in

casework and what backgrounds best equipt or inhibit someone from acquiring such skills

throughout their career. Topics surrounding job satisfaction, preparedness, and training, as well

as worker burnout will be discussed throughout this paper as well. The final result of this paper

will help uncover whether certain education and/or work backgrounds have an effect on the

longevity of employment and one’s ability to be an effective caseworker, and if so, will provide

the reader an increased understanding of what types of work and/or education backgrounds best

prepare someone to balance the workload that comes with casework.

Literature Review

This study aims to uncover the likelihood of worker burnout in social work fields,

particularly focusing on casework. Prior research has been studied on this topic that will help

serve as the catalyst toward clarifying what factors determine successful careers in casework

versus what factors might be indicators of future burnout. The review of this literature will be

broken down into 3 major themes: Personality and values, demographics and background, and

finally, preparedness, prevention, and worker satisfaction.

Personality and Values

This theme captures personal elements that contribute to the makeup of a caseworker

such as personal beliefs, values, and personality. These play key roles in determining success or

worker burnout. In the first study, “Burnout Among Trauma Social Workers”, trauma

caseworkers in Israel are sampled by background characteristics and personal mastery that they
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entered the field with such as their role-competence, mastery, and self-esteem. Environmental

resources are also acknowledged such as colleague and social support (Ben-Porat & Itzhaky,

2014). Conclusions determining that these elements do in fact play a role in the rate of burnout

amongst social workers is highlighted with particular evidence pointing to social workers with

personal histories of past trauma and young social workers being most vulnerable to worker

burnout (Ben-Porat & Itzhaky, 2014). Similarly, Ghorpade, Lackritz, and Singh’s study,

“Burnout and Personality”, examines personal traits such as extraversion, conscientiousness,

agreeableness, openness to experience, and emotional stability, as well as individual

susceptibility to burnout via a burnout inventory calculating one’s emotional exhaustion,

depersonalization, and personal accomplishments to determine likelihood of effectiveness and

efficiency in casework (Ghorpade, Lackritz, & Singh, 2007).

In a 2015 study from Eugene Tartakovsky, personal value preferences were shown to be

less determinant in caseworker success than factors such as years of experience in social work,

education, and salary, which were significant predictors of burnout (Tartakovsky, 2015). This

study continued to show that an increased preference for benevolence, universalism, and

achievement values, as well as a lower preference for power and face values, were also

associated with less burnout amongst workers (Tartakovsky, 2015). A study by Chih-Wei Hsieh

examining service workers who do close encounters with clients and one on one work, similar to

casework, explores the extent of emotional labor requirements and personality relating to this

when determining burnout (Hsieh, 2012). Hsieh, unlike other studies, uniquely points out not

only factors that contribute to work stress and burnout, but how job resources can be utilized to

help ease these burdens and how to reduce job stress (Hsieh, 2012).

Demographics and Background

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This theme discusses personal demographics and background information such as

previous careers, education, and skills from prior experiences, which can greatly affect and

predict one’s ability to thrive in casework. In a 2016 study by Gayle Rhineberger-Dunn, Kristin

Y. Mack, and Kimberly M. Baker, the Maslach Burnout Inventory is used to assess whether

these background elements or demographics determine burnout in probation/parole and

residential officers (Rhineberger-Dunn, Mack & Baker, 2016). The study concludes that while

reports of emotional exhaustion were frequent and did show adverse effects on work ethic

amongst these groups, educational training had the most impact for residential officers and

schedule fit was more important on probation/parole officers when predicting personal

accomplishment, which was a large determining factor in work success (Rhineberger-Dunn,

Mack & Baker, 2016). The study also analyzed potential ways to help minimize burnout among

staff. Clark, Murdock, and Koetting, similar to personal research conducted at the Westmoreland

County Children’s Bureau, examines counseling psychology graduate students, testing their

burnout levels via an online survey that questions their career choice satisfaction, global stress,

role conflict, social support, and more (Clark, Murdock, & Koetting, 2009). The results of this

study showed the importance of a sense of community in the students when dealing with stress

and burnout in particular (Clark, Murdock, & Koetting, 2009). “Factor Structure of the

Counselor Burnout”, a study conducted in 2010, compares three different models of factor

structure with a sample of therapists working with sexual offenders, survivors of sexual abuse, or

both (Lee, Wallace, Puig, Choi, Nam & Lee, 2010). This study of factor structure determines the

significance of exhaustion, incompetence, a negative work environment, devaluing clients, and

deterioration in personal life in determining worker burnout and what personal skills one comes

into the work environment with that either hinder or increase the chances of suffering under
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these factors (Lee, Wallace, Puig, Choi, Nam & Lee, 2010). This study also highlights the

importance of overlap in these areas of factor structure.

Preparedness, Prevention, and Worker Satisfaction

This theme focuses on elements of worker satisfaction within and outside of the

workplace, how one might best prepare themselves for the intensive situations encountered in

social work or casework, and possible ways to avoid and prevent burnout, helping workers

achieve the most success in their work environments. In 2014, a study done on professional

workers in vocational rehabilitation focused on stress and stress-related issues, such as burnout in

the workplace (Tabaj, Pastirk, Bitenc & Masten). This study determined that high work

demands, time pressure, and too many administrative tasks lead to high levels of stress.

Participants also expressed making decisions, especially risky ones, and the feeling of being

undervalued were all causes of frustration in the work environment (Tabaj, Pastirk, Bitenc &

Masten). The organization of work such as legislation, rules, and other institutions were also a

source of stress, as well as high levels of compassion fatigue expressed by workers (Tabaj,

Pastirk, Bitenc & Masten). With these results, it was determined that activities that target

developing skills for the individual and higher system levels in an organization might prove

helpful in coping with stress (Tabaj, Pastirk, Bitenc & Masten). A study on experiences of

burnout and coping strategies used by occupational therapists similarly determines that

participants in hands-on fieldwork experience high levels of emotional exhaustion as well as

cynicism, and low professional efficacy (Gupta, Paterson, Lysaght & Von Zweck, 2012). These

results are typically brought on by excessive demands on time, conflict, and lack of autonomy

and respect in the workplace (Gupta, Paterson, Lysaght & Von Zweck, 2012). Spending time

with family and maintaining professional/personal balance, control of work responsibilities,

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maintaining a sense of humor, and self-awareness/self-monitoring were all determined as

successful coping tools to help counter these work stressors and the resulting feelings of

exhaustion, cynicism, etc (Gupta, Paterson, Lysaght & Von Zweck, 2012). Taisir Abdallah

further explores prevalence and burnout predictors in a study on Palestinian social workers,

examining self-esteem, depersonalization of clients, emotional exhaustion, personal

accomplishment, and more, determining the importance of these elements in predicting and

preventing burnout (Abdallah, 2006). These studies and their results serve as a guide in entering

the next section of this paper which will discuss personal data collected and surveyed from

caseworkers at the Westmoreland County Children’s Bureau and how previously researched data

findings compare or contrast to these upcoming personal data results.

Methodology
Personal research data was collected from five individuals in the Westmoreland County

Children’s Bureau assessment unit who were sampled via in-depth face to face questionnaires for

a more thorough evaluation of the topic at hand. While eight people were also surveyed in the

assessment unit via an online questionnaire to gather as much detailed demographic information

as possible. The online survey was constructed using Qualtrics and included demographics

questions such as gender and age, as well as questions about the employment environment such

as job satisfaction and stress level. All questionnaires used methods of either sliding scales,

ranking systems, or yes or no questions, with the exception of a few open ended questions. Face

to face surveys included the same questions, but allowed an opportunity for workers to express

themselves on a deeper level more freely and comment about the questions. All who were

surveyed reported on their work history, education background, preparedness for working at the

Children’s Bureau based off of those prior experiences, preparedness based off of Children’s

Bureau trainings upon hire and throughout their employment, length of time at the Children’s
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Bureau, how many cases they carry at a time on average, life satisfaction, job satisfaction, and

stress levels. In order to understand what these surveys tell us, analysis were run, looking at

frequencies and distributions in order to gather conclusive research data.

Discussion and Results

A total of eight participants, five female and three male, responded to the survey that was

conducted through Qualtrics. All participants were in their thirties except one individual who

was in their forties. All participants had backgrounds in higher education, five having obtained

their bachelor’s degree and three having obtained a master’s degree. Each participant described

what they majored or minored in while getting their education, the following insert is taken

directly from the survey and displayed below.

Q8 - What did you major/minor in?

What did you major/minor in?

Sociology/Criminal Justice/Psychology

Sociology

Social Work

Community Health/Communications

Psychology, Education

Criminology

Criminal Justice and Education

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Social Work

Almost all participants came from educational backgrounds in humanities whether it be social

work, psychology, or community health. Participants also disclosed if they had any prior work in

the human services field before joining WCCB. Their answers are displayed below.

Q5 - Do you have prior human service jobs( please list each, type of work, and years of service)

Do you have prior human service jobs( please list each, type of work, and years of service)

Yes. Adelphoi Village for 2.5 years

WCSI-MH case manager, EI service coordinator-5 years SPHS-AAA Protective Services case worker, Dom Care
caseworker-2 years

N/A

Caseworker at Adelphoi Village 200-2010

N/A

Caseworker/Quality Assurance/Trainer for 5 years at a residential facility Counselor at a secure facility for 2 years
Counselor at a residential facility for 1 year Bachelor's level therapist for 1 year

7yrs MH/IDD experience (residential)

Certified Nursing Aide, 4 years

Along with this information, participants also described any other previous jobs they held

before working at WCCB. These jobs included work ranging outside of the human

services field such as banking, waitressing, sales, and food service to TSS, child care
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work, and foster care work, along with three N/A responses. Two participants reported to

have been with WCCB for three years, one participant reported working for WCCB for

eight months, another for two and a half years, another for four years, another for six and

a half years, one for seven years, and another for eight years. Participants reported on how

prepared they felt for their role at WCCB based on prior education experience and

trainings hosted by WCCB. Results for these topics are listed below.

Q11 - Based on your education and prior experience did you feel prepared for your role with WCCB? Rate 1-10.

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean Std Variance Count

Deviation

1 1 not prepared,10 fully 0.00 7.00 5.75 2.22 4.94 8

prepared

Q12 - Rate how well the WCCB training's/orientation prepared you for your role. Rate 1-10.

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean Std Variance Count

Deviation

1 1 not prepared,10 fully 2.00 6.00 4.86 1.36 1.84 7

prepared

Regarding education, participant’s average preparedness was rated at a 5.75 ranging from 0.00-

7.00 on a scale from 1.00-10.00 in results. Based on these results, speculations can be made that

no matter what background individuals come from, preparedness for a role in casework might

not necessarily be determined by prior education before entering the field. Similarly, it seems

training from WCCB did not best prepare individuals for casework either as the average of 7

participants answering Q12 came out to a 4.86 with a range of 2.00-6.00 on a scale from 1.00-

10.00. Participants were asked how many cases they carry on average before ranking their life
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satisfaction, stress level, and job satisfaction on a scale from 1.00-10.00. One participant reported

to have nine cases on average, another reported ten, another fourteen, two reported to have an

average of fifteen cases at a time, another two participants reported to have twenty cases on

average, and lastly a participant reported typically having twenty two cases on average. The

following questions regarding life/job satisfaction and stress levels are shown below.

Q13 - Life satisfaction: Rate 1-10

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean Std Variance Count

Deviation

1 1 not satisfied,10 extremely 7.00 9.00 7.50 0.71 0.50 8

satisfied

Q14 - Stress level: Scale 1-10

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean Std Deviation Variance Count

1 1 no stress,10 extreme 4.00 10.00 7.38 2.23 4.98 8

stress

Q15 - Job satisfaction: Rate 1-10

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean Std Variance Count

Deviation

1 1 not satisfied,10 extremely 1.00 7.00 4.88 2.32 5.36 8

satisfied

Results for these questions showed a significant difference between satisfaction outside of work

versus job satisfaction and overall stress levels. Implications can be made that the work
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environment takes a toll on case workers as job satisfaction across all eight participants was

ranked on average at 4.88 with a range of 1.00-7.00 on a scale from 1.00-10.00 and stress levels

averaged across all eight participants at a high 7.38 with a range of 4.00-10.00 on a scale of 1.00-

10.00. In contrast, life satisfaction was ranked on average across all eight participants at a high

7.50 with a high end range of 7.00-9.00 on a scale from 1.00-10.00. Assertions can be made that

caseworkers find time to cope and overcome job stressors in their everyday home lives with high

levels of life satisfaction compared to job satisfaction and stress.

Along with the Qualtrics survey, personal, one on one, in depth interviews were

conducted with five additional assessment caseworkers (one male and four female) using the

same survey questions from Qualtrics, but with the opportunity for participants to give more

personal, detailed answers per question. Participants ranged in age from thirty nine to sixty two.

All participants came from backgrounds of higher education, all having received their bachelor’s

degree. All participants earned their bachelor’s degrees in humanities fields, one receiving their

bachelor’s of social work, another majoring in criminal justice and sociology, another receiving

their degree in child development and family relations, and two majoring in psychology. All

participants expressed working in human services fields prior to joining WCCB. Prior human

services jobs included working in foster care agencies, being a family advocate, TSS work,

group home supervision, home health and hospice work, work in the special needs field, and in

home provider and family youth services. Participants expressed how these positions helped

prepare them for their role as a caseworker at WCCB and equipped them with skills they would

continue using in their current field. Participants also discussed working outside of the human

services field before joining WCCB. These jobs included sales, food service, UPS delivery,

customer service jobs, daycare services, EMT work, paralegal services, disability claims
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manager work, and YMCA swim training. Most participants reported these jobs having little

effect on their ability to take on casework. Participants discussed how many years they had been

working at WCCB. Out of the five participants, one reported working at WCCB for seven years,

two for seven and a half years, one for eight years, and one for nine years. Participants then

discussed in detail how well prepared they felt for casework based off of prior education and

experience. On a scale from 1-10, two participants ranked their preparedness at a 6, one stating

they didn’t feel completely caught off guard, but did not feel in any way prepared until they were

able to experience work in the field, while the other participant stated that they felt prepared in

terms of people skills but were not prepared for the increase in paperwork. Two more

participants ranked their preparedness at a 7, both simply stating that they felt adequately

prepared for their roles. Lastly, a participant ranked their preparedness at a 9, who claimed her

background in short term disability claims management and other human service fields prepared

her well for her role at WCCB and that her transition into casework was smooth. When

discussing how well participants felt prepared for casework based off of WCCB’s trainings, one

participant ranked their preparedness from trainings at a 4 on a scale from 1-10, two ranked their

preparedness at a 5, one at a 6, and one at an 8. The participant that ranked their preparedness

based on trainings at a 6 stated the best training one can receive is from their fellow coworkers

and supports within the workplace, while one of the participants that ranked job training and

preparedness at a five claimed that the best training comes from being in the field with clients in

hands on situations. Participants were asked how many cases they typically carry on average.

Two participants stated they typically carry twenty cases on average, another two participants

stated they have anywhere from 10-15 cases on average, and one participant reported having 15-

19 cases on average. When discussing satisfaction levels, participants gave some interesting
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responses. Both life and job satisfaction levels were high for most participants and almost all

participants stressed that they felt satisfied in their specific unit under their specific supervisor.

All five participants were apart of the same unit under the same supervisor. Three participants

ranked their life satisfaction on a scale from 1-10 at an 8, one ranked their life satisfaction at an

8.5, and one at a 10. The same three participants that ranked their life satisfaction at an 8 on a

scale from 1-10 also ranked their job satisfaction at an 8 on a scale from 1-10. One participant

ranked their job satisfaction at a 7, stating that the work is important and the people they work

with are great to work with, but the paperwork can be stressful at times. One participant ranked

their job satisfaction at a 10 when it came to working directly with the children, but expressed

issues with the politics that surround the work at WCCB, the technical difficulties in the office,

state expectations with little regard to caseworker burnout, the poor follow through of upper

management, poor communication, and stressors that need to be eliminated for staff to prevent

high turnover rates that go unaddressed. This participant ranked their stress level on a scale from

1-10 at a 1 when it came to their personal life and a 25 when it came to their job, stating “Work

is work and home is home.” Three participants ranked their stress levels at a 7 and one

participant ranked their stress level at an 8.

Collectively, out of the thirteen participant’s results and data gathered, some speculations

can be made regarding what goes into making a good caseworker, worker burnout, skills

necessary in casework, helpful backgrounds to have before entering the field, etc. It seems that a

background in humanities does serve as a helpful tool before entering casework. Participants

with more backgrounds in humanities education and human services work showed higher life

satisfaction, higher job satisfaction, and expressed more preparedness for their current line of

work. This did not however, necessarily affect the stress level of participants who typically
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14

ranked their stress levels to be high regardless of background, showing that it is necessary for

workers as individuals to find tools that help them cope with the rigorous workload that comes

with being a caseworker. It can also be inferred from our data that WCCB trainings were not the

most effective in preparing workers for their job, as many participants reported feeling

inadequately prepared for casework from WCCB trainings alone and even expressed how they

felt most trained by fellow coworkers and field experience versus WCCB trainings.

Overall, this research project might have ended up raising more questions than it

provided answers. If this study were to be conducted again some important elements that might

make for more accurate results would include a larger participation base and more scaling

questions that could be compared and contrasted. The limitations of this survey provided

inconclusive evidence that could have been avoided with these improvements. Having a small

group of participants and too few non-open ended questions made this data difficult to compare

variables and report what really affects the work ethic and ability of a caseworker.

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