Children and Youth Services Review 33 (2011) 358–367

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Children and Youth Services Review

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / c h i l d yo u t h

Job conditions, unmet expectations, and burnout in public child welfare workers:
How different from other social workers?
Hansung Kim ⁎
Department of Social Work, California State University, Fullerton, P.O. Box 6868, Fullerton, CA 92834-6868, United States

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The purpose of this research is to compare public child welfare workers' perception of job conditions, unmet
Received 8 June 2010 expectations, and burnout to those of social workers in other settings. Using data from a sample of 408 social
Received in revised form 5 October 2010 workers identified from a cross-sectional random survey of California registered social workers, a series of
Accepted 5 October 2010
ANOVA and multiple regression analysis was performed. Results of ANOVA revealed that public child welfare
Available online 30 October 2010
workers experienced higher workloads, greater role conflict, and depersonalization, and had lower personal
accomplishment. However, they had similar levels of unmet expectations and emotional exhaustion as other
Keywords:
Child welfare
social workers. Adjusted for perceived job conditions and demographic characteristics, regression analyses
Job stress revealed that public child welfare workers had significantly higher levels of depersonalization than those of
Depersonalization private child welfare workers. Finally, workers in public settings exhibited significantly lower levels of
Social workers personal accomplishment than social workers in private settings did, regardless of their practice field.
Implications for organizational practices and future research are discussed.
Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction The prevalence and significance of turnover in the child welfare

Sustaining a high level of commitment and morale among service
providers is essential to maintaining the service-delivery capacities of
social service agencies (Patti, 2000). The field of child welfare faces
increasing demands for higher standards of accountability. Public
child welfare workers take on the most difficult cases and unreason-
able amounts of responsibility despite inadequate resources, insuffi-
cient rewards, and complex requirements for monitoring service
outcomes (Zell, 2006). In addition, they must make immediate
decisions that can determine the lives of children and families
(Tham & Meagher, 2009). When their decisions are associated with
injury to or the death of a child, they must endure media scrutiny and
brutal public criticism (Chenot, in press). Because of these demanding
conditions, public child welfare workers are at high risk of burnout
(Anderson, 2000; Boyas & Wind, 2010; McGee, 1989), compassion
fatigue (Conrad & Kellar-Guenther, 2006), secondary traumatic stress
(Cornille & Meyers, 1999), and post-traumatic distress (Regehr,
Hemsworth, Leslie, Howe, & Chau, 2004). Even though public child
welfare workers expect their jobs to be demanding, the constant
pressure of emotionally exhausting child abuse and neglect cases
sometimes makes voluntary turnover to the only means of escaping
this psychological strain.
⁎ Tel.: + 1 657 278 3320; fax: + 1 657 278 2440.
E-mail address: hskim@fullerton.edu.
workforce has been consistently reported (Yamatani, Engel, & Spjeldnes,
2009). Although there is some variation in the statistics, the average
reported annual turnover rate is at least 20% (Annie E. Casey Foundation,
2004; American Public Human Services Association (APHSA), 2005; Child
Welfare League of America (CWLA), 2002). Furthermore, the turnover
rate among child protective workers rose from 19.9% in 2000 to 22.1% in
2004 (Child Welfare League of America (CWLA), 2010). Due to the high
turnover, public child welfare agencies have particular difficulty main-
taining experienced workers (Landsman, 2007). Administrators in public
child welfare agencies must train new workers with little related
education and experience for the daunting tasks of assessing and
responding to reports of child maltreatment (Lietz, 2010).
A considerable number of research studies identified significant
organizational factors and worker characteristics predictive of turnover
or retention among public child welfare workers (e.g., Chenot, Benton, &
Kim, 2009; Ellett, 2009; Faller, Grabarek, & Ortega, 2010; Landsman,
2007). Recently, research has created a more comprehensive picture of
turnover among public child welfare workers by examining conceptual
models linking organizational factors, worker characteristics, and
turnover/retention intention or actual turnover (e.g., Landsman, 2001;
Mor Barak, Levin, Nissly, & Lane, 2006). In general, the results of these
studies are consistent with organizational stress theory which explains
turnover as the result of a two-step sequence (Kahn & Byosiere, 1992,
p. 593). In the first step, a worker who perceives job conditions as more
demanding or more stressful develops higher levels of psychological
strain. In the second step, this psychological strain causes voluntary
turnover (De Croon, Sluiter, Blonk, Broersen, & Frings-Dresen, 2004).

0190-7409/$ – see front matter. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2010.10.001
 H. Kim / Children and Youth Services Review 33 (2011) 358–367
In this framework, crucial questions for managers and researchers
in the field of child welfare arise. How do public child welfare workers
perceive their job conditions? What are the salient symptoms of
psychological job strain among public child welfare workers? What
symptoms of significant job strain are predictive of job performance
and retention among public child welfare workers? This study focuses
on the first two questions by examining perceived job conditions,
unmet expectations, and burnout across social workers in different
job settings including public child welfare, private child welfare,
public mental health, private mental health, and other public and
private settings More specific information regarding perceived job
conditions and psychological strain among public child welfare
workers will be helpful to designing organizational interventions
that will improve the work environment for public child welfare
workers. The literature review discusses job conditions, the concep-
tual definitions of unmet expectations and burnout, and the
significance of these constructs in the field of public child welfare.
2. Psychosocial job conditions
Previous models of job stress have suggested that two domains of job
conditions explain job strain outcomes such as burnout and turnover
intention: job demands (e.g., work overloads role conflict) and job
resources (e.g., supervisor support, job autonomy) (Demerouti, Bakker,
Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001; Karasek & Theorell, 1990). Demerouti
et al. (2001) proposed the job demands-resources (JD-R) model.
According to the JD-R model, a worker with high job demands and
low levels of job resources are more likely to exhibit strain outcomes
including burnout and turnover intention (Bakker, Demerouti, &
Euwema, 2005; Demerouti et al., 2001). Job demands include perceived
work overload (the perception of too much work to accomplish in the
time available) and role conflict (the perception of incongruity of the
role expectations associated with the job) (Cordes & Dougherty, 1993;
Um & Harrison, 1998; Van der Doef & Maes, 1999). Job resources refer to
job autonomy (a worker's degree of decision-making authority) and
supervisor support (supportive interactions or exchanges of resources
among people) (Cordes & Dougherty, 1993; Liu, Spector, & Jex, 2005).
Research on the public child welfare workforce has reported that
work overloads, role conflict, job autonomy, and supervisor support
are related to psychological strain outcomes. For example, role conflict
and social support were found to be significant factors of intention to
stay in the job or in the actual turnover of public child welfare workers
(Dickinson & Perry, 2002; Nissly, Mor Barak, & Levin, 2005). In a
national study of child welfare workforce by Barth, Lloyd, Christ,
Chapman, & Dickinson, 2008, quality of supervision was the strongest
predictor of job satisfaction, which is known to be a key factor of
retention among public child welfare workers (Dickinson & Perry,
2002; Mor Barak et al., 2006). High caseloads have been linked to
inadequate investigations, inconsistent case monitoring, and turnover
(National Council on Crime and Delinquency, 2006; Yamatani et al.,
2009). In terms of job autonomy, Guterman and Jayaratne (1995)
reported that frontline child welfare workers who felt a sense of
control over their work experienced greater self-efficacy at work and
less stress. Mor Barak, Nissly, and Levin's (2001) meta-analytic study
suggests that job autonomy is significantly associated with turnover
intention among public child welfare workers.
Public child welfare workers have less-than-optimal working
conditions, heavy workloads, low salary, poor working environment,
and inadequate supervision (General Accounting Office, 2003).
However, few studies have examined whether public child welfare
workers’ perceptions of their job conditions are different from those
of workers in other types of job settings. For example, Tham and
Meagher (2009) examined how public child welfare workers’
experiences of their tasks or organizational conditions differ from
those of other public human service workers. They found that public
359
child welfare workers had greater job demands, but that they were
also more positive about their supervisors and social support at work.
3. Unmet expectations
Unmet expectations are the discrepancy between what workers
actually encounter in the job and what they expected to encounter
(Porter & Steers, 1973). Previous studies of the general workforce have
suggested that unmet expectations are negatively associated with job
satisfaction, commitment, performance, and retention (Wanous,
Poland, Premack, & David, 1992). More specifically, unmet expectations
have been found to mediate the relationship between a worker's beliefs
about job conditions and performance outcomes such as intent to
remain in the organization (Turnley & Feldman, 2000). In other words, if
a worker has higher expectations about the rewards of his/her job; he or
she is more likely to be disappointed with the job and less likely to stay
in the organization.
This idea may explain some of turnover behaviors among public
child welfare workers. Many social workers entered the field of public
child welfare work because of a strong commitment to helping children
and families. They soon realize, however, that parents sometimes resent
them, and their good intentions are often frustrated because of an
overwhelming caseload and the limitations of child welfare systems
(Faller et al., 2009). Although the Master of Social Work (MSW) program
gives students key skills and knowledge about the public child welfare
practice and services, new public child welfare workers frequently
realize that child protection is an exceedingly difficult job. Therefore,
public child welfare workers are likely to experience higher levels of
unmet expectations, especially early in their career. For this reason,
there have been many discussions of ways to help prospective child
welfare workers to be more realistic about their occupation. Based on
this idea, there have been efforts to develop and evaluate Realistic Job
Previews (RJPs) for public child welfare workers (Faller et al., 2009). As
Faller et al. (2010) explain,
RJPs aim to provide the job applicant with an accurate, but balanced
picture of the position he/she is seeking, to improve prospective
employee decision-making about whether or not to take a job, to
reduce turnover that is caused by a failure to understand the job —
especially the difficult aspects, and to improve job satisfaction
because the job-seeker is not unpleasantly surprised by components
of the job (p. 841).
It is hypothesized that RJPs will reduce unmet expectations among
new public child welfare workers and eventually reduce voluntary
turnover. Faller et al. (2010) conducted a longitudinal study of public
and private agency child welfare workers and found that the RJPs was
a significant predictor of workers’ likelihood to remain in their jobs.
Although there is a need for a more comprehensive picture of the
effectiveness of RJPs, Faller et al. (2010) study implies that reducing
unmet expectations in new public child welfare workers van reduce
turnover issue in public child welfare settings.
4. Burnout
Burnout is a combination of emotional exhaustion, depersonaliza-
tion, and reduced personal accomplishment (Maslach & Jackson,
1986). Thus, burnout is characterized as a state in which members of
helping professions feel overextended and depleted of emotional and
physical resources (i.e., emotional exhaustion). Since the helping
professional no longer has sympathy or positive feelings for clients
and co-workers, he or she tends to have detached responses to aspects
of the job (i.e., depersonalization). The final aspects of burnout are
feelings of incompetence and a lack of achievement at work (i.e.,
personal accomplishment) (Maslach & Jackson, 1986). According to
the literature on burnout theory (e.g., Cordes & Dougherty, 1993;
360 H. Kim / Children and Youth Services Review 33 (2011) 358–367
Demerouti et al., 2001), burnout has significant negative effects on
work performance outcomes, and increases turnover and turnover
intention.
Previous studies have reported the prevalence and significance of
burnout among public child welfare workers (Anderson, 2000; Azar,
2000; Boyas & Wind, 2010; Stevens & Higgins, 2002). For example,
Anderson (2000) examined burnout among 151 front-line Child
Protective Service (CPS) workers and found that about 62% of them
were experiencing high levels of emotional exhaustion. Stevens and
Higgins (2002) observed that burnout in public child welfare settings
is a serious problem since burnout can lead to faulty judgments which
may compromise client services. Research also suggests that public
child welfare workers who are experiencing burnout easily become
angry, exhibit inflexible thinking, and become cynical about the
service and their agency. Azar (2000) reports that burned-out child
welfare workers are more likely to abuse substances such as alcohol
and tobacco and become less productive. McGee (1989) explains the
potential negative of burnout on child welfare workers’ job perfor-
mance as follows:
When faced with a particularly difficult case, the demands of
which exceed the helper's mental energy, the helper may cope
with the escalating tension by adopting a rigid stance toward the
problematic situation…..Cynicism about clients contributes to
inflexibility in judgment, as the worker comes to believe that
nothing can alter the client's situation.(p. 345).
In general, the literature suggests that public child welfare workers
are at high risk of burnout and burnout can diminish the quality of
their work.
5. Knowledge gaps and research questions
Previous studies have found that work overloads, role conflict, job
autonomy, and supervisor support are important factors in psycho-
logical strain outcomes such as burnout. However, few studies
examined whether public child welfare workers have higher levels
of job demands and lower levels of job resources than do those of
social workers in other types of settings. Researchers on the public
child welfare workforce have given a considerable amount of
attention to burnout. However, relatively little attention has been
paid to whether burnout experience among public child welfare
workers is different from burnout among social workers in other types
of settings. In addition, there is little empirical evidence about unmet
expectations among public child welfare workers in general.
Therefore, it is still uncertain whether public child workers are
distinctive from other types of social workers in terms of unmet
expectations and burnout.
The purpose of this research is to explore how public child welfare
workers perceived job conditions, unmet expectations, and burnout
as compared to social workers in other settings. This study answers
the following questions:
Research question 1: Are social workers in public child welfare
settings different from social workers in other types of settings in
terms of perceptions of work overloads, role conflict, job
autonomy, and supervisor support?
Research question 2: Are social workers in public child welfare
settings different from social workers in other types of settings in
terms of levels unmet expectations regarding their jobs?
Research question 3: Are social workers in public child welfare
settings different from social workers in other types of settings in
terms of the three dimensions of burnout?
The study begins by exploring how perceptions of job conditions,
unmet expectations and burnout among social workers are different
across their practice fields (i.e., child welfare, mental health) as well as
employment sectors (i.e., public and private settings). However, the
literature suggests that work overloads, role conflict, job autonomy,
and supervisor support are key predictors of burnout. Therefore,
significant group-differences in psychological strain outcomes could
be attributed to significant group-difference in perceptions of job
conditions. The previous studies also suggest that demographic
factors such as age, gender and licensing status are associated with
burnout. For example, several studies have shown that burnout is
significantly related to demographic variables such as age (Boyas &
Wind, 2010; Brewer & Shapard, 2004), gender (Jackson, 1993),
licensing status (Kim & Ji, 2009), and professional experience (Lee &
Ashforth, 1993). However, there is little information on the significant
correlates of unmet expectations. Unmet expectations are likely to
remain higher among newcomers to the organization or the field. In
addition, the author expects that workers who complain about heavy
workloads, lack of appropriate supervision, and/or low salary are
more likely to have high levels of unmet expectations. Therefore, for
the analysis of job strain outcomes (unmet expectations and
burnout), this study uses multiple regression methods and treats
variables representing the practice field and employment sector as
independent variables explaining levels of unmet expectations and
burnout among social workers. In addition, variables of workers’
perceptions of job conditions (i.e., work overloads, role conflict, job
autonomy, and supervisor support) and workers’ demographic
characteristics (i.e., age, gender, licensing status, and annual wage)
were included as control variables.
6. Methods
6.1. Sample and procedure
For the study's survey research design, the study sample was
randomly selected from a California registry of clinical social workers,
provided by the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) Public
Information Unit in 2005. An SPSS program was used to select 1500
registered social workers randomly from the total population of state-
register social workers in California (N = 21,518). Each of the selected
social workers was mailed a survey questionnaire and a return
postage-paid envelope in 2005. The author sent multiple follow-up
questionnaires in an effort to maximize the response rate. Of the 530
questionnaires returned, 479 were usable for research, yielding a
survey response rate of 32%. Although 32% is a low response rate,
considering that 20% of licensed social workers are not active in the
field (Whitaker, Weismiller, & Clark, 2006), the 32% survey comple-
tion rate was considered as acceptable. Among eligible participants,
this study uses a subsample of 408 social workers who were employed
in organizational settings, excluding those who were private practi-
tioners. Table 1 presents the characteristics of study sample. The study
sample includes 408 social workers in this sample; 70 were in the field
of child welfare. The institutional review boards of the author's
universities have approved this research.
6.2. Measure
6.2.1. Unmet expectations
Lait and Wallace's (2002) 4-item scale of organizational unmet
expectations for human service workers was used. The four
statements were: (1) “All in all, I am disappointed in this job,”
(2) “My experiences in this job have been better than I originally
expected,” (3) “Generally, this job is not what I thought it would be,”
and, (4) “This job has lived up to the expectations I had when I first
started.” These items were rated on a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging
from “strongly disagree” (1) to “strongly agree” (7). The Cronbach's
alpha for unmet expectations scale for this sample was 0.84.
 H. Kim / Children and Youth Services Review 33 (2011) 358–367 361

Table 1
Demographic characteristics of social workers in the study sample.

Characteristics Total Child Mental Other Statistics (df) Post-hoc comparisons

sample welfare health
CW vs. MH CW vs. other MH vs. other
Sample N = 408 N = 70 N = 168 N = 170

Employment sector (%)

Public 52.0% 64.3% 56.0% 33.5% χ2(2) = 26.0⁎ N.S. p b .05 p b .05
Private 48.0% 35.7% 44.0% 66.5%
Gender (%)
Male 19.8% 8.8% 28.7% 15.2% χ2(2) = 15.7⁎ p b .05 N.S. p b .05
Female 80.2% 91.2% 71.3% 84.8%
License status (%)
ASW 36.8% 52.9% 32.1% 34.7% χ2(2) = 9.7⁎ p b .05 p b .05 N.S.
LCSW 63.2% 47.1% 67.9% 65.3%
Mean age 45.7 (12.0) 41.6 (12.2) 46.7 (12.3) 46.5 (11.4) F(2,401) = 5.0⁎ p b .05 p b .05 N.S.
Mean years in the field 17.2 (10.6) 14.5 (10.6) 17.9 (10.7) 17.6 (10.4) F(2,402) = 2.8 N.S. N.S. N.S.
Mean annual salary (in thousands) 57.1 (17.2) 56.7 (16.2) 57.2 (18.3) 57.3 (16.5) F(2,395) = 0.0 N.S. N.S. N.S.

When means are reported, standard deviations are included in parentheses.

⁎ p b .05 (2-tailed).

6.2.2. Burnout
The Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Service Survey (MBI-HSS:
Maslach, Schaufeli, & Leiter, 2001) was used. The MBI-HSS is a 22-item
scale that conceptualizes three dimensions of burnout: emotional
exhaustion (nine items), depersonalization or cynicism (five items),
and diminished personal accomplishment (eight items). Each item
was rated on a 7-point continuum, from “never” (0) experienced to
experienced “every day” (6). The 3-factor structure of MBI has been
replicated with various samples, including social workers (Kim & Ji,
2009). The Cronbach's alpha for this study sample was 0.91 for
emotional exhaustion, 0.76 for depersonalization, and 0.77 for
personal accomplishment.
6.2.3. Practice field and employment sector
Respondents were asked to select their primary practice fields out
of the following options: addiction, adolescents, aging, child welfare/
family, medical health, mental health, school social work, and other. In
this study, a variable indicating social workers’ primary practice fields
was recoded into three categories: 1) child welfare, 2) mental health,
and 3) other. Respondents were also asked to select their primary
employment sector: private practice, private for-profit, private not-
for-profit, and public. On the basis of this information, participants’
employment sector was categorized as public or private sector.
6.2.4. Work overload
Work overload was measured by using a 5-item scale developed
by Lait and Wallace (2002). The scale consists of the following items:
(1) “I have to attend too many meetings in this job”; (2) “My job
involves a lot of paperwork”; (3) “I have to work very fast to get
everything done in my job”; (4) “My workload is too heavy in my job”;
and (5) “I do not have enough time to get everything done in my job.”
The Cronbach's alpha for this work overload scale was 0.82.
6.2.5. Role conflict
Role conflict was measured using a shortened form of the role
conflict scale from the role conflict/ambiguity questionnaire (Rizzo,
House, & Lirtzman, 1970). Participants were asked to respond to the
eight questions by indicating the degree to which the condition
applied to them on a 7-point scale ranging from “very false” (1) to
“very true” (7). The Cronbach's alpha for its internal consistency and
reliability was 0.88.
6.2.6. Job autonomy
Job autonomy was measured by a 3-item subscale of decision
authority from the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) (Karasek, 1985).
Substantial theoretical and empirical work has supported the
reliability and validity of the JCQ measure (Karasek et al., 1998). The
items were rated on a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from “strongly
disagree” (1) to “strongly agree” (7). The Cronbach's alpha for this
study was 0.61.
6.2.7. Supervisor support
House and Wells's (1978) social support measure was used to
assess support from respondents’ immediate supervisor. This measure
consists of six questions on emotional, instrumental, and informa-
tional support (Deeter-Schmelz & Ramsey, 1997). Participants were
asked to rate the extent to which their immediate supervisor provided
each type of support in the workplace. All items were rated on 5-point
Likert-type scale ranging from “not at all” (0) to “very much” (4). A
social support score was computed by summing up responses to the
six questions.
6.2.8. Demographic characteristics
The survey questionnaire included questions about participants’
age, field tenure, gender, and annual salary. Field tenure was
measured by asking the number of years the respondent has worked
as a social worker. The measure of annual salary was measured by
asking the respondent's total yearly income from his or her current
job.
6.3. Analysis
6.3.1. Data preparation
As a data preparation step, the normality of dependent variables
was examined first. Histograms showed that emotional exhaustion
was normally distributed. However, three other dependent variables
(i.e., unmet expectations, depersonalization, and personal accom-
plishment) appeared to be somewhat skewed, but skewness statistics
ranged from −1.19 to .87, which were within the acceptable range. To
examine whether or not the distribution of dependent variables
significantly influenced the results of study, multiple regression
analyses were performed using original raw data and log-transformed
data. The results from both raw data and transformed data were
almost identical. It is noteworthy that the effects of practice field and
employment sector on dependent variables were same, which were
main interests of the current study. Therefore, this paper reports
statistics from the analysis with raw data which is easier to interpret.
6.3.2. Exploratory group comparisons
Prior to the regression analysis, the study explored how social
workers’ demographic characteristics were different across their
practice fields (i.e., child welfare, mental health, other) using a series
of one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and chi-square tests.
Second, levels of perceived job conditions, unmet expectations and
362 H. Kim / Children and Youth Services Review 33 (2011) 358–367

burnout were compared across six social worker groups: public child
welfare, private child welfare, public mental health, private mental
health, public other and private other) using a series of bar graphs and
one-way ANOVA tests.
6.3.3. Regression analysis
A series of multiple regression analyses was performed to assess
the effects of practice field (i.e., child welfare, mental health, and
others) and employment sector (i.e., public and private) on unmet
expectations and burnout among social workers, after accounting for
effects of potential covariates including participants’ age, gender,
licensing status, annual salary, and perceptions of job conditions (i.e.,
work overload, role conflict, job autonomy, supervisor support).
7. Results
7.1. Demographic characteristics across practice field
Three groups of social workers were significantly different in terms
of employment sector, χ2(2) = 26.0, p b .05, gender, χ2(2) = 15.7, p b .05,
licensing status, χ2(2) = 9.7, p b .05, and age F(2,401) = 4.96, p b .05 (see
Table 1 regarding the results of group-different for each pair of groups).
In specific, only 9% of child welfare workers were male, while about 30%
of mental health workers were male. Child welfare workers
(mean = 41.6, SD= 12.2) were younger than mental health workers
(mean = 46.7, SD = 12.3) and social workers in other fields
(mean = 46.5, SD = 11.4). Regarding social work licensing status,
47.1% of child welfare workers were licensed, while 67.9% of mental
health workers and 65.3% of social workers in other field had clinical
social worker license.
7.2. Perceptions of job conditions across practice field and employment
sector
Fig. 1 presents the mean levels of perceived job conditions (work
overloads, role conflict, job autonomy, and supervisor support) by the
six social worker groups. For job demands, public child welfare
workers exhibit the highest levels of perceived work overloads and
role conflict. Furthermore, public child welfare workers show the
lowest levels of perceived job autonomy. However, all six social
worker groups exhibit the similar levels of perceived supervisor
support.
A series of one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed
using the six social worker groups. F statistics and significance are
reported in Fig. 1. According to results of ANOVA, the social worker
groups were significantly different from each other in terms of work
overloads, F(5, 398) = 2.89, p b .05, and role conflict, F(5, 393) = 4.99,
p b .05. The level of work overloads perceived by the public child
welfare workers was significantly higher than the social workers in
other settings. In addition, the level of role conflict exhibited by the
public child welfare workers was significantly higher than social
workers in private mental health and social workers who were not in
either child welfare or mental health. However, there was no
statistically significant group difference in terms of job autonomy
and supervisor support.
7.3. Unmet expectations and burnout across practice field and
employment sector
The next analysis explored mean levels of unmet expectations and
burnout by both employment sector and practice field. Fig. 2 presents
sample means of unmet expectations and three burnout components
across practice field and employment sector. In general, public child
welfare workers had the highest levels of unmet expectations and
burnout among all sub-groups of social workers.
However, results of ANOVA showed that there were significant
group differences between the social worker subgroups only in terms
of depersonalization, F(5, 391) = 2.54, p b .05, and personal accom-
plishment, F(5, 377) = 5.63, p b .05. Specifically, public child welfare
workers had significantly higher levels of depersonalization as
compared to those of private child welfare workers. Public child
welfare workers also had significantly lower levels of perceived
personal accomplishment than did private child welfare workers,
private and public mental health workers, and social workers in other
private settings.
In addition, Table 2 presents the bivariate correlation coefficients
for the study variables. According to the correlation coefficients, job
conditions were significantly associated with unmet expectations and

Work Overloads Role Conflict

30 35
28 33
26 31
24 29
22 27
20 25
Child Welfare Mental Health Other Child Welfare Mental Health Other
Private 26.12 25.46 24.94 Private 28.71 27.58 28.34
Public 27.78 26.33 23.39 Public 34.22 32.69 28.23

Job Autonomy Supervisor Support

20 20
18 18
16 16
14 14
12 12
10 10
Child Welfare Mental Health Other Child Welfare Mental Health Other
Private 16.50 15.69 15.68 Private 16.8 16.9 16.6
Public 14.31 15.46 14.77 Public 16.9 16.8 16.6

Fig. 1. Means of perceived job conditions among social workers across practice field and employment sector. Note. One-way ANOVA test results: work overloads: F(5, 398) = 2.89,
p = 0.01, groups different from public child welfare = public other; role conflict: F(5, 393) = 4.99, p = 0.00, groups different from public child welfare = public other, private mental
health, private other; decision authority: F(5, 398) = 1.75, p = 0.12; and supervisor support: F(5, 397) = 0.34, p = 0.99.
 H. Kim / Children and Youth Services Review 33 (2011) 358–367 363

Unmet Expectations Emotional Exhaustion

16 30
14 28
12 26
10 24
8 22
6 20
Child Welfare Mental Health Other Child Welfare Mental Health Other
Private 12.08 12.56 11.56 Private 27.83 26.19 24.11
Public 14.13 13.14 11.76 Public 28.3 26.51 22.76

Depersonalization Personal Accomplishment

12 42
10 40
8 38
6 36
4 34
2 32
Child Welfare Mental Health Other Child Welfare Mental Health Other
Private 5.13 6.96 6.97 Private 38.95 39.36 39.82
Public 9.70 7.49 7.39 Public 34.37 38.63 37.33

Fig. 2. Means of burnout among social workers across practice field and employment sector. Note. One-way ANOVA test results: unmet expectations: F(5, 394) = 1.91, p = 0.09;
emotional exhaustion: F(5, 392) = 1.89, p = 0.10; depersonalization: F(5, 391) = 2.54, p = 0.03, significantly different groups = public child welfare vs. private child welfare; and
personal accomplishment: F(5, 377) = 5.63, p = 0.00, significantly different groups = public child welfare vs. private child welfare, public mental health, private mental health, and
private other.

three dimension of burnout. Regarding demographic characteristics,
worker age and licensing status were significantly associated with
burnout. Older social workers and social workers with clinical social
work license tended to have lower levels of emotional exhaustion and
higher levels of personal accomplishment. In terms of practice field
and employment sector, child welfare field was significantly associ-
ated with emotional exhaustion positively and with personal
accomplishment negatively. It suggests that child welfare workers
tend to have higher levels of emotional exhaustion and lower levels of
personal accomplishment. In addition, public sector was significantly
associated with depersonalization positively and personal accom-
plishment negatively.
7.4. Results of regression analysis
A multiple regression analysis was performed to estimate the main
and interaction effects of practice field and employment sector on
unmet expectations and three dimensions of burnout, after accounting
for social workers’ demographic characteristics and their perceptions
regarding their job conditions. The first multiple regression analysis
focused on unmet expectations. The results revealed that role conflict
(β = .32, p b .05), job autonomy (β = −.32, p b .05), supervisor support
(β = −.18, p b .05), and practice field (mental health) (β = .12, p b .05)
had significant effects on unmet expectations. These variables
accounted for 41% of the variance in unmet expectations (Table 3).
The second multiple regression analysis focused on emotional
exhaustion. Again, work overload (β = .38, p b .05), role conflict
(β = .25, p b .05) job autonomy (β = −.12, p b .05), and supervisor
support (β = −.10, p b .05) had significant effects on emotional
exhaustion. In addition, social workers’ age had negative effects on
emotional exhaustion (β = −.12, p b .05). These three variables
together accounted for 43% of the variance in emotional exhaustion.
Regarding depersonalization, role conflict (β = .31, p b .05) and age
(β = −.15, p b .05) were significant factors. In addition, there was a
significant interaction effect between child welfare field (child
welfare = 1; all other = 0) and employment sector (public = 1;
private = 0) (β = .22, p b .05). Taken together, these factors accounted
for 19% of the variance in depersonalization.

Table 2
Correlation coefficients for study variables.

Variable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

1. Age 1.00 .
2. Wage .22⁎ 1.00
3. Gender −.24⁎ −.23⁎ 1.00
4. License .48⁎ .35⁎ −.24⁎ 1.00
5. Work Overloads .00 .07 .02 −.07 1.00
6. Role Conflict .05 .10⁎ −.11⁎ .01 .55⁎ 1.00
7. Job Autonomy −.01 .04 .04 −.02 −.29⁎ −.32⁎ 1.00
8. Supervisor Support −.11⁎ −.02 −.05 −.14⁎ −.18⁎ −.26⁎ .16⁎ 1.00
9. Public .12⁎ .26⁎ −.17⁎ .11⁎ .04 .18⁎ −.11⁎ .01 1.00
10. Child Welfare −.16⁎ −.01 .13⁎ −.15⁎ .12⁎ .11⁎ −.04 .01 .15⁎ 1.00
11. Mental Health .07 .00 −.19⁎ .08 .05 .05 .04 .01 .13⁎ −.38⁎ 1.00
12. UE .03 −.04 −.02 −.01 .38⁎ .51⁎ −.47⁎ −.32⁎ .09 .08 .06 1.00
13. EE −.12⁎ .00 .02 −.12⁎ .56⁎ .51⁎ −.31⁎ −.24⁎ .03 .10⁎ .06 .60⁎ 1.00
14. DP −.13⁎ .04 −.09 −.05 .25⁎ .36⁎ −.21⁎ −.03 .11⁎ .06 −.01 .34⁎ .54⁎ 1.00
15. PA .12⁎ .04 .02 .10⁎ −.10 −.16⁎ .27⁎ .04 −.18⁎ −.18⁎ .06 −.31⁎ −.27⁎ −.33⁎ 1.00

Field tenure: yeas in the field; UE: unmet expectations; EE: emotional exhaustion; DP: depersonalization; PA: personal accomplishment.
⁎ p b .05 (2-tailed).
364 H. Kim / Children and Youth Services Review 33 (2011) 358–367

Table 3
Results of multiple regression analysis.

Unmet expectations Emotional exhaustion Depersonalization Personal accomplishment

β T β t β t β t

Age .03 .61 −.12 −2.46⁎ −.15 −2.73⁎ .11 1.83

Wage −.07 −1.52 −.01 −.11 −.00 −.03 .04 .74
Gender (female = 1) −.02 −.37 −.01 −.28 −.09 −1.70 .07 1.31
License (LCSW = 1) −.03 −.64 −.03 −.68 .01 .16 .05 .83
Work overload −.06 1.11 .38 7.41⁎ .05 .89 .01 .23
Role conflict .32 6.11⁎ .25 4.84⁎ .31 4.99⁎ −.06 −.96
Job autonomy −.32 −7.12⁎ −.12 −2.71⁎ −.09 −1.69 .23 4.20⁎
Supervisor support −.18 −4.10⁎ −.10 −2.27⁎ .06 1.16 .01 .10
Public setting (public = 1) .01 .13 −.01 −.11 −.00 −.04 −.24 −2.83⁎
Child welfare (child welfare=1) .07 .96 .10 1.42 −.19 −2.22⁎ −.03 −.39
Mental health (mental health =1) .12 2.01⁎ .11 1.85 −.02 −.24 −.03 −.44
Public⁎CWa −.01 −.10 −.08 −1.05 .22 2.37⁎ −.06 −.63
Public⁎MHb −.04 −.04 −.07 −.85 −.02 −.24 .16 1.56
R2 .41 .43 .19 .16
⁎ p b 0.05 (two-tailed test).
a
Interaction between public setting and child welfare.
b
Interaction between public settings and mental health.

To understand this interaction effect, mean levels of depersonal- 8. Discussion

ization across social workers in different practice fields (child welfare
vs. all others) and employment sectors (public vs. private) were
plotted into a figure. Fig. 3 shows that social workers in public child
welfare settings had higher levels of depersonalization than did social
workers in other public settings. However, in private settings, child
welfare workers had lower levels of depersonalization than did social
workers in other private settings. Levels of depersonalization among
child welfare workers were significantly different depending on their
employment sector. However, among social workers who were not
working in child welfare fields, depersonalization was not signifi-
cantly associated with employment sector.
Finally, regarding personal accomplishment, the results revealed
that job autonomy (β = .23, p b .05) and employment setting (public
setting) (β = −.24, p b .05) had significant effects on personal
accomplishment, suggesting that social workers in public settings
had significantly lower levels of personal accomplishment than
counterparts in private settings, regardless of their practice field.
These variables accounted for about 16% of the variance in personal
accomplishment.
Fig. 3. Means of depersonalization across practice field (child welfare vs. all other) and
employment sector. Note. Two-way ANOVA test results: F(3, 393) = 4.24, p = 0.006,
significant (p b .05) effects were found for main effect of employment sector (public vs.
private), F(1, 393) = 10.79, p = 0.001, and the child welfare × employment sector, F(1,
393) = 7.02, p = 0.008, but the main effect of child welfare was not statistically
significant.
8.1. Perceived job conditions (research question 1)
The first research question was how public child welfare workers’
perceptions of their job conditions were similar to or different from
those of social workers in other types of settings. When mean levels of
job conditions including work overloads, role conflict, job autonomy,
and social support were simply compared across different groups of
social workers, social workers in public child welfare settings
exhibited the highest levels of work overloads and role conflict.
Although public child welfare workers showed the lowest level of job
autonomy, the results of ANOVA suggest no significant group
difference. In addition, there was no noticeable difference across the
social worker groups in terms of supervisor support. These findings
are consistent with the results of Tham and Meagher's (2009) study
showing that public child welfare worker had higher job demands
than other public human service workers did. In 2006, the U.S. General
Accountability Office (2006) reported that employees of child welfare
agencies had heavy workloads. Similarly, according to a mixed-
method study of child welfare worker caseload by Yamatani et al.
(2009), caseworkers were under significant pressure to process cases
quickly due to their heavy caseloads. When respondents were asked
to suggest ways that workers can achieve best practices for their client
and their families, they emphasized the importance of limiting
workload and caseload size (Yamatani et al., 2009).
As discussed in the literature review, work overloads and role
conflict are significant predictors of burnout and turnover intention
among social workers in general (Mor Barak et al., 2001; Söderfeldt,
Söderfeldt, & Warg, 1995) and public child welfare workers in
particular (Dickinson & Perry, 2002; Yamatani et al., 2009). Tham and
Meagher (2009) reported that public child welfare workers were
more positive about their supervisors and social support than other
public child welfare workers were. This study found that all six social
worker groups had similar levels of job autonomy and supervisory
support. The results of these exploratory group comparisons confirm
the consensus that public child welfare workers are at risk of
psychological strain due to more demanding job conditions than
were social workers in other types of settings.
8.2. Unmet expectations (research question 2)
Public child welfare workers did not differ from other social workers
in terms of unmet expectations. The results of regression analyses
 H. Kim / Children and Youth Services Review 33 (2011) 358–367
revealed that demanding job conditions such as higher role conflict,
lower job autonomy, and lack of supervisor support were significant
predictors of higher unmet expectations among social workers. In
addition, when the effects of job conditions on unmet expectations were
accounted for, social workers in mental health field had higher levels of
unmet expectations. However, it is noteworthy that job conditions were
more significant factors in explaining unmet expectations among social
workers than practice field (mental health). The study's finding that
public child welfare workers had the highest mean level of unmet
expectations seems to be due to significantly greater role conflicts.
Previous research suggests that unmet expectations are a significant
mediator between perceptions of job conditions and intent to stay in the
organization (Turnley & Feldman, 2000). Future researchers need to
identify factors that alleviate the effects of negative job conditions on
unmet expectations. For example, researchers can examine how social
work education, agency training, and the Realistic Job Previews can
encourage public child welfare workers to have more realistic job
expectations and remain with the agency.
8.3. Burnout (research question 3)
The results of group mean comparisons suggest that public child
welfare workers tend to have significantly higher levels of deperson-
alization than do private child welfare workers. Interestingly,
depersonalization among public child welfare workers did not
statistically differ from that of other groups of social workers except
private child welfare workers. These findings are unexpected given
the author's assumption that public child welfare workers would have
higher levels of burnout than social workers in other types of settings.
The findings showed that private child welfare workers had
noticeably lower levels of depersonalization than did social workers
in other settings including public child welfare settings. In addition,
there was no difference in terms of depersonalization between public
workers and private workers in the practice fields other than child
welfare.
Littell and Tajima (2000) found that family-preservation service
workers’ views of the families they serve affected client participation.
According to Lambert and Ogles's (2004) extensive review on
psychotherapy research studies, a therapist's warmth, respect,
empathy, and acceptance significantly influence the process of
psychotherapy and increase a client's perceived sense of trust. In
this study sample, private child welfare workers appear to have more
positive views of the families they serve than did public child welfare
workers. Public child welfare workers are definitely in more
bureaucratic working environments and often engage with families
to ensure the safety of a child. Different levels of depersonalization
between public and private child welfare workers may reflect the
difference in their role in the field or in their working conditions.
Supporting public child welfare workers who decided to stay in their
job to maintain their professional commitment and “human caring”
that they need to perform their emotionally demanding tasks is
therefore an important organizational issue.
The results of regression analyses also confirmed that public child
welfare workers had higher levels of depersonalization than did child
welfare workers in private settings even after accounting for other
variables. Considering that the results of ANOVA and regression
analysis showing no significant group difference in terms of emotional
exhaustion, the findings of this study imply that, although public child
welfare workers and private child welfare workers have similar levels
of emotional exhaustion, public child welfare workers tend to develop
more depersonalized attitudes toward their jobs. Maslach and Jackson
(1982) explained that once emotional exhaustion occurs, an individ-
ual may attempt to cope with it by developing a depersonalized
response to others or his/her job. In other words, emotionally
exhausted workers do not necessarily develop depersonalized
attitudes if they have the resources and support to cope with their
365
demanding situations (Cordes & Dougherty, 1993). According to this
view, providing resources to cope with emotional exhaustion may
alleviate the process of depersonalization.
Future researchers need to explore depersonalization among
public child welfare workers with a more representative sample.
One research topic regarding depersonalization among public child
welfare workers is about the development of depersonalization
among new employees in public child welfare settings. Lee and
Ashforth (1993) found significant causal effects of emotional
exhaustion on depersonalization only among inexperienced welfare
workers, which suggested that experienced workers are more
resilient and less likely to be depersonalized. Social work education
and training are important to helping social workers understand the
symptoms of burnout and the coping skills which are useful in its
amelioration and prevention (Jones, 2007). Researchers can explore
the effectiveness of social work education and training in preventing
burnout, and especially of depersonalization among public child
welfare workers.
Regarding diminished personal accomplishment, the result of
regression analyses revealed that employ sector was a significant
factor, but practice field did not have a significant effect. It suggests
that public social workers tend to have lower levels of personal
accomplishment than private social workers regardless their practice
field. This finding is consistent with other studies that have concluded
that workers in public settings are more likely to experience lower
levels of job satisfaction than their counterparts in private settings do
(Bogg & Cooper, 1995). However, workers who lack a sense of
accomplishment at work can still be committed to their job and not
have an intention to quit. Previous studies have suggested that
personal accomplishment is not always closely related to emotional
exhaustion (Maslach & Jackson, 1986; Maslach et al., 2001), which is
generally accepted as a key factor in social workers’ turnover. A recent
study by Jayaratne and Faller (2009) reported that foster care workers
in private agencies were less committed to the agency and to child
welfare than public agency workers were (Jayaratne & Faller, 2009). In
addition, turnover rates have been found to be higher in private than
in public child welfare settings (Child Welfare League of America,
2008). Therefore, it can be speculated that public child welfare
workers may have weaker feelings of accomplishment at work, but
that does not mean that they are less committed to their work.
Bureaucratic work environments and rigid procedural guidelines could
be a more important reason why social workers report low levels of
personal accomplishment. However, more research needs to examine
the relationship between public child welfare workers’ sense of personal
accomplishment and their organizational commitment.
It is noteworthy that the regression model examined in this study
explained only a small percentage of variation in depersonalization
(19%) and personal accomplishment among social workers (16%).
According to the bivariate correlations coefficients shown in Table 2,
unmet expectations and emotional exhaustion are significant factors
in depersonalization and personal accomplishment. Future research
can modify the current study's regression model by adding unmet
expectations and emotional exhaustion as predictors of depersonal-
ization and personal accomplishment and then examining the
modified model with a representative sample of public child welfare
workers. Considering unmet expectations and emotional exhaustion
as predictors of depersonalization and personal accomplishment is
consistent with a theoretical framework proposed by Cordes and
Dougherty (1993). Although results are not presented in this paper,
when this modified model was examined with the current study's
data, these models explained a significantly higher percentage of
variation in depersonalization and personal accomplishment, than did
the model in the present study. The effects of practice field and
employment sector on these two outcome variables were consistent
with the present study's findings. It suggests that public child welfare
workers exhibit higher levels of depersonalization than do private
366 H. Kim / Children and Youth Services Review 33 (2011) 358–367
child welfare workers, even after controlling for their unmet
expectations and emotional exhaustion.
8.4. Limitations
There are several key limitations to consider in interpreting these
results. First, the study sample includes a small number of child
welfare workers. Although the study used a random sample and
accounted for group differences in terms of demographic character-
istics and job perceptions, these findings should be interpreted with
special caution. Second, the sample consisted of social workers who
are registered in the state of California. The state of California requires
a registered social worker to have a master's degree in social work.
Since many public child welfare workers do not have the MSW, these
findings cannot be generalized to all child welfare workers. Finally,
the most importantly, the current study had a low response rate (i.e.,
32%). A low response rate raises concern about potentially significant
nonresponse bias (Hager, Wilson, Pollak, & Rooney, 2003). The
California registry of clinical social workers, which was the sampling
framework for the current study, does not contain any demographic
information. Therefore, it was not possible to directly examine
whether the cases that responded to the survey were different from
the cases that did not respond. The 2004 National Association of Social
Workers (NASW) National Survey of Licensed Social Workers
collected information from a nationally reprehensive sample of
4487 licensed social workers. In this sample, 225 respondents were
from the state of California. Among them, 63% were older than
44 years of age. About 70% were Caucasian. The majority identified
Mental Health as their primary area of practice (41%) (National
Association of Social Workers (NASW), 2010). The current study's
sample was similar to the NASW's California sample. In the current
study's sample, 55.4% were older than 44 years of age and 69% were
Caucasian. Mental Health was also the primary area of practice for the
study's sample (45.8%). We cannot rule out that non-response bias
might compromise the current study's findings as valid for registered
social workers in California. The findings should be replicated with a
data from a more representative sample of social workers.
References
American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) (2005). Report from the 2004
Child Welfare Workforce Survey: State agency findings. Washington, DC: Author.
Anderson, D. G. (2000). Coping strategies and burnout among veteran child protection
workers. Child Abuse & Neglect, 24, 839−848.
Annie E. Casey Foundation. (2004). Trouble on the Human Services Frontline.
ADVOCASEY Newsletter Index. Spring, 6 (1). http://www.aecf.org/upload/Pub-
licationFiles/advocasey_spring04.pdf
Azar, S. T. (2000). Prevent burnout in professionals and paraprofessionals who work
with child abuse and neglect cases: a cognitive behavioral approach to supervision.
Journal of Clinical Psychology, 56(5), 64−66.
Bakker, A. B., Demerouti, E., & Euwema, M. C. (2005). Job resources buffer the impact of job
demands on burnout. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 10(2), 170−180.
Barth, R. P., Lloyd, E. C., Christ, S. L., Chapman, M. V., & Dickinson, N. S. (2008). Child
welfare worker characteristics and job satisfaction: a national study. Social Work, 52
(3), 199−209.
Bogg, J., & Cooper, C. (1995). Job satisfaction, mental health, and occupational stress
among senior civil servants. Human Relations, 48(3), 327−341.
Boyas, J., & Wind, L. H. (2010). Employment-based social capital, job stress, and
employee burnout: a public child welfare employee structural model. Children and
Youth Service Review, 32, 380−388.
Brewer, E. W., & Shapard, L. (2004). Employee burnout: a meta-analysis of the
relationship between age or years of experience. Human Resource Development
Review, 3(2), 102−123.
Chenot, D. (in press). The vicious cycle: Recurrent interactions between the media,
politicians, and child welfare services organizations. Journal of Public Child Welfare.
Chenot, D., Benton, A. D., & Kim, H. (2009). The influence of supervisor support, peer
support, and organizational culture among early career social workers in child
welfare services. Child Welfare, 88(5), 129−147.
Child Welfare League of America (2008). Child welfare workforce and training. Retrieved
Feb 19, 2010, from. http://www.cwla.org/advocacy/2008legagenda04.htm
Child Welfare League of America (CWLA), 2002& Child Welfare League of America
(CWLA) (2002). The child welfare workforce challenge: results from a preliminary
study.Washington, DC: Author: Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) (2002).
Research Roundup: Moving from Research to Practice. Retrieved May 28, 2010, from.
http://www.cwla.org/programs/r2p/rrnews0209.pdf
Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) (2010). The nation's children 2010.
Washington, DC: Author Retrieved May 29, 2010 from http://www.cwla.org/
advocacy/statefactsheets/2010/nationalfactsheet10.pdf
Conrad, D., & Kellar-Guenther, Y. (2006). Compassion fatigue, burnout, and compassion
satisfaction among Colorado child protection workers. Child Abuse & Neglect, 30,
1070−1080.
Cordes, C. L., & Dougherty, T. W. (1993). A review and an integration of research on job
burnout. Academy of Management Review, 18(4), 621−656.
Cornille, T. A., & Meyers, T. W. (1999). Secondary traumatic stress among child
protective service workers. Traumatology, 5(1), 15−31.
De Croon, E. M., Sluiter, J. K., Blonk, R. W. B., Broersen, J. P. J., & Frings-Dresen, M. H. W.
(2004). Stressful work, psychological job strain, and turnover: a 2-year prospective
cohort study of truck drivers. The Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(3), 442−454.
Deeter-Schmelz, D. R., & Ramsey, R. P. (1997). Considering sources and types of social
support: a psychometric evaluation of the House and Wells (1978) instrument.
Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 17(1), 49−61.
Demerouti, E., Bakker, A. B., Nachreiner, F., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2001). The job demands-
resources model of burnout. The Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(3), 499−512.
Dickinson, N. S., & Perry, R. E. (2002). Factors influencing the retention of specially
educated public child welfare workers. Evaluation Research in Child Welfare, 15
(3/4), 89−103.
Ellett, A. J. (2009). Intentions to remain employed in child welfare: the role of human
caring, self-efficacy beliefs, and professional organizational culture. Children and
Youth Service Review, 31, 78−88.
Faller, K. C., Grabarek, M., & Ortega, R. M. (2010). Commitment to child welfare work:
what predicts leaving and staying? Children and Youth Service Review, 32(6),
840−846.
Faller, K. C., Masternak, M., Grinnell-Davis, C., Grabarek, M., Sieffert, J., & Bernatovicz, F.
(2009). Realistic job previews in child welfare: state of innovation and practice.
Child Welfare, 88(5), 23−48.
General Accounting Office (2003). HHS could play a greater role in helping child welfare
agencies recruit and retain staff (GAO-03-357). Washington, DC: Author.
Guterman, N. B., & Jayaratne, S. (1995). “Responsibility at risk”: perceptions of stress,
control and professional effectiveness in child welfare direct practitioners. Journal
of Social Service Research, 20(1/2), 99−120.
Hager, M. A., Wilson, S., Pollak, T. H., & Rooney, P. M. (2003). Response rates for mail
surveys of nonprofit organizations: a review and empirical test. Nonprofit and
Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 32(2), 252−267.
House, J. S., & Wells, J. A. (1978). Occupational stress, social support, and health. In A.
McLean, G. Black, & M. Colligan (Eds.), Reducing Occupational Stress: Proceeding of a
Conference, May 10-12, 1977, Westchester Division, New York Hospital-Cornell
Medical Center. National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety (NIDSH)
Publication no. 78-140. (pp. 8−29) Cincinnati, DH: Department of Health, Education
and Welfare (DHEW).
Jackson, R. A. (1993). An analysis of burnout among school of pharmacy faculty.
American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 57(1), 9−17.
Jayaratne, S., & Faller, K. C. (2009). Commitment of private and public agency workers
to child welfare: how long do they plan to stay? Journal of Social Service Research, 35
(3), 251−261.
Jones, S. H. (2007, January). Secondary trauma and burnout in child protective workers:
Implications for preparation of social workers. Paper presented at the 11th Annual
Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research, San Francisco, CA.
Kahn, R. L., & Byosiere, P. (1992). Stress in organizations. In M. D. Dunnette, & L. M.
Hough (Eds.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology. (pp, 3. (pp.
571−650) Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
Karasek, R. A. (1985). Job content questionnaire and user's guide. Lowell, MA: University
of Massachusetts, Lowell, Department of Work Environment.
Karasek, R. A., Brisson, C., Kawakami, N., Houtman, I. L. D., Bonders, P., & Amick, B.
(1998). The job content questionnaire (JCQ): an instrument for internationally
comparative assessments of psychological job characteristics. Journal of Occupa-
tional Health Psychology, 3(4), 322−355.
Karasek, R. A., & Theorell, T. (1990). Healthy work. New York: Basic Books.
Kim, H., & Ji, J. (2009). Factor structure and longitudinal invariance of the Maslach
Burnout Inventory. Research on Social Work Practice, 19, 325−339.
Lait, J., & Wallace, J. E. (2002). Stress at work: a study of organizational-professional
conflict and unmet expectations. Relations Industrielles, 57(3), 463−487.
Lambert, M. J., & Ogles, B. M. (2004). The efficacy and effectiveness of psychotherapy. In
M. J. Lambert (Ed.), Bergin and Garfield's Handbook and Psychotherapy and Behavior
Change (pp. 139−193). New York: John Wiley.
Landsman, M. J. (2001). Commitment in public child welfare. The Social Service Review,
75(3), 386−419.
Landsman, M. J. (2007). Supporting child welfare supervisors to improve worker
retention. Child Welfare, 86(2), 105−124.
Lee, R. T., & Ashforth, B. E. (1993). A longitudinal study of burnout among supervisors
and managers: Comparisons between the Leiter and Maslach (1988) and
Golembiewski et al. (1986) Models. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision
Process, 54, 369−398.
Lietz, C. A. (2010). Critical thinking in child welfare supervision. Administration in Social
Work, 34, 68−78.
Littell, J. H., & Tajima, E. A. (2000). A multilevel model of client participation in intensive
family preservation services. The Social Service Review, 74, 405−435.
Liu, C., Spector, P. E., & Jex, S. M. (2005). The relation of job control with job strains: a
comparison of multiple data sources. Journal of Occupational and Organizational
Psychology, 78(3), 325−336.
 H. Kim / Children and Youth Services Review 33 (2011) 358–367
Maslach, C., & Jackson, S. E. (1986). The Maslach Burnout Inventory. Palo Alto, CA:
Consulting Psychologists Press.
Maslach, C., Jackson, S. E., & Leiter, M. P. (2001). Job burnout. Annual Review of
Psychology, 52, 397−422.
Maslach, C., Schaufeli, W. B., & Leiter, M. P. (2001). Job burnout. Annual Review of
Psychology, 52, 397−422.
McGee, R. A. (1989). Burnout and professional decision making: an analogue study.
Journal of Counseling Psychology, 36, 345−351.
Mor Barak, M. E., Levin, A., Nissly, J. A., & Lane, C. J. (2006). Why do they leave? Modeling
child welfare workers’ turnover intentions. Children and Youth Service Review, 28,
548−577.
Mor Barak, M. E., Nissly, J. A., & Levin, A. (2001). Antecedents to retention and turnover
among child welfare, social work, and other human service employees: what can
we learn from past research? A review and meta-analysis. The Social Service Review,
75(4), 625−661.
National Association of Social Workers (NASW) (2010). National Study of Licensed
Social Workers.http://workforce.socialworkers.org/states/California.pdf (Accessed:
25-August-10).
National Council on Crime and Delinquency (2006, Februaryy). Job turnover in child
welfare and juvenile justice: the voices of former frontline workers. Oakland, CA:
Author.
Nissly, J. A., Mor Barak, M. E., & Levin, A. (2005). Stress, support, and workers’ intention
to leave their jobs in public child welfare. Administration in Social Worker, 29(1),
79−100.
Patti, R. (2000). The handbook of social welfare management. Thousand Oaks, CA.: Sage
Publications.
Porter, L. W., & Steers, R. M. (1973). Organizational work and personal factors in
employee turnover and absenteeism. Psychological Bulletin, 80, 151−176.
Regehr, C., Hemsworth, D., Leslie, B., Howe, P., & Chau, S. (2004). Predictors of post-
traumatic distress in child welfare workers: a linear structural equation model.
Children and Youth Service Review, 26, 331−346.
Rizzo, J. R., House, R. J., & Lirtzman, S. I. (1970). Role conflict and ambiguity in complex
organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 15, 150−164.
367
Söderfeldt, M., Söderfeldt, B., & Warg, L. E. (1995). Burnout in social work. Social Work,
40, 638−646.
Stevens, M., & Higgins, D. J. (2002). The influence of risk and protective factors on
burnout experienced by those who work with maltreated children. Child Abuse
Review, 11, 313−331.
Tham, P., & Meagher, G. (2009). Working in human services: how do experiences and
working conditions in child welfare social work compare? British Journal of Social
Work, 39(5), 807−827.
Turnley, W. H., & Feldman, D. C. (2000). Re-examining the effects of psychological
contract violations: unmet expectations and job dissatisfaction as mediators.
Journal of Organizational Behavior, 21(1), 25−42.
U.S. General Accountability Office (2006, Octoberr). Child welfare: Improving social
service program, training, and technical assistance information would help address
long-standing service-level and workforce challenges (Publication No. GAO-07-75).
Washington, DC: Author.
Um, M. Y., & Harrison, D. F. (1998). Role stressors, burnout, mediators, and job
satisfaction: a stress–strain-outcome model and an empirical test. Social Work
Research, 22(2), 100−115.
Van der Doef, M., & Maes, S. (1999). The job-demand-control (-support) model and
psychological well-being: a review of 20 years of empirical research. Work & Stress,
13(2), 87−114.
Wanous, J. P., Poland, T. D., Premack, S. L., & David, K. S. (1992). The effects of met
expectations on newcomer attitudes and behaviors: a review and meta-analysis.
The Journal of Applied Psychology, 77, 288−297.
Whitaker, T., Weismiller, T., & Clark, E. (2006). Assuring the sufficiency of a frontline
workforce: a national study of licensed social workers. Executive summary.
Washington, DC: National Association of Social Workers.
Yamatani, H., Engel, R., & Spjeldnes, S. (2009). Child welfare worker caseload: what's
just right? Social Work, 54, 361−368.
Zell, M. C. (2006). Child welfare workers: who they are and how they view the child
welfare system. Child Welfare, 85(1), 83−103.