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Jennifer A. King

Bio: Jennifer A. King is an academic researcher from Case Western Reserve University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Compassion fatigue & Burnout. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 2 publications receiving 5 citations.

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors measure posttraumatic stress, grief, burnout, and secondary trauma experienced by employed social workers in the United States and describe organizational support provided to social workers during the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to measure posttraumatic stress, grief, burnout, and secondary trauma experienced by employed social workers in the United States and to describe organizational support provided to social workers during the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This study used data from the first wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Emotional Well-Being Study, a prospective panel study examining the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and includes a sample of 181 social workers. We conducted univariate analyses. Over a quarter (26.21%) of social workers met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD and 16.22% reported severe grief symptoms. While 99.19% of the sample reported average to high compassion satisfaction, 63.71% reported average burnout and 49.59% reported average secondary trauma. Findings indicate that social workers are reporting higher than national estimates of PTSD, indicating a greater need for more emotional support during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the significance and severity of the pandemic, it is essential that organizations provide resources for both immediate and ongoing support for the emotional well-being of their employees.

66 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors employed an inductive approach to thematic analysis to investigate intervention professionals' reflections and advice regarding the service, policy, and research needs as well as overall strategies to better protect children exposed to domestic violence.

2 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Comparing cross-sectional data collected from the HSC workforce in the UK at three time points during the COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to inform HSC employers’ policies, practices, and interventions as the workforce continues to respond to the CO VID-19 virus and its legacy.
Abstract: Many health and social care (HSC) professionals have faced overwhelming pressures throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. As the current situation is constantly changing, and some restrictions across the UK countries such as social distancing and mask wearing in this period (May–July 2021) began to ease, it is important to examine how this workforce has been affected and how employers can help rebuild their services. The aim of this study was to compare cross-sectional data collected from the HSC workforce in the UK at three time points during the COVID-19 pandemic: Phase 1 (May–July 2020), Phase 2 (November 2020–January 2021) and Phase 3 (May–July 2021). Respondents surveyed across the UK (England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland) consisted of nurses, midwives, allied health professionals, social care workers and social workers. Wellbeing and work-related quality of life significantly declined from Phase 1 to 3 (p < 0.001); however, no significant difference occurred between Phases 2 and 3 (p > 0.05). Respondents increasingly used negative coping strategies between Phase 1 (May–July 2020) and Phase 3 (May–July 2021), suggesting that the HSC workforce has been negatively impacted by the pandemic. These results have the potential to inform HSC employers’ policies, practices, and interventions as the workforce continues to respond to the COVID-19 virus and its legacy.

16 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compared the mental wellbeing and quality of working life of social workers in the United Kingdom (UK) before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and found that during the highpoint of the pandemic, increased support, and changes to working practices, such as reprioritisation of work and other initiatives, may be responsible for increased mental wellbeing.
Abstract: During the COVID-19 pandemic interest into its potential impact on mental wellbeing has intensified. Within the social care sector, the pandemic has increased job demands and prolonged stress taking a disproportionate toll on the workforce, particularly social workers. The current paper compares the mental wellbeing and quality of working life of social workers in the United Kingdom (UK) before and during the pandemic. Data were collected in 2018 (N=1195) and 2020 (N=1024) using two cross-sectional surveys. To account for the differences between the datasets, propensity score matching was employed prior to effect estimation, utilising demographic and work-related variables common to both datasets. The differences between the two time-points were estimated using multiple regressions. Both mental wellbeing and quality of working life were significantly higher during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 compared to 2018. This suggests that during the highpoint of the pandemic in the UK, increased support, and changes to working practices, such as reprioritisation of work and other initiatives, may be responsible for increased mental wellbeing and quality of working life. While acknowledging the known pressures on UK social workers during the COVID-19 pandemic this evidence suggests a mixed picture of the pandemic with lessons for managers and employers.

12 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social workers' well-being, using a mixed-methods design with a sample of 2,542 licensed social workers.
Abstract: The crisis created by the spread of COVID-19 brought increasing needs and referrals to social welfare services in many countries. However, at the same time, social services suffered from staff cutbacks and service closures, resulting in significant workload increases to address the hardships associated with the pandemic. This article investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Israeli social workers' well-being, using a mixed-methods design with a sample of 2,542 licensed social workers. Findings show that over 70 percent of social workers suffered from at least one health problem related to their work. Path analysis findings indicated that social workers who experienced greater service restrictions reported a greater decrease in job satisfaction and experienced higher levels of stress and work-related problems. Machine learning emotion-detection analysis revealed that the pandemic affected their lives, causing feelings of fear, frustration, and sadness. This article demonstrates how social workers whose work was characterized by greater service restrictions were less satisfied with their jobs, more stressed, and experienced greater job-related health problems, and concludes with a discussion of the implications for social work practice in times of crisis.

6 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article , a study assessed resilience at work, burnout, secondary trauma, and compassion satisfaction among social workers in Israel during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (May to June 2020).
Abstract: Social workers during the COVID-19 pandemic are at risk due to exposure to varied populations in need, which may impact their resilience, burnout, secondary trauma, and compassion satisfaction. The study assessed resilience at work, burnout, secondary trauma, and compassion satisfaction among social workers in Israel during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (May to June 2020). A convenience sample of 332 social workers (291 women (87.6%)) filled out an online, structured questionnaire that included demographics, a professional quality of life scale (ProQOL) (including three subscales), and resilience at work (RAW) (including seven subscales). The overall mean of the RAW was medium (M = 71, SD ± 8.9) compared to standardized scores. The mean scores of two of the subscales of the RAW, maintaining perspective and staying healthy, were low. The mean scores of the sub-scales of ProQOL were: compassion satisfaction was close to the 50th percentile (M = 48.25); burnout (M = 30.18) and secondary trauma (M = 26.27) were below the 25th percentile. Significant low to medium positive associations were found between all the dependent variables, except for staying healthy. A negative association was identified between compassion satisfaction and burnout, as well as between compassion satisfaction and secondary trauma. High levels of compassion satisfaction and contentment, low levels of secondary trauma, and having a managerial position were predicted to be 40% of the RAW. Lower levels of maintaining perspective, secondary trauma, and being younger predicted 27% of burnout. Higher levels of finding your calling, living authentically, maintaining perspective, interacting cooperatively, being older, and not being a manager predicted 58% of compassion satisfaction. Lower levels of burnout, maintaining perspective, and being younger predicted 36% of secondary trauma. As the COVID-19 pandemic still challenges most societies, policymakers should consider ways to integrate mechanisms that will enhance social workers’ resilience at work.

5 citations