Statutory Social Workers: Stress, Job Satisfaction, Coping, Social Support and Individual Differences

Many pieces of research have been undertaken in recent years that consider stress in statutory social work. The research has tended, inevitably, to focus on negatives in social workers’ lives, by considering dissatisfaction with the job, absences from work and other physical, psychological and behavioural symptoms of stress. Little attention has been given in the studies of stress and social work to expanding on the positives of social work, the rewards involved, high job satisfaction, the importance of how workers cope with the job, the contribution of supervision, personal and group support at work and home, alongside the positive well-being of many individual social workers. This article highlights the satisfaction social workers feel about their work, considers healthy and unhealthy coping strategies that are, and might be, used, gender differences and the importance of various forms of support from within the work setting, especially mutual group support, accompanied by individual differences linked to good self-esteem, personal hardiness and resilience.