Using care ethics to support staff wellbeing in social work: A conceptual model

The well-being of frontline social workers is critical to sustaining ethical and effective practice. However, poor workplace conditions, high client demands, and limited organizational support contribute to social worker stress, burnout, and workforce attrition. While care ethics is a recognized framework for social work practice, its application to the organizational care of social workers remains underexplored. This study examines how Australian social work managers enact elements of Tronto’s (1993) ethics of care—attentiveness, responsibility, competence, and responsiveness—to support frontline staff. Using Theoretical Thematic Analysis (TTA), data from fourteen social work managers were analysed to identify key caring practices, including fostering a supportive peer culture, acknowledging staff achievements, and providing emotionally engaged supervision. Findings suggest that embedding care ethics into everyday managerial practice enhances worker wellbeing, but this is still hampered by structural and managerialist constraints within practice settings. This study contributes to social work research by offering a conceptual model for enacting care ethics within organizations to enhance worker wellbeing. Implications of this study call for stronger institutional support of frontline staff and organizational and policy recognition of the ethical imperative to provide care for frontline social workers.