Role Strain and Burnout in Child-Protective Service Workers

Social workers in child-protective services have always been called on to fulfill complex and demanding roles. In recent years dramatic increases in public and professional awareness of child neglect and abuse have produced new patterns of service delivery and rapidly expanding expectations for protective-service workers. At the same time, the problem of job dissatisfaction and burnout among these workers has received increased attention and may be becoming more widespread. This article reports on a study which applies the role conflict and ambiguity theory developed by Kahn and others to the problem of job dissatisfaction among protective-service social workers.