Burnout as a community development crisis: A qualitative descriptive study of social workers in the Philippines

This study explores the experience of burnout among Filipino social workers and examines its implications for community development. Ten registered social workers were engaged through in-depth individual interviews across three local government institutions providing welfare, legal, and health services. Qualitative descriptive analysis generated five interrelated themes: burnout symptoms; structural and organizational conditions that precipitate burnout; multidimensional personal and professional consequences of chronic strain; individual coping practices; and the need for more responsive institutional support systems. The findings reveal how social worker burnout extends beyond the individual practitioner, shaping service delivery, organizational capacity, and community wellbeing in ways consistent with a framework of interconnected individual, social, and ecological wellbeing. Implications for social welfare policy, supervisory practice, and community development planning are discussed.