IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v119y2020ics0190740920312949.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Child welfare workers and peritraumatic distress: The impact of COVID-19

Author

Listed:
  • Miller, J. Jay
  • Niu, Chunling
  • Moody, Shannon

Abstract

Whilst there is broad consensus that COVID-19 has had a pernicious impact on child welfare services, in general, and child welfare workers, specifically, this notion has not been thoroughly examined in the literature. This exploratory study examined COVID-19 related peritraumatic distress among child welfare workers (N = 1996) in one southeastern state in the United States (U.S.). Findings suggest that the study sample was experiencing distress levels above normal ranges; 46.4% of participants were experiencing mild or severe distress. Sexual orientation, self-reported physical and mental health, relationship status, supervision status, and financial stability impacted distress levels experienced by child welfare workers. Overall, data suggest that COVID-19 is impacting child welfare workers and there is a need to conceptualize, implement, and evaluate initiatives aimed at assuaging distress among child welfare workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Miller, J. Jay & Niu, Chunling & Moody, Shannon, 2020. "Child welfare workers and peritraumatic distress: The impact of COVID-19," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:119:y:2020:i:c:s0190740920312949
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105508
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740920312949
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105508?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Madden, Elissa E. & Scannapieco, Maria & Painter, Kirsten, 2014. "An examination of retention and length of employment among public child welfare workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 37-44.
    2. Julio Torales & Marcelo O’Higgins & João Mauricio Castaldelli-Maia & Antonio Ventriglio, 2020. "The outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus and its impact on global mental health," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 66(4), pages 317-320, June.
    3. Miller, J. Jay & Donohue-Dioh, Jessica & Niu, Chunling & Grise-Owens, Erlene & Poklembova, Zuzana, 2019. "Examining the self-care practices of child welfare workers: A national perspective," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 240-245.
    4. Salloum, Alison & Kondrat, David C. & Johnco, Carly & Olson, Kayla R., 2015. "The role of self-care on compassion satisfaction, burnout and secondary trauma among child welfare workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 54-61.
    5. Blome, Wendy Whiting & Steib, Sue D., 2014. "The organizational structure of child welfare: Staff are working hard, but it is hardly working," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 181-188.
    6. Schelbe, Lisa & Radey, Melissa & Panisch, Lisa S., 2017. "Satisfactions and stressors experienced by recently-hired frontline child welfare workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 56-63.
    7. Ellett, Alberta J. & Ellis, Jacquelyn I. & Westbrook, Tonya M. & Dews, Denise', 2007. "A qualitative study of 369 child welfare professionals' perspectives about factors contributing to employee retention and turnover," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 264-281, February.
    8. Griffiths, Austin & Royse, David & Culver, Kalee & Piescher, Kristine & Zhang, Yanchen, 2017. "Who stays, who goes, who knows? A state-wide survey of child welfare workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 110-117.
    9. Perales, F. & Del Pozo-Cruz, J. & Del Pozo-Cruz, B., 2014. "Impact of physical activity on psychological distress: A prospective analysis of an Australian national sample," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 104(12), pages 91-97.
    10. Miller, J. Jay & Donohue-Dioh, Jessica & Niu, Chunling & Shalash, Nada, 2018. "Exploring the self-care practices of child welfare workers: A research brief," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 137-142.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kothari, Brianne H. & Chandler, Kelly D. & Waugh, Andrew & McElvaine, Kara K. & Jaramillo, Jamie & Lipscomb, Shannon, 2021. "Retention of child welfare caseworkers: The role of case severity and workplace resources," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    2. Lushin, Victor & Katz, Colleen C. & Julien-Chinn, Francie J. & Lalayants, Marina, 2023. "A burdened workforce: Exploring burnout, job satisfaction and turnover among child welfare caseworkers in the era of COVID-19," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    3. April Schweinhart & Camila Aramburú & Rachel Bauer & Ashley Simons-Rudolph & Katharine Atwood & Winnie Kavulani Luseno, 2023. "Changes in Mental Health, Emotional Distress, and Substance Use Affecting Women Experiencing Violence and Their Service Providers during COVID-19 in a U.S. Southern State," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-23, February.
    4. Nashit Chowdhury & Ankit Kainth & Atobrhan Godlu & Honey Abigail Farinas & Saif Sikdar & Tanvir C. Turin, 2022. "Mental Health and Well-Being Needs among Non-Health Essential Workers during Recent Epidemics and Pandemics," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-30, May.
    5. Williams, Shanna & Bruer, Kaila C. & Evans, Angela D. & Price, Heather L., 2022. "The impact of COVID-19 on Canadian child maltreatment workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    6. Baker, Amy J.L. & Konigsberg, Melinda & Brown, Elissa & Adkins, Kevin Lee, 2023. "Successes, challenges, and opportunities in providing evidence-based teletherapy to children who have experienced trauma as a response to Covid-19: A national survey of clinicians," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Miller, J.Jay & Lee, Jacquelyn & Benner, Kalea & Shalash, Nada & Barnhart, Sheila & Grise-Owens, Erlene, 2018. "Self-compassion among child welfare workers: An exploratory study," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 205-211.
    2. Miller, J. Jay & Donohue-Dioh, Jessica & Niu, Chunling & Shalash, Nada, 2018. "Exploring the self-care practices of child welfare workers: A research brief," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 137-142.
    3. Salloum, Alison & Choi, Mi Jin & Stover, Carla Smith, 2018. "Development of a trauma-informed self-care measure with child welfare workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 108-116.
    4. Miller, J. Jay, 2020. "Developing self-care competency among child welfare workers: A first step," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    5. Boraggina-Ballard, Lena & Sobeck, J. & Honig, D., 2021. "What motivates highly trained child welfare professionals to stay or leave?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    6. Kothari, Brianne H. & Chandler, Kelly D. & Waugh, Andrew & McElvaine, Kara K. & Jaramillo, Jamie & Lipscomb, Shannon, 2021. "Retention of child welfare caseworkers: The role of case severity and workplace resources," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    7. Miller, J. Jay & Donohue-Dioh, Jessica & Niu, Chunling & Grise-Owens, Erlene & Poklembova, Zuzana, 2019. "Examining the self-care practices of child welfare workers: A national perspective," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 240-245.
    8. Miller, J. Jay & Cooley, Morgan & Owens, Larry & Fletcher, Jessica Day & Moody, Shannon, 2019. "Self-care practices among foster parents: An exploratory study," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 206-212.
    9. Boonzaaier, Emma & Truter, Elmien & Fouché, Ansie, 2021. "Occupational risk factors in child protection social work: A scoping review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    10. Bai, Rong & Collins, Cyleste & Fischer, Robert & Crampton, David, 2020. "Family critical time intervention with housing unstable, child welfare-involved families: Service providers’ and families’ experiences with the phases," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    11. Potter, Cathryn C. & Leake, Robin & Longworth-Reed, Laricia & Altschul, Inna & Rienks, Shauna, 2016. "Measuring organizational health in child welfare agencies," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 31-39.
    12. Schelbe, Lisa & Radey, Melissa & Panisch, Lisa S., 2017. "Satisfactions and stressors experienced by recently-hired frontline child welfare workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 56-63.
    13. Radey, Melissa & Wilke, Dina J., 2023. "Extent, trajectory, and determinants of child welfare turnover and exit destinations," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    14. Zeitlin, Wendy & Chakravarty, Sreyashi & Lawrence, Catherine & DeCristofano, Angela, 2019. "Direct practice contact: Predicting frontline child welfare workers' time with clients," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 9-15.
    15. Curry, Ashley, 2019. "“If you can't be with this client for some years, don't do it”: Exploring the emotional and relational effects of turnover on youth in the child welfare system," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 374-385.
    16. Nina Kind & David Bürgin & Jörg M. Fegert & Marc Schmid, 2020. "What Protects Youth Residential Caregivers from Burning Out? A Longitudinal Analysis of Individual Resilience," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-12, March.
    17. Griffiths, Austin & Royse, David & Culver, Kalee & Piescher, Kristine & Zhang, Yanchen, 2017. "Who stays, who goes, who knows? A state-wide survey of child welfare workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 110-117.
    18. Chenot, David & Boutakidis, Ioakim & Benton, Amy D., 2014. "Equity and fairness perceptions in the child welfare workforce," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 400-406.
    19. McCrae, Julie S. & Scannapieco, Maria & Obermann, Ann, 2015. "Retention and job satisfaction of child welfare supervisors," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 171-176.
    20. Cudjoe, Dan & Wang, Hong & zhu, Bangzhu, 2022. "Thermochemical treatment of daily COVID-19 single-use facemask waste: Power generation potential and environmental impact analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 249(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:119:y:2020:i:c:s0190740920312949. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.