| Summary: | The objective of this study is to reclaim positive work engagement for social workers in
North-West province through an empowerment programme addressing the issues
contributing to low job satisfaction, burnout, and job turnover of social workers.
Keywords:
Social work, social workers, group work, programme, empowerment, engagement, job
satisfaction, stress and burnout.
A serious shortage of social workers is experienced in South Africa. One of the reasons
provided is the high turnover rate of social workers; thus social work is classified as a scarce
skill profession. An urgent retention strategy is needed in order to retain social workers for
the profession.
Section A refers to the problem statement, research objectives, research procedures and
research methodology. The keywords as well as the limitations of the research are
investigated. The research was conducted in two phases. In phase one the needs
assessment was implemented and in phase two the planning, implementation, and
evaluation of the empowerment programme.
The problem statement in section A is based on the following:
The working life of social workers is limited and creates a shortage of social workers.
Several factors contribute to this shortage of social workers, including the lack of resources,
and of professional and family support. Undefined roles in social work contributed to lower
job satisfaction and engagement. When social workers are under stress and do not have
sufficient resources they will contemplate job turnover. Research indicates that positive work
engagement can be put back into social work by addressing the factors contributing to job
dissatisfaction, negativity, stress and burnout in the profession. Positive work engagement
may be a protective factor against burnout. This problem statement resulted in the following research goal of reclaiming positive work
engagement for social workers in North-West province through an empowerment programme
addressing the issues contributing to low job satisfaction, burnout, and job turnover of social
workers. It further resulted in the four research aims indicated below:
To determine by means of a literature study what affects the retention of social workers,
with specific focus on stress, burnout, job satisfaction, positive work engagement, and
turnover.
To determine what degree of work engagement and job satisfaction South African social
workers and those in the North-West province experience in their current positions and
how this influences job turnover, burnout and the intention to leave the profession.
To develop and implement an empowerment programme to reclaim positive work
engagement.
To evaluate the effectiveness of an empowerment programme for enhancing the degree
of work engagement social workers experience in their profession.
The Design and Development model (D&D) was implemented. The model consists of six
phases, which all have been used during this study. Quantitative data was mainly utilized.
The literature study focused on factors influencing work engagement, job satisfaction, stress,
burnout and job turnover in general as well as information specifically related to social
workers.
Section B consists of the four articles in which the research goals and research outcomes
are reported. Each article is dealt with as a self-contained unit focusing on specific research
objectives that were achieved via specific research methods. These methods were
employed to collect the necessary data for the design and evaluation of the empowerment
programme.
Article 1
The research goal of this article was to determine what affects the retention of social workers
with specific focus on burnout, job satisfaction, engagement, turnover and job stress by
means of a literature study. An investigation was carried out into the existing literature on
factors influencing work engagement, job satisfaction, and job turnover. Attention was
further given to aspects contributing to stress and burnout and to preventative measures to
address last-mentioned. The results of this research indicated that burnout, via stress, job engagement and job satisfaction, consistently predict intention to leave and thus turnover of
social workers.
Article 2
Social work was classified as a scare skill. The retention of social workers is an important
aspect that needs urgent attention. Before a retention strategy can be put into place a needs
assessment is necessary in order to determine the factors influencing retention.
The research goal of this article was to determine what degree of work engagement and job
satisfaction South African social workers experience in their current positions and how this
influences job turnover, burnout and the intention to leave the profession. In this article the
researcher presented, analysed and interpreted research findings based on responses
provided by 60 social workers from the North-West province. The research questions
focused on job engagement, job satisfaction, burnout and stress social workers experienced
in their current positions. The purpose was to determine the needs social workers
experience that will affect their turnover intention and to establish what is needed to retain
them for the profession.
In this research, Exponential Non-Discriminative Snowball Sampling was applied in order to
identify participants.
The results of this research indicated that the needs/problems social workers experienced
were stress, burnout, lower job satisfaction and engagement. These needs or problems can
be addressed through an empowerment programme. Providing the necessary information,
support and skills training social workers could be empowered and retained for longer
periods for the profession.
Article 3
The research goal of this article was to develop and implement an empowerment programme
to reclaim positive work engagement. The programme was developed after a needs
assessment had been done including sixty (N=60) social workers from the North-West
province. It was completed with a thorough literature study on the related themes. The
result of this research was that the programme was presented to eleven (N=11) social
workers in a two-day workshop consisting of seven sessions. Article 4
The purpose of this article was to evaluate the effectiveness of an empowerment programme
for enhancing work engagement social workers experience in their profession.
This was done through the use of the UWES (Utrecht Work Engagement Scale). This scale
measures the work engagement employees experience. The UWES was used on three
occasions with both the experimental and comparison group. The first measurement was
taken prior to the intervention, the second 32 hours after the intervention and the third a
month after the intervention.
The observations, reflections and process notes of the researcher as facilitator and presenter
were used to evaluate the practical value of the programme as well as to suggest
recommendations for future use. A self-developed evaluation questionnaire was used after
the intervention to afford the experimental group the opportunity of evaluating the value of
the programme.
The results of this research indicated that this empowerment programme for social workers
to regain positive work engagement improved the engagement social workers experienced
and was thus successful. It increased their feelings of dedication as well as vigor and
empowered them to take care of their own well-being in order to counteract turnover and
burnout.
After completion of the research, the programme was also presented to the comparison
group.
In Section C a summary of the findings and conclusions of the research report and some
recommendations are provided.
Section D consists of various addenda such as questionnaires and measuring instruments
that were used.
Section E contained an integrated bibliography. === Thesis (PhD (Social Work))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013
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