An Exploration of Factors Impacting Child Welfare Professional Burnout: A Moderated Mediation Analysis

Child welfare professionals (CWPs) have challenging and stressful jobs that routinely expose them to the traumatic narratives of children and other individuals. As a result of this, and when added to the reality that CWPs have a significantly higher average of adverse childhood experiences (ACE) compared to the general population, the prevalence of secondary traumatic stress (STS), burnout and high turnover rates is substantial. This non-experimental quantitative survey study of 212 direct service CWPs from both public and private agencies sought to examine the relationship of ACE scores to burnout, and whether secondary traumatic stress plays a mediating role in this relationship. An additional area of focus was whether workplace trauma-informed climate (TIC) and workplace interpersonal conflict (WIC) moderated the relationship between ACE scores and STS, and STS and burnout. A multiple linear regression was used to analyze the data. The findings indicated a partial support for the Hayes Model 75 with ACEs having a direct effect on STS, and an indirect effect on burnout through the mediator, STS, as conditioned on specific levels of TIC and WIC. Furthermore, the effect of STS on burnout was not moderated by TIC or WIC. With low levels of TIC and WIC, ACEs showed a significant negative relationship with both STS and burnout, whereas high levels of TIC and WIC interacted with ACEs to create a positive relationship with burnout through the mediator STS. A key finding that addresses a gap in the literature was that while TIC typically serves as protector against STS and burnout, in the presence of high WIC, it is no longer as protective, and points to the relative importance of WIC in agency settings in impacting STS and burnout levels. Implications for this study point to the importance of STS prevention strategies, minimizing WIC, while prioritizing TIC in child welfare organizations as useful approaches to reduce burnout. A key limitation was a relatively low response rate from the total pool of possible participants and the potential of a non-response bias when self-reporting ACEs, though a review of CWP survey studies found similar results relative to ACEs, STS and burnout. And finally, several options for future research were recommended including the relationship of STS and frequency of trauma narrative exposure, and whether any of the TIC subscales have a stronger association with mitigating STS or burnout.