KU program found effective in helping reduce stress among child welfare service providers

LAWRENCE — Child welfare professionals work in a stressful environment. Seeing families at risk of having children removed from the home frequently results in occupational trauma, burnout and negative health outcomes. University of Kansas researchers have published a study showing an intervention they delivered to child welfare workers across the state reduced secondary traumatic stress and improved resilience, which can ease the strain on workers and lead to better family outcomes.

Researchers from KU’s School of Social Welfare implemented an intervention known as Resilience Alliance to child welfare caseworkers from across the state. The intervention was delivered across 12 weeks to help these professionals recognize secondary traumatic stress, or STS, develop strategies to deal with its effects and build resilience skills to use in their everyday work. 

Results showed the intervention lowered secondary traumatic stress and boosted resilience while being delivered remotely and in a shorter time than previous versions. The study was also distinct from other studies because participants were grouped in like positions, such as pairing caseworkers with other caseworkers.

“Child welfare workers are at high risk of experiencing STS. These are folks who go into homes and deal with children being removed or at risk of being removed or experiencing abuse,” said Brennan Miller, research associate in KU’s School of Social Welfare and one of the study authors. “Workers see lots of cases with positive outcomes, but they are bound to experience trauma in their work.”

When observing another person’s trauma and working to help, child welfare professionals can experience STS, which research has recognized as a significant challenge that leads to burnout and higher turnover rates. However, little research has identified evidence on strategies to address the issue. KU researchers received a six-year, $8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, to implement and evaluate strategies that could improve child welfare agency practices, including those that help reduce STS.

The intervention was delivered remotely to a sample of 175 Kansas child welfare workers. Half of the sample received the intervention, and half received the intervention plus loving-kindness meditation. Results showed a statistically significant reduction in STS for all participants. However, the results did not show receiving the additional loving-kindness meditation treatment provided additional reduction in STS above and beyond the standard Resilience Alliance programming.

Participants were surveyed before and after the 12-week intervention to assess levels of STS and resilience. Researchers hypothesized participants would demonstrate improved psychological well-being and reductions in STS following the intervention, and results confirmed that.

STS can present negative physical and mental outcomes for those who experience it, similar to post-traumatic stress disorder. Participants were asked about how well they sleep, if they experience symptoms like stress or anxiety and a number of other questions about their experiences before and after the intervention. 

Resilience Alliance is designed to help participants develop awareness of stress and negative emotions that may be common in child welfare practice. It focuses on developing agency and skills for participants to reposition negative emotions into positive emotions and take steps to channel their emotions into action that both benefits their well-being and the clients they serve. 

“One thing I think is cool about this study is people often view resilience as a trait. Either you are resilient or you aren’t,” Miller said. “But we viewed it as, ‘Can you employ this as a skill?’ And our results suggest you can.”

The study, written by Shelby Clark of the University of Kentucky, who received her doctorate at KU;  Miller, co-principal investigator; Becci Akin, KU professor of social welfare and principal investigator; Kortney Carr, KU assistant professor of social welfare; Vickie McArthur, program manager at KU’s School of Social Welfare; and Ryan Barney of the University of Kentucky, was published in the journal Traumatology.

Resilience Alliance showing the ability to reduce STS and boost resilience has several benefits, the authors wrote. It reduces stress among child welfare providers, which can help reduce burnout and turnover among a workforce that routinely experiences both at high rates. Additionally, it can lead to better psychological and health outcomes for professionals, who can in turn provide better services to clients, which has the potential to improve outcomes for families.

Future research should continue to examine the effects of Resilience Alliance on STS and resilience as well as its potential benefits for supervisors and administrators, the authors wrote, but in the meantime current results show that not only is the intervention promising for reducing STS, but it was adapted from a 24-week intervention into a 12-week course that also proved to be effective when delivered remotely. That reduces financial and time obligations for agencies and states looking to provide the intervention to their child welfare providers.

With those positive outcomes, KU researchers developed a sustainability plan as part of the original grant to help agencies continue to provide Resilience Alliance training to child welfare workers across Kansas by the Children’s Alliance of Kansas. Additionally, the Kansas Legislature provided continued funding for the program to help reduce STS and improve family outcomes across the state.