| Abstract [eng] |
Psychological well-being of social workers working with minors: the importance of personal and work environment factors. Renata Klevickienė. Vilnius: Vilnius University, p. 51. Child welfare services play a vital role in ensuring the safety and well-being of children, but this field faces constant workforce challenges due to difficult working conditions. This increases the instability of the situation, as the relationship between the child, their family, and the social worker is precisely intended to ensure safety. Thus, social workers experience psychological difficulties that, as some studies suggest, may be related to the specific nature of their work; however, it is not entirely clear which factors exactly cause these difficulties. The aim of this study is to assess depression and anxiety among social workers working with minors, as well as their associations with workplace factors and psychological well-being. This master’s thesis utilized a subset of data from a broader research study — “Psychological Well-being of Social Workers: Risk and Protective Factors” (PROACT). This study analyzes data from 101 participants: of whom 11 are social workers working with children under 18, excluding families; 86 are social workers working with children under 18 and their families; and 4 are workers who work with both groups. For the study, only those participants who indicated that they work with children or with children and their families were randomly selected from the entire study sample. Almost all participants in this study are women (99.0%). The age of the participants ranges from 20 to 65 years, with a mean age of 43.6 (SD = 10.29). The Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4) was used to measure symptoms of anxiety and depression, and the World Health Organization Well-being Index-5 (WHO-5) was used to measure psychological well-being. It was found that the mental health of social workers working with minors is characterized by an increased risk. The study results showed that 19.8% of social workers are at risk of both anxiety and depression simultaneously. More than half of the study participants (56.4%) were found to have reduced psychological well-being according to the WHO-5 scale. Most objective work environment factors were not directly related to psychological health. It was found that higher levels of depression and anxiety are associated with lower psychological well-being and significantly predict poorer psychological well-being scores. Organizational support and case discussions within the team are important protective factors. Greater workplace support is associated with higher psychological well-being and lower levels of depression and anxiety, while case discussions within the team significantly predict higher psychological well-being. |
