Evaluation of Family Preservation and Reunification Programs: Final Report: Volume 2: The Staff Questionnaire

8. The Staff Questionnaire

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Contents

Endnotes

An important aspect of program implementation and service delivery is the characteristics of the program staff. In their detailed description of the Homebuilders Model, Kinney, Haapala, and Booth (1991) note the difficulty in recruiting and maintaining qualified counselors to staff the family preservation programs. While the authors present their "first choice" applicant as "someone with a masters degree in social services, with a cognitive-behavioral theoretical background, and several years' experience working with families," they also note that "gender, age, race, marital status, parenthood, educational field, and degree have not been correlated with effectiveness on the job." Besides individual characteristics, Kinney, Haapala, and Booth encourage the selection of staff who share similar values, attitudes, and styles, cautioning that "if staff have large differences in how they view clients, it is likely they will differ about other agency policies, procedures, and ways they wish to relate to each other and to the community."

In this study, caseworkers in both public and family preservation agencies completed a self-administered questionnaire in which they were asked about a variety of job-related items, including their experience, qualifications, training, job satisfaction, preparation for dealing with casework issues, and attitudes toward clients and services.

Table 8-1 shows the number of completed questionnaires for each state and agency, separated by whether or not the respondent had a case in the study and by whether or not the respondent was considered to be case level staff. A respondent was considered case level staff if he or she reported carrying cases. (108) This summary focuses only on those case-level staff who carried a case in this study, with response rates ranging from 75 percent in Tennessee and 76 percent in New Jersey to 91 percent in Kentucky. Data on staff in Philadelphia are presented in a separate section as both family preservation and traditional services were provided by private agency staff and some workers carried cases from both random assignment groups.
Table 8-1
Counts for Completed Staff Questionnaires

Type of position & agency

 Does this respondent have a case in the study?
Kentucky New Jersey Tennessee Philadelphiaa
No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes
Case level staff
Public agency 39 159 136 199 6 37 35 139
FPS agency 4 18 -- 29 1 17  
"Other" staff
Public agency 34 19 99 29 5 2 25 12
FPS agency 3 -- 2 6 1 2  
Number of completed questionnaires 80 196 237 263 13 61 60 151
Number of questionnaires mailed out to staff who have a case in the study   215   344   81   334
Response rate for staff with a case in the study   91%   76%   75%   63%
a Philadelphia respondents are not categorized according to FPS or Public Agency status. Both FPS and traditional (SCOH) services were provided by private agency staff and some workers were responsible for both types of cases.

8.1 Kentucky, New Jersey, and Tennessee Staff

Table 8-2 provides a summary of responses by staff with a case in the study to most of the questionnaire items, separated by state. Within each state, responses from Public and FPS staff are reported separately.
Table 8-2
Summary of Responses from Case Level Staff (109) Who Have a Case in the Study: Kentucky, New Jersey, & Tennessee
  Kentucky New Jersey Tennessee
Public FPS p Public FPS p Public FPS p
N % N % N % N % N % N %
Respondent is male 15 20 18 22   195 22 29 35   36 11 16 25  
Race/Ethnicity 15   18     185   28     34   15   .0
Black (not Hispanic)   25   22     43   25     74   53  
White (not Hispanic)   73   78     42   54     27   33  
Hispanic   1   0     11   18            
Other   2   0     4   4         13  
Participated in on the job training in past 12 months 15 92 17 94   196 91 29 100   37 76 17 88  
Attended seminar or workshop in past 12 months 15 91 17 100   196 90 29 93   37 97 17 100  
Taken for-credit courses in a degree program in past 12 15 18 17 47 .01 188 23 28 36   37 16 16 31  
Taken non-credit course on a work-related topic in past 12 15 23 17 18   190 43 28 39   36 14 17 29  
Participated in other in-service training in past 12 months 15 82 17 94   193 83 29 86   37 89 17 82  
Field of study 15   17     199   29     37   17    
Education   5   6     10   3     16   17  
Law/criminal justice   10         6   10     8      
Math/science             1         3      
Mgmt/administration   3         4   3     16      
Other humanities   6         8   7     5   6  
Social services   49   65     33   28     32   47  
Social work   25   29     26   38     19   41  
No code/NA/missing   3         2   7         6  
Level of education 15   18   .001 197   29   .001 37   17   .0
AA degree, high school diploma, GED, or less             7         3      
Bachelors degree   58         55   31     62   6  
Some graduate study   23   11     24   17     30   30  
Masters degree or beyond   18   89     14   52     5   65  
Future employment plans 15   16     183   28   .03 34   16    
Do not plan to look for other employment or would like   83   88     85   100     74   81  
Looking for other employment but have not found   17   12     15   0     27   19  

Table 8-2,
continued Summary of Responses from Case Level Staff Who Have a Case in the Study: Kentucky, New Jersey, & Tennessee
  Kentucky New Jersey Tennessee
Public FPS   Public FPS   Public FPS  
N Mean N Mean p N Mean N Mean p N Mean N Mean p
Usual caseload size 15 19.5 17 2.2 .00 19 22.8 29 3.1 .00 34 49.0 17 2.1 .00
Largest # of families in caseload 151 23.9 18 1.9 .001 190 28.9 27 3.0 .001 35 58.8 17 3.1 .001
% of time spent investigating abuse/neglect complaints 158 38.23 18 2.5 .001 179 38.8 26 .03 .001 36 58.2 17 7.1 .001
% time spent on family preservation services 156 14.4 18 91.6 .001 178 13.4 29 93.9 .001 35 17.3 17 94.7 .001
% time spent on foster care placement and/or supervision 156 15.4 18 1.7 .001 180 16.0 26 0.0 .001 35 5.8 17 0.3 .002
% time spent on followup services for abuse/neglect families 157 33.3 18 3.1 .001 181 36.5 26 3.4 .001 35 18.1 17 1.5 .001
How satisfied are you with various aspects of your job?
Salary 158 4.5 18 3.7 .02 184 3.3 28 3.6   36 4.2 17 3.6 .07
Workload 158 3.4 18 2.1 .001 183 3.5 28 2.0 .001 36 3.9 17 2.0 .001
Supervision 157 2.1 18 1.9   178 2.5 28 1.8 .002 34 2.7 16 1.8 .01
Work difficulty 157 2.6 18 2.0 .001 182 3.1 27 2.4 .001 36 3.3 16 2.5 .01
Chances of promotion 157 3.2 18 3.6   177 3.9 27 3.9   33 4.1 17 4.1  
Fringe benefits 157 2.6 18 2.5   183 2.9 28 3.0   35 3.1 17 3.2  
Overall job satisfaction (average for all 6 items) 158 3.0 18 2.6 .004 183 3.2 28 2.8 .002 36 3.5 17 2.9 .001
Indicate how much you agree/disagree with the following statements:
Abuse and neglect are social problems…services cannot do much to save 155 3.1 18 3.5 .03 185 2.8 29 3.7 .00 37 3.6 17 3.7  
No matter how bad a natural family is, foster care is usually worse 158 3.3 18 3.1   187 3.2 29 3.2   37 3.4 17 3.1  
There are many cases in which children remain at home and would have 158 2.2 18 2.3   186 2.3 29 2.5   37 2.4 17 2.3  
It is never justified to take chances with the lives of children 158 1.4 18 1.4   185 1.3 29 1.4   37 2.1 17 1.5  
If a child I left at home were seriously injured due to maltreatment, I 158 1.9 18 1.9   187 1.9 29 2.3 .05 37 2.0 17 1.9  
Removing a child from his or her parents can be so deep a trauma to the child that it is almost always worth taking the risk to leave the child 158 3.3 18 3.1   186 3.3 29 3.0 .04 37 3.4 17 2.9  
Families who deny the truth of a validated allegation of abuse or neglect 154 2.7 18 3.0   185 2.6 29 3.1 .01 37 2.9 17 3.1  
Most families with records of several past complaints should not be given 156 3.0 18 3.2   187 3.0 29 3.2   37 3.1 17 3.5  
Placement prevention should be primary goal of family preservation pgrms 156 2.0 18 2.4   186 1.7 29 2.1 .06 37 2.0 17 2.0  
Only families with a child at imminent risk of placement should be referred to intensive family preservation services 157 2.7 18 1.5 .001 187 2.8 29 2.2 .001 37 3.1 17 2.3 .08

Table 8-2,
continued Summary of Responses from Case Level Staff Who Have a Case in the Study: Kentucky, New Jersey, & Tennessee
  Kentucky New Jersey Tennessee
Public FPS   Public FPS   Public FPS  
N Mean N Mean p N Mean N Mean p N Mean N Mean p
Indicate how much you agree/disagree with the following statements about your reactions to work with clients:
I feel I treat some of my clients as impersonal objects 158 3.6 18 3.8 .06 198 3.8 27 3.9   37 3.7 17    
I deal very effectively with the problems of my clients 158 1.8 18 1.5 .06 198 1.6 29 1.6   37 1.7 17 1.6  
I have become more callous toward people since being 156 2.9 18 3.5 .009 196 3.3 29 3.8 .002 37 3.1 17 3.7 .01
Many clients cannot be helped no matter what I do 158 2.7 18 3.4 .005 198 2.8 29 3.4 .001 37 2.8 17 3.5 .007
I think clients often blame me for their problems 158 2.3 18 3.6 .001 198 2.6 29 3.8 .001 37 2.9 17 3.3  
I have accomplished much that is worthwhile in this job 158 1.8 18 1.4 .09 198 1.7 28 1.5   37 1.7 17 1.5  
I feel burned out from my work 158 2.6 18 3.0   197 2.5 29 3.3 .001 37 2.1 17 2.4  
How prepared do you feel to deal with each of the following
Assessing problems 158 1.8 18 1.4 .05 196 1.5 29 1.6   37 1.6 17 1.4  
Assessing risk 158 1.8 18 1.6   197 1.6 29 1.7   36 1.7 17 1.5  
Case planning 154 2.1 18 1.7 .09 196 1.7 29 1.8   35 1.8 17 1.8  
Assessing family functioning 155 2.0 18 1.7   196 1.8 29 1.6   36 2.2 17 1.6 .03
Assessing child functioning 155 2.1 18 1.5 .001 196 1.8 29 1.8   36 2.1 17 1.8  
Family systems 153 2.1 18 1.7 .04 193 1.9 29 1.9   35 2.1 17 1.9  
Building client relationships 153 1.6 18 1.2 .02 196 1.5 29 1.3 .02 35 1.5 17 1.3  
Counseling families 149 2.3 18 1.5 .001 187 2.0 29 1.6 .02 34 2.1 17 1.5 .009
Permanency planning 147 2.4 12 2.1 .10 162 2.4 24 2.2   29 2.6 13 2.4  
Knowing when to terminate a case 148 2.3 18 1.7 .02 196 2.0 29 1.8   37 2.4 17 1.7 .02
Combined measure of how prepared respondent feels 155 2.1 18 1.6 .001 196 1.8 29 1.7   35 2.0 17 1.7 .
How many years of experience have you had in the following knids of work:
Social work in general 137 5.4 16 3.9   195 12.2 28 6.2 .001 35 6.9 17 7.9  
Child welfare social work 130 4.0 14 2.9   176 9.5 20 4.6 .001 33 5.0 10 4.2  
Supervising others in social work 120 0.7 12 0.2   162 1.5 21 1.1   32 0.7 9 1.7 .10
Delivering family preservation services 117 1.4 13 2.5   164 3.1 24 2.4   32 4.4 15 4.2  
# of years working for this agency 147 3.7 17 2.0 .01 189 8.1 28 2.2 .001 37 4.9 14 2.1 .003
# of years since appointed to this position 141 1.4 17 1.3   182 5.3 29 1.7 .001 35 3.9 14 1.9 .08

8.1.1 Gender and Race

A majority of the staff in each state were female, with the proportion of male staff ranging from 11 percent in the Tennessee public agencies to 35 percent in the New Jersey family preservation agencies. Within each state, there were no significant differences between public and FPS agencies with respect to gender.

With respect to racial and ethnic composition, respondents from the New Jersey agencies, both public and private, had the greatest diversity. In New Jersey, Whites made up 42 percent of public agency staff and 54 percent of FPS agency staff, in comparison, Black made up 43 percent of public agency respondents and 25 percent of FPS agency respondents. New Jersey had the highest representation of Hispanic respondents (18% among FPS agencies and 11% among public agencies), and at least a small percentage of respondents were represented in all four race/ethnicity categories. A majority (73-78%) of the respondents in both public and FPS agencies in Kentucky were White, with the remainder primarily Black (22-25%) and just a few public agency workers reporting their ethnicity as Hispanic (1%) or "Other" (2%). In Tennessee, approximately three-quarters of respondents in public agencies were Black with the remainder being White, and approximately one-half of FPS agency respondents were Black, one-third were White, none Hispanic, and 13 percent reported their race/ethnicity as other than Black, White, or Hispanic.

8.1.2 Education

In all three of the states, FPS staff had higher levels of education (all significant at p £ .001). In all three states, comparing public agency and FPS staff, a smaller proportion of public agency staff held a degree at the Masters level or higher (18% vs. 89% in Kentucky, 14% vs. 52% in New Jersey, and 5% vs. 65% in Tennessee). A small percentage (7%; n = 14) of public agency staff in New Jersey and one public agency respondent in Tennessee reported an education level less than a Bachelor's degree. Of the fourteen respondents in New Jersey with less than a Bachelors degree, approximately half reported their positions as case manager. The other half of those New Jersey respondents as well as the one Tennessee respondent with less than a Bachelors degree reported their positions as caseworker.

There was a fair amount of variability in workers' responses to questions about the field of study for the highest degree they obtained - particularly among public agency staff. The majority of staff (ranging from 51% in Tennessee public agencies to 94% in Kentucky FPS agencies) indicated that their degree was in social work or social services. Other frequently named fields of study included education, law or criminal justice, and management or administration.

8.1.3 Caseloads and Time Allocation

As anticipated, when asked about usual caseload, public agency staff reported significantly higher numbers than FPS staff across all three states (see Table 8-2). Along the same lines, relative to public agency staff, FPS staff in each of the three states reported spending a significantly greater proportion of their time on family preservation services and a significantly smaller proportion of their time on investigations, placements, and followup services (again, see Table 8-2 for average proportions; all comparisons significant at p<= .001).

8.1.4 Job Satisfaction

Caseworkers were asked about their level of satisfaction with various aspects of their jobs, including salary, workload, supervision, work difficulty, chances of promotion, and fringe benefits. Responses to these items were also combined for an average measure of job satisfaction. In all three states, public agency workers were significantly less satisfied than FPS staff with respect to job satisfaction overall and with their workload and work difficulty in particular. Furthermore, in Kentucky, public agency staff were also significantly less satisfied than FPS staff when it came to salary; in New Jersey, public agency staff were also significantly less satisfied than FPS staff with supervision; and in Tennessee, public agency staff were also significantly less satisfied with supervision and differences were marginally significant with respect to salary (p = .07).

8.1.5 Staff Views on Child Welfare and Family Service Issues

Caseworkers were asked to indicate their level of agreement or disagreement in response to a series of 10 statements expressing views on a number of child welfare and family service issues. For many of the statements, respondents' average levels of agreement were near the mid-point of the scale (2.5, where 1 = strong agreement and 4 = strong disagreement) indicating neither strong agreement nor disagreement on average. For two of the statements - both relating to risk - the average responses for both FPS and public agency staff in all three states were skewed more towards strong agreement. Those statements were: "It is never justified to take chances with the lives of children" and "If a child I left at home were seriously injured due to maltreatment, I would find it hard to forgive myself." In New Jersey, on the second of these statements, there was a significant difference between average responses of FPS and public agency staff. Although both groups indicated agreement, public agency staff indicated stronger agreement with this statement than did FPS staff (1.9 vs. 2.3; p = .05).

In two of the states, there was stronger disagreement by FPS staff (relative to public agency staff) in response to the statement "Child abuse and neglect are social problems driven by strong social forces to the extent that social work services cannot do much to save children from danger." Differences between FPS and public agency staff in response to this statement were significant in Kentucky (3.5 vs. 3.1; p = .05) and New Jersey (3.7 vs. 2.8; p = .001), with small, non-significant differences in Tennessee (3.7 vs. 3.6).

On the issue of referrals to family preservation services, FPS staff in all three states indicated a greater degree of agreement than public agency staff with the statement: "Only families with a child at imminent risk of placement should be referred to intensive family preservation services." These differences were statistically significant in Kentucky (1.5 for FPS and 2.7 for public staff; p = .001) and in New Jersey (2.2 for FPS and 2.8 for public staff; p = .001), and differences were in the same direction but not statistically significant in Tennessee (2.3 for FPS and 3.1 for public staff; p = .08).

In New Jersey, there were two other statements for which there were significant differences in average responses for FPS and public agency staff. Public agency staff indicated stronger disagreement than FPS staff with the statement "Removing a child from his or her parents can be so deep a trauma to the child that it is almost always worth taking the risk to leave the child with his or her parents" (3.3 for public staff and 3.0 for FPS; p = .04). On the other hand, FPS staff indicated stronger disagreement on average than public staff with "Families who deny the truth of a validated allegation of abuse or neglect are such poor prospects for service that placement is usually justified" (3.1 for FPS and 2.6 for public staff; p = .01).

8.1.6 Reactions to Work with Clients

Caseworkers were given seven statements, six of which were drawn from the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach and Jackson, 1986), an instrument designed to measure the following three dimensions of the psychological syndrome of burnout: emotional exhaustion, lack of a sense of personal accomplishment, and depersonalization of clients. For each statement, workers were asked to indicate their agreement on a 4 point scale (1 = strongly agree, 4 = strongly disagree, 2.5 = midpoint).

Three of the statements were intended to assess workers' depersonalization of clients: "I feel I treat some of my clients as impersonal objects," "I have become more callous toward people since being on this job," and "I think clients often blame me for their problems." On average, family preservation workers in all three states disagreed or strongly disagreed with these statements, with mean scores on individual items ranging from 3.5 to 3.8 in Kentucky, 3.8 to 3.9 in New Jersey, and 3.3 to 3.9 in Tennessee. Public agency workers also tended to disagree with these statements, however, their average scores were closer to the midpoint of the scale, particularly on the item "I think clients often blame me for their problems" where mean scores were 2.3 in Kentucky, 2.6 in New Jersey, and 2.9 in Tennessee. Comparing the FPS and public staff responses, FPS workers in all three states indicated significantly stronger disagreement on the item "I have become more callous toward people since being on this job."

Two of the statements were intended to assess workers' sense of personal accomplishment: "I deal very effectively with the problems of my clients," and "I have accomplished much that is worthwhile in this job." Both FPS and public agency workers in all three states indicated some level of agreement with each of these statements as average item scores ranged from 1.4 to 1.8. Differences between FPS and public agency staff in their level of agreement were marginally significant in Kentucky, with FPS workers indicating stronger agreement.

Only one item assessing emotional exhaustion was included in this questionnaire, and that item was a direct statement of burnout: "I feel burned out from my work." In Kentucky and New Jersey, both FPS and public agency workers, on average, indicated disagreement with this statement (although the average score for public agency workers in New Jersey was exactly at the midpoint). In New Jersey, FPS workers indicated significantly stronger disagreement than public agency workers (3.3 vs. 2.5; p = .001). In Tennessee, the average score on this item for public agency workers indicated moderate agreement while the average score for FPS workers was close to the midpoint, a non-significant difference (2.1 vs. 2.4).

The final item regarding workers' reactions to work with clients - one not drawn from the Maslach Burnout Inventory - was "Many clients cannot be helped no matter what I do." While all workers, on average, disagreed with this statement, FPS workers indicated significantly stronger disagreement than public agency workers in all three states.

8.1.7 Preparation in Dealing with Casework Issues

Workers were asked how prepared they felt to deal with 10 specific casework issues: assessing problems, assessing risk, case planning, assessing family functioning, assessing child functioning, family systems, building client relationships, counseling families, permanency planning, and knowing when to terminate a case. For each statement, workers were asked to indicate their agreement on a 5 point scale (1 = very well prepared, 5 = poorly prepared, 3 = midpoint). Within each of the states and groupings for type of staff, of all activities, preparation for permanency planning was thought to be worst - although, on average, all staff reported their preparation level as better than the mid-point of the scale. Within each state and type of staff (FPS or public), respondents thought themselves best prepared for "building client relationships." On average, Kentucky FPS staff reported being significantly better prepared than public agency staff on six of the ten casework issues (assessing problems, assessing child functioning, family systems, building client relationships, counseling families, and knowing when to terminate a case). In New Jersey, FPS staff reported being significantly better prepared than public agency staff on two of the ten casework issues (building client relationships and counseling families). In Tennessee, FPS staff reported being significantly better prepared than public agency staff on three of the ten casework issues (assessing family functioning, counseling families, and knowing when to terminate a case). On none of the items did public agency staff report feeling more prepared than FPS staff. When responses to all ten items were combined for an overall measure of how prepared workers felt, average scores were better than the mid-point of the scale, with FPS staff feeling significantly more prepared than public agency staff in Kentucky (2.1 vs. 1.6; p = .001) and marginally significant differences in Tennessee (1.7 for FPS staff and 2.0 for public agency staff; p = .06).

8.1.8 Experience, Tenure, and Future Employment Plans

When asked how many years of experience workers had in various kinds of social work, there was a considerable amount of variability both between states and between FPS and public agency staff. Looking at social work in general, Kentucky staff averaged around 4-5 years with no significant differences between FPS and public agency staff; New Jersey FPS staff averaged 6.2 years and New Jersey public agency staff averaged 12.2 years - a statistically significant difference (p = .001); Tennessee staff averaged 7-8 years of experience with no significant differences between FPS and public agency staff.

The average amount of experience in child welfare social work was 3 to 5 years for Kentucky and Tennessee staff, with no significant differences between FPS and public agency workers. In New Jersey, FPS workers averaged 4.6 years experience in child welfare and public agency staff averaged 9.5 years - again, a statistically significant difference (p = .001).

On average, staff reported being in their current position for over a year, with public agency staff having spent a greater amount of time in their current positions than FPS staff in both New Jersey (5.3 vs. 1.7; p = .001) and Tennessee (3.9 vs. 1.9; p = .08). Particularly among public agency staff, the average number of years working in the agency was consistently higher than the average number of years working in their current positions (3.7 vs. 1.4 in Kentucky; 8.1 vs. 5.3 in New Jersey; 4.9 vs. 3.9 in Tennessee). This may be indicative of the amount of turnover that occurs among positions but within the public agencies.

Although no effort was made to track the number of workers who left the agency during the timeframe of this study, workers were asked about their future employment plans. In each of the three states, a higher proportion of public agency staff reported that they were either "looking for other employment" or "have definite arrangements to take another job" (17% vs. 12% in Kentucky; 15% vs. 0% in New Jersey; p = .03 (Fisher's exact); and 27% vs. 19% in Tennessee).

8.1.9 Summary for Kentucky, New Jersey, and Tennessee Staff

In summary, the results of this questionnaire confirm anticipated differences between FPS and public agency staff in caseload size and allocation of time. There is also evidence of some significant differences between FPS and public agency staff on level of education, job satisfaction, how prepared they feel, amount of experience, and future employment plans. However, despite the fact that the FPS staff appear to have higher qualifications in some areas and are more satisfied with their jobs, no differences in staff qualifications and attitudes translate into differences in practice and thus differentially affect client outcomes.

There are a number of possible explanations for the apparent lack of a direct link between staff qualifications and attitudes and client outcomes. Inadequate measurement of the outcomes is one possibility. However, many of the outcome measures detected change over time, just not differential change fore the FPS and regular service groups. Availability of recommended services is another possible problem. FPS staff may develop more individualized or comprehensive case plans that help clients achieve desired outcomes, however, those case plans may not be implemented if the services are not available at that time. Another disconnect between staff characteristics and outcomes may occur if case plans are not implemented as a result of different philosophies or service approaches taken by the FPS worker and the public agency caseworker who resumes management of the case at the end of the family preservation program. Lastly, the brevity of the family preservation program may cancel out any advantages due to superior preparation, attitudes, or job satisfaction of FPS workers.

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8.2 Philadelphia Staff

All respondents from Philadelphia (n = 151) were employed by private agencies, and some workers were responsible for providing services to both FPS and non-FPS cases. Therefore, respondents were not categorized according to FPS or public agency status. Results are summarized in Table 8-3.

8.2.1 Gender and Race

Relative to the other three states, a fairly large proportion of the Philadelphia staff were male (40%). A majority of the staff were Black (61%) with another third White and a small percentage Hispanic (4%) or Other (3%).

8.2.2 Education

A majority of the staff (56%) held Bachelors degrees, slightly less than a fifth had completed some graduate study, and approximately one-quarter had a degree at the Masters level or higher. The most common areas for the field of study were social services (29%), social work (25%), and law or criminal justice (13%).

Table 8-3
Summary of Responses from Case Level Staff Who Have a Case in the Study: Philadelphia (110)
  N %
Respondent is male 139 40
Race/Ethnicity 132  
Black   61
White   33
Hispanic   4
Other   3
Participated in on the job training in past 12 months 136 82
Attended seminar or workshop in past 12 months 134 96
Taken for-credit courses in a degree program in past 12 months 130 22
Taken non-credit course on a work-related topic in past 12 months 129 41
Participated in other in-service training in past 12 months 133 87
Field of Study 139  
Education   10
Law/criminal justice   13
Math/science   3
Mgmt/administration   3
Other humanities   10
Social services   29
Social work   25
No code/NA/missing   8
Level of education 137  
AA degree, high school diploma, GED, or less   1
Bachelors degree   56
Some graduate study   18
Masters degree or beyond (doctoral)   26
Future employment plans 129  
Do not plan to look for other employment   63
Would like to change jobs but not actively looking 24
Looking for other employment but have not found anything   10
Have definite arrangements to take another job   3
  N Mean
Usual caseload size 136 11.3
Largest # of families in caseload 138 15.2
% of time spent investigating abuse/neglect complaints 122 45.1
% time spent on family preservation services 117 25.6
% time spent on foster care placement and/or supervision 115 7.8
% time spent on followup services for abuse/neglect families 121 25.5

Table 8-3,
continued Summary of Responses from Case Level Staff Who Have a Case in the Study: Philadelphia
How satisfied are you with various aspects of your job? (1 = highly satisfied, 5 = highly dissatisfied)
Salary 130 3.2
Workload 130 3.0
Supervision 128 2.5
Work difficulty 130 2.8
Chances of promotion 129 3.1
Fringe benefits 130 2.7
Overall job satisfaction (all 6 items) 131 2.9
Indicate how much you agree/disagree with the following statements: [1 =strongly agree, 4=strongly disagree]
Abuse and neglect are social problems…services cannot do much to save children from danger 139 3.7
No matter how bad a natural family is, foster care is usually worse 139 3.7
There are many cases in which children remain at home and would have been better off in a good foster home 139 2.8
It is never justified to take chances with the lives of children 139 2.1
If a child I left at home were seriously injured due to maltreatment, I would find it hard to forgive myself 139 2.5
Removing a child from his or her parents can be so deep a trauma to the child that it is almost always worth taking the risk to leave the child with his or her parents 139 3.7
Families who deny the truth of a validated allegation of abuse or neglect are such poor prospects for service that placement is usually justified 139 3.4
Most families with records of several past complaints should not be given any more chances to change 139 3.5
Placement prevention should be the primary goal of family preservation programs 139 2.4
Only families with a child at imminent risk of placement should be referred to intensive family preservation services 139 3.2

  N Mean
Indicate how much you agree/disagree with the following statements about your reactions to work with clients: (1 = strongly agree, 4 = strongly disagree)
I feel I treat some of my clients as impersonal objects 139 3.8
I deal very effectively with the problems of my clients 139 1.6
I have become more callous toward people since being on this job 139 3.4
Many clients cannot be helped no matter what I do 139 3.0
I think clients often blame me for their problems 139 3.1
I have accomplished much that is worthwhile in this job 139 1.8
I feel burned out from my work 139 2.8
How prepared do you feel to deal with each of the following casework issues (1 = very well prepared, 5 = poorly prepared)
Assessing problems 137 1.7
Assessing risk 137 1.8
Case planning 135 2.1
Assessing family functioning 136 1.9
Assessing child functioning 137 1.9
Family systems 134 2.1
Building client relationships 138 1.7
Counseling families 136 1.9
Permanency planning 126 2.5
Knowing when to terminate a case 130 2.1
Combined measure of how prepared respondent feels (all 10 items) 137 2.0
How many years of experience have you had in the following kinds of work:
Social work in general 133 7.4
Child welfare social work 120 4.9
Supervising others in social work 107 1.2
Delivering family preservation services 106 1.1
# of years working for this agency 93 2.9
# of years since appointed to this position 90 2.0

8.2.3 Caseload and Time Allocation

On average, workers reported a usual caseload size of 11.3 cases, with a large portion of their time (45%) spent investigating abuse or neglect complaints. An additional quarter of their time was spent on each of the following tasks: family preservation services and followup services, and a small proportion of their time (7.8%) was spent on foster care placement or supervision.

8.2.4 Job Satisfaction

Caseworkers were asked about their level of satisfaction with various aspects of their jobs, including salary, workload, supervision, work difficulty, chances of promotion, and fringe benefits. Combining these items for an average measure of job satisfaction, Philadelphia staff responses came out almost exactly at the midpoint of the scale (mean = 2.9 on a scale of 1 to 5). Staff were slightly more satisfied with supervision (mean = 2.5), fringe benefits (mean = 2.7), and work difficulty (mean = 2.8), and they were slightly less satisfied with chances of promotion (mean = 3.1) and salary (mean = 3.2).

8.2.5 Views on Child Welfare and Family Service Issues

In response to 10 statements expressing views on child welfare and family service issues, responses from Philadelphia staff were neutral or in disagreement with all but one of the statements. There was slight agreement (mean = 2.1) with the statement "It is never justified to take changes with the lives of children." Responses were relatively neutral on statements of whether workers would forgive themselves if a child were injured (mean = 2.5) and whether placement prevention should be the primary goal of FPS programs (mean = 2.4). Respondents expressed relatively strong disagreement on four statements containing negative views of services or families (see Table 8-3).

8.2.6 Reactions to Work with Clients

On average, workers expressed disagreement with all three statements assessing depersonalization: treating clients as impersonal objects (mean = 3.8), becoming callous toward people (mean = 3.4), and thinking clients blame them for problems (mean = 3.1). On the items measuring workers' sense of personal accomplishment (dealing effectively with clients, and accomplishing much that is worthwhile), average responses were between neutral and agreement. Staff in Philadelphia disagreed only slightly, on average, with the statement "I feel burned out from my work" (mean = 2.8).

8.2.7 Preparation in Dealing with Casework Issues

Similar to results in Kentucky, New Jersey, and Tennessee, staff in Philadelphia reported feeling worst prepared for dealing with issues of permanency planning. On the other hand, staff in Philadelphia reported feeling best prepared to assess problems and build client relationships. An overall measure of the 10 items yielded an average response of 2.0 - just slightly on the "prepared" side of the scale.

8.2.8 Experience, Tenure, and Future Employment Plans

When asked about their experience in various kinds of social work, Philadelphia staff indicated an average of 7.4 years experience in social work in general, 4.9 years in child welfare social work, 1.2 years in supervising others in social work, and just over one year of experience delivering family preservation services.

On average, workers reported working for this agency for just under three years and being in their current positions for two years. Only a small proportion of respondents (3%) indicated that they had definite arrangements to take another job, and an additional ten percent said they were looking for other employment.

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References

Kinney, J., Haapala, D. & Booth, C. (1991). Keeping Families Together: The Homebuilders Model. New York, NY: Aldine De Gruyter.

Maslach, C. & Jackson, S.E. (1986). Maslach Burnout Inventory (2nd ed.). Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.

Endnotes

108. If respondents reported that they both carry cases and have supervisory responsibilities, they were only considered case level staff if they reported that they spend no more than 49 percent of their time in supervision.

109. Respondents were considered "case level staff" if they reported that they carry cases. If they reported that they carry cases and have supervisory responsibilities then they were only considered case level staff if they reported that they spend no more than 49 percent of their time in supervision.

Note: p-values are only reported when they are less than or equal to .10

110. Respondents were considered "case level staff" if they reported that they carry cases. If they reported that they carry cases and have supervisory responsibilities then they were only considered case level staff if they reported that they spend no more than 49 percent of their time in supervision.

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