Understanding the work experiences, coping strategies and organisational retention of social workers in Gauteng in-patient substance abuse treatment centres.
Date
2009-01-07T09:51:22Z
Authors
Vermeulen, Alexandrina
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Abstract
South Africa has experienced a drastic shortage of social workers. This shortage
has affected many social welfare organizations, particularly those who offer
services in the area of substance abuse. According to a recent study conducted
by Earle (2008) many reasons could be ascribed to the high social work turnover,
these include: poor working conditions; poor compensation of work; lack of
resources and support; and increased demands for services. Hence, social
workers are experiencing work stress, burnout and compassion fatigue taxing
their personal and professional coping strategies which could lead to staff
turnover. The primary aim of this study was to understand the work experiences,
coping strategies and organisational retention of social workers in Gauteng inpatient
substance abuse treatment centres. The study had an exploratorydescriptive
design, incorporating both quantitative and qualitative paradigms to
explore the work environment of the organisations and participants. Purposive
sampling was used to select and divide the participants into three categories:
entry level social workers; experienced social workers and social workers that
had left the substance abuse field. Data was collected through conducting indepth
interviews and through a questionnaire completed by the representatives
from in-patient substance abuse treatment centres. This questionnaire was
piloted with an in-patient treatment centre in KwaZulu Natal. The results of the
quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, which were
illustrated via tables and figures and the qualitative data were analysed using
thematic content analysis. The main findings of this study confirmed most of the
reasons for work stress and burnout that may lead to staff turnover identified in
previous studies by Ross (1997) and Earle (2008). These findings are
incorporated into a retention model developed by the researcher. The model
incorporated five stages: stage one focussed on the reasons for entering the
substance abuse field (personal interests, undergraduate studies and/or
accidental); stage two explored preparation of social workers by organisations
after entry to the field; stage three identified four general factors that effects the
sustainability of social workers (external/environmental influences, organisational
factors, the type of client population, career opportunities and personal factors);
stage four explained the individual differences in coping responses (negative or
positive) to job stress either through fight responses, self-care strategies for
retention or flight responses, staff turnover; lastly, stage five focussed on what
organisations can do to reduce staff turnover. These findings can assist the
occupational social worker to identify these retention challenges and develop
strategies to reduce the risk of staff turnover.
Description
Keywords
Work experience, Social workers, Substance abuse, Treatment centres