2319 - FAITH AT WORK: EXAMINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPIRITUAL SUPPORT, BURNOUT, AND WELL-BEING IN CHILD WELFAR

Session: D01S006 - Workplace Well-Being & Mental Health 6
AUTHORS:
Wilke Nicole (CAFO Center on Applied Research for Vulnerable Children and Families ~ Arquipa ~ Peru) , Medefind Jedd (Christian Alliance for Orphans ~ McLean ~ United States of America) , Howard Amanda (Samford University ~ United States of America)
Abstract text:
ntroduction: Child welfare professionals often experience high stress and exposure to trauma, placing them at risk for burnout and reduced well-being. Although faith and spirituality have been identified as potential protective factors, limited research has examined how organizational faith identity and support for spiritual practices relate to professional quality of life.


Purpose: This study examined whether organizational faith identity, perceived organizational support for spiritual practices, and perceived ability to engage in those practices predicted well-being and professional quality of life among child welfare professionals.


Method: Participants were 262 child welfare professionals (74% female; Mage=45.04) from 19 nations who worked directly with children and families affected by adversity or trauma. They completed standardized measures of life satisfaction, resilience, compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress, along with items assessing organizational faith identity, perceived support for spiritual practices, and perceived ability to implement those practices.


Results: Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted controlling for demographic and religious variables. Organizational faith identity did not predict any well-being outcomes. The regression model predicting life satisfaction was significant, F(10,261)=5.63, p<.001, explaining 15.1% of the variance. Perceived organizational support for spiritual practices uniquely predicted higher life satisfaction (β=.20, p<.05). The model for resilience was significant, F(10,261)=2.92, p<.001, with perceived ability to engage in spiritual practices emerging as the only significant predictor (β=.20, p<.05). Compassion satisfaction was predicted by both faith-based employment (β=.14, p<.05) and perceived implementation ability (β=.23, p<.001), F(10,261)=5.63, p<.001. Burnout was inversely predicted by perceived support (β=-.14, p<.05) and implementation ability (β=-.22, p<.01), F(10,261)=5.25, p<.001. No predictors were related to secondary traumatic stress.