Social Worker Hope and Perceived Burnout

Abstract

A national sample of 1,200 social workers, categorized by the National Association of Social Workers as being in clinical practice, participated in a study to find out whether social work clinicians decline in hope or have increasing burnout over the course of their careers. In the final sample of 676 respondents, social workers' self-reported burnout was negatively associated with social worker age. Practice setting (i.e., either public or private practice) moderated the relation between perceived burnout and years in social work. Burnout seemed to decline with increasing years in private practice, but not in public practice. The results also suggest that social worker hope is higher in public practice than in private practice. However, for older social workers, hope in these two settings is about equal. Implications for social work managers and administrators are discussed.