The quality of work life of child protective investigators: A comparison of two work environments

Abstract

While the job of the child protective investigator has been described as complex, stressful, and extremely difficult, previous studies have only considered the job in the context of a public child welfare agency. This study compares the quality of work life of child protective investigators in two very different organizational settings: a public child welfare agency and a law enforcement agency. Legislation passed in Florida in 1998, transferred responsibility for investigations from the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to the Sheriff's Offices (SO) in four counties. As part of a larger evaluation effort, a survey was conducted of investigators in the four experimental counties and in four comparison counties where DCF was still conducting investigations. The survey asked respondent to rate their quality of work life in five domains and also asked their perceptions of their role and their work environment. The findings indicate that while both groups had similar demographic characteristics and perceptions of their role, the investigators who worked for the SO experienced a higher quality of work life than those who worked for DCF.