Abstract
Little is known about working conditions of social workers providing help in homeless and refugee aid. Therefore, the present study examined their work-related demands, job and personal resources as well as workplace violence, domain-specific demands, and gender-related differences. Job demands and resources were analyzed with regard to their association with job stress and job satisfaction. Two hundred and fifty-three social workers (69.2% female, 30.8% male) from four federal states in Germany (Berlin, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) took part in the cross-sectional quantitative online survey that included validated scales and exploratory items especially developed for the target group. Multiple regression analysis showed that resilience as a personal resource was a significant negative predictor of perceived job stress. Emotional demands were positively related with perceived job stress. Meaning of work and social support were strongly associated with job satisfaction. Language and bureaucratic barriers as well as being affected by clients’ experiences were the domain-specific demands named most often. The study offers insights into the work-related demands and resources and their respective impact on perceived job stress and job satisfaction experienced by social workers in refugee and homeless aid. In order to ensure health and safety for this occupational group, health promotion measures focusing on structural aspects are recommended.
Highlights
Social workers undertake crucial societal tasks in various areas such as prevention and reduction as well as coping with social problems
The majority of the participants were qualified as social workers (62.2%)
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study which thoroughly examined the working conditions in German homeless and refugee aid taking into consideration both general psychosocial aspects as well as domain-specific demands experienced by the sample
Summary
Social workers undertake crucial societal tasks in various areas such as prevention and reduction as well as coping with social problems. Support and counseling offered by social workers targets various client groups and mainly includes person-related services such as consultancy, education, training, and representation [1]. There is a growing body of literature on the working conditions experienced by social workers. According to the National Association of Social Workers, social workers have to deal with “increasing barriers to effective practice” [2] 5) such as increases of paperwork, caseloads, and severity of. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 601; doi:10.3390/ijerph17020601 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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