Social workers and satisfaction with child welfare work: aspects of work, profession, and personal life that contribute to turnover

Social workers practicing in government-mandated child welfare programs experience several unique challenges and workplace stressors that can contribute to social worker workplace dissatisfaction and higher rates of turnover. Most research on workplace wellbeing primarily focuses on workplace characteristics rather than on other variables, such as personal and professional life factors. From a sample of child welfare workers (n = 145), and following a model of subjective well-being, our findings show that three factors--work, profession, and personal life--significantly predict overall social worker satisfaction and intention to leave, confirming previous research on the multiple aspects of a social worker's life that contributes to his or her subjective well-being.