Stress and burnout in social workers: perceptions of supervision and the role of self-compassion and shame

Lister, Katherine (2020) Stress and burnout in social workers: perceptions of supervision and the role of self-compassion and shame. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

The aim of this research was to explore various potential factors related to stress and burnout in social workers. Stress is a common experience for social workers, and can have huge impacts on them, the patients they interact with and services as whole, highlighting the importance of examining this topic in more detail. A systematic review was carried out which explored the experience of supervision for social workers, focusing on what they felt had been useful. A total of 19 studies were included in this review and using a process of thematic analysis, themes were developed to describe the experience of social workers. Important aspects of supervision reported by the supervisees in this review were compared to existing literature mainly based on the views of supervisors, and differences were highlighted. An empirical study was also conducted and explored other factors related to stress in social workers, namely self-compassion and shame. An online survey, completed by 100 UK child and family social workers, explored the relationships between these factors in more detail. This empirical paper considered the importance of context-specific shame compared to shame as a general predisposition and is one of the first studies to consider this concept in social workers. The results showed that context-specific shame is important in predicting levels of burnout in this population. There were several strong relationships found between these variables and these findings are discussed with reference to the literature. Clinical implications and directions for future research are outlined.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
Depositing User:	Chris White
Date Deposited:	05 Nov 2020 11:37
Last Modified:	05 Nov 2020 11:37
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/77544
DOI:

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