Mental health and quality of life among Norwegian child welfare service workers

Social workers in child welfare services play an important role in preventing crises and identifying the need for and implementing relevant measures among children and families of different ages and circumstances, often with little recognition. The main aim of this study was to examine mental health and overall- and professional quality of life of 978 Norwegian child welfare (CW) service workers. The design was cross-sectional and quantitative analyses showed that several demographic and job-related factors were associated with poorer mental health and quality of life. Approximately half of the respondents showed levels of psychological distress that warranted professional support and moderate or high levels of burnout and secondary stress (professional quality of life). Professional quality of life explained most of the variance in psychological distress and overall quality of life, respectively, after controlling for demographic and job-related variables. The findings of this study can lay the foundation for preventing mental health and quality of life issues among CW workers, as it indicates the focus areas for schools of social work in terms of the mental health of students and future CW workers. Ansatte i barnevernet spiller en viktig rolle i a forebygge kriser og identifisere behov for gjennomforing av relevante tiltak blant barn og familier i ulike aldre og omstendigheter, ofte med liten annerkjennelse. Hovedmalet i denne studien var a undersoke den mentale helsen, overordnet, - og profesjonell livskvalitet hos ansatte i barnevernet i Norge. 978 ansatte responderte positivt til a delta i studien. Kvantitative analyser i tverrsnittstudien viste at flere demografiske og jobbrelaterte faktorer var assosiert med darlig mental helse og livskvalitet. Ca halvparten av respondentene rapporterte psykisk stress tilsvarende mulig behov for profesjonell stotte, samt moderate eller hoye nivaer av utbrenthet og sekund AE rt stress (profesjonell livskvalitet). Profesjonell livskvalitet forklarte mesteparten av variansen i psykisk stress og overordnet livskvalitet etter a ha kontrollert for demografiske og jobbrelaterte variabler. Funnene i studien kan legge grunnlag for bevissthet med hensyn til a forebygge psykisk uhelse og lav livskvalitet hos ansatte i barnevernet samt at den indikerer viktige fokusomrader i undervisning nar det gjelder forebygging av studenters og fremtidige barnevernsarbeideres mentale helse.