The Relationships between Stress, Burnout, Mental Health and Well-Being in Social Workers

Stress and burnout can have several negative effects on the individual social worker's work performance, along with their mental health and well-being. We are still unclear on how these negative effects play out, as no studies have examined what the relationships are between stress, burnout, anxiety, depression and well-being in social workers. This cross-sectional study attempted to identify the rates and correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety, depression and mental well-being of 121 social workers, using bivariate and multiple regression analyses. This study highlighted a significant proportion of social workers who reported mild to severe issues in anxiety, depression and mental well-being. This study highlighted that perceived stress is likely to be a universal risk factor for anxiety, depression, and mental well-being in social workers. Emotional exhaustion was also identified as a potential risk factor for anxiety, with personal accomplishment being a potential protective factor against depression and for positive mental well-being. This study provides promising preliminary evidence that if social workers who are experiencing issues with anxiety, depression and mental well-being are supported to reduce feelings of stress, emotional exhaustion, and increase feelings of personal accomplishment, they are likely to experience improvements in their mental health and job performance. Social work can be a very stressful profession to work in, and many social workers can experience burnout and issues with their mental health and well-being due to their social work role. We still don't know much about the relationships between experiencing stress, burnout and how these might impact social worker's mental health and well-being. This study examined if stress and burnout might have a role to play in the development of mental health and well-being issues in a sample of social workers. This study found that if a social worker experiences higher levels of stress, they are at risk of developing issues with anxiety, depression and mental well-being. This study also found that emotionally exhausted social workers are at risk of developing issues with anxiety. This study also found that if social workers feel a sense of personal accomplishment from their social work role, they are less likely to experience depressive symptoms and issues in well-being. Our findings indicate that if social workers are supported to reduce feelings of stress, emotional exhaustion, and increase feelings of personal accomplishment, they are likely to experience improvements in their mental health and job performance.