Critical Commentary: The Impact of Work-Related Violence towards Social Workers in Children and Family Services

This critical commentary assesses the research currently published on workplace violence towards social workers in child and family services. A literature search identified seven relevant studies. Verbal aggression and threats towards child and family social workers were found to be commonplace, had the most detrimental consequences, and were the hardest to identify and manage. Physical assaults were comparatively rare. However, all acts of violence were found to impact on well-being and practice, although not always in a negative way. Often, workers and services were able to learn from incidents and use them to aid the development of policies and training.