Child welfare workers' experiences of client-perpetrated violence: Implications for worker mental health

Background: Workforce turnover is a challenge for 90% of child welfare agencies in the U. S. Worker exposure to violence is important to consider within the context of high turnover levels. Objectives: The objectives of this study include exploring the prevalence of three types of client-perpetrated violence (CPV) and the influence of each type of CPV on mental health outcomes of workers. Participants and setting: Thisstudy used data from a statewide, longitudinal study of the child welfare workforce after 18-months of employment (n = 657). Methods: In addition to descriptive and bivariate analyses, a three-step hierarchical linear regression was used to examine the influence of each type of CPV on depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Results: The number of workers who experienced each type of CPV varied, with non-physical violence (80.1%) being the most reported form of CPV, followed by threat (47.2%), and then assault (5.8%). Multiple regression results indicated that threats have a significant relationship with workers' reported PTSD symptomatology in this sample when controlling for personal trauma experienced in the last year (B = 1.39, p = .01). Neither non-physical violence nor assault had a significant relationship with depressive, anxiety, or PTSD symptomatology when controlling for personal trauma. Conclusions: At least one form of CPV was experienced by a majority of early-career child welfare workers, however, only experiencing threats was significantly associated with any of the mental health outcomes. This study provides additional insight into the concepts of CPV and the mental health of child welfare workers. Implications for training and organizational responses to CPV are discussed.