Mental well-being and quality of working life in UK social workers before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: A propensity score matching study

IF 1.8 3区社会学 Q1 SOCIAL WORK

British Journal of Social Work Pub Date : 2021-10-02 DOI:10.1093/bjsw/bcab198

P. McFadden, R. Neill, J. Mallett, J. Manthorpe, P. Gillen, J. Moriarty, D. Currie, H. Schroder, J. Ravalier, P. Nicholl, J. Ross

{"title":"Mental well-being and quality of working life in UK social workers before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: A propensity score matching study","authors":"P. McFadden, R. Neill, J. Mallett, J. Manthorpe, P. Gillen, J. Moriarty, D. Currie, H. Schroder, J. Ravalier, P. Nicholl, J. Ross","doi":"10.1093/bjsw/bcab198","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract During the COVID-19 pandemic interest into its potential impact on mental well-being has intensified. Within the social care sector, the pandemic has increased job demands and prolonged stress taking a disproportionate toll on the workforce, particularly social workers. This article compares the mental well-being and quality of working life of social workers in the United Kingdom (UK) before and during the pandemic. Data were collected in 2018 (N = 1,195) and 2020 (N = 1,024) using two cross-sectional surveys. To account for the differences between the datasets, propensity score matching was employed prior to effect estimation, utilising demographic and work-related variables common to both datasets. The differences between the two time-points were estimated using multiple regressions. Both mental well-being and quality of working life were significantly higher during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 compared to 2018. This suggests that during the highpoint of the pandemic in the UK, increased support, and changes to working practices, such as reprioritisation of work and other initiatives, may be responsible for increased mental well-being and quality of working life. While acknowledging the known pressures on UK social workers during the COVID-19 pandemic this evidence suggests a mixed picture of the pandemic with lessons for managers and employers.","PeriodicalId":48259,"journal":{"name":"British Journal of Social Work","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2021-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"15","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"British Journal of Social Work","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcab198","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"SOCIAL WORK","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 15

Abstract

Abstract During the COVID-19 pandemic interest into its potential impact on mental well-being has intensified. Within the social care sector, the pandemic has increased job demands and prolonged stress taking a disproportionate toll on the workforce, particularly social workers. This article compares the mental well-being and quality of working life of social workers in the United Kingdom (UK) before and during the pandemic. Data were collected in 2018 (N = 1,195) and 2020 (N = 1,024) using two cross-sectional surveys. To account for the differences between the datasets, propensity score matching was employed prior to effect estimation, utilising demographic and work-related variables common to both datasets. The differences between the two time-points were estimated using multiple regressions. Both mental well-being and quality of working life were significantly higher during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 compared to 2018. This suggests that during the highpoint of the pandemic in the UK, increased support, and changes to working practices, such as reprioritisation of work and other initiatives, may be responsible for increased mental well-being and quality of working life. While acknowledging the known pressures on UK social workers during the COVID-19 pandemic this evidence suggests a mixed picture of the pandemic with lessons for managers and employers.

查看原文本刊更多论文

新冠肺炎大流行前后英国社会工作者的心理健康和工作生活质量：倾向得分匹配研究

在COVID-19大流行期间，人们对其对心理健康的潜在影响的兴趣日益浓厚。在社会护理部门，大流行增加了工作需求和长期压力，对劳动力，特别是社会工作者造成了不成比例的损失。本文比较了英国(UK)社会工作者在大流行之前和期间的心理健康和工作生活质量。数据收集于2018年(N = 1195)和2020年(N = 1024)，采用两次横断面调查。为了解释数据集之间的差异，在效果估计之前采用倾向评分匹配，利用两个数据集共同的人口统计和工作相关变量。使用多元回归估计两个时间点之间的差异。与2018年相比，2020年COVID-19大流行期间的心理健康和工作生活质量都显着提高。这表明，在英国疫情最严重的时候，增加的支持和工作实践的改变，如重新确定工作的优先顺序和其他举措，可能是提高心理健康和工作生活质量的原因。虽然承认英国社会工作者在COVID-19大流行期间面临着已知的压力，但证据表明，疫情的情况好坏参半，同时也给管理人员和雇主带来了教训。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

British Journal of Social Work SOCIAL WORK-

CiteScore

3.00

自引率

22.20%

发文量

208

期刊介绍： Published for the British Association of Social Workers, this is the leading academic social work journal in the UK. It covers every aspect of social work, with papers reporting research, discussing practice, and examining principles and theories. It is read by social work educators, researchers, practitioners and managers who wish to keep up to date with theoretical and empirical developments in the field.