Professional quality of life in the child protection system: The mediating role of attachment security and closeness in the child-employee dyad
Child protection workers who interact with vulnerable children daily are indirectly exposed to multiple traumatic events, and the possibility of experiencing burnout and secondary traumatic stress (STS) is high. Concurrently with these outcomes, positive results can occur in this type of activity, which are experienced in the form of compassion satisfaction. The purpose of this study is to explain the effect personal adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) exert on the professional quality of life (ProQOL) of selected categories of employees (foster parents, psychologists, and social workers), via the employees’ attachment security and closeness toward the children they work with. This study is the first to investigate factors that influence the development of ProQOL in a more complex sample of child protection workers. Data were collected at a single point in time with the help of 11 Child Protection Services Bureaus from Romania, using an online survey, yielding 223 participants, including 130 foster parents and 93 specialists. The mediating model was tested with structural equation modeling. The overall fit of the model is acceptable. The indirect effects of ACEs on the components of ProQOL are statistically significant, and attachment security and closeness in the child-employee dyad act as protective factors against the development of burnout and STS in this sample. Findings confirm the beneficial effects of employee attachment security and closeness towards children they work with on their ProQOL. These results could be implemented by considering attachment-based approaches in supporting professionals.
Baugerud, G.A., Vangbaek, S., & Melinder, A. (2017). Secondary traumatic stress, burnout and compassion satisfaction among norwegian child protection workers: Protective and risk factors. The British Journal of Social Work, 48:1-21. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcx002
Bifulco, A., Kwon, J., Jacobs, C., Moran, P.M., Bunn, A., & Beer, N. (2006). Adult attachment style as mediator between childhood neglect/abuse and adult depression and anxiety. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 41(10):796-805. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-006-0101-z
Bloomquist, K.R., Wood, L., Friedmeyer-Trainor, K., & Kim, H.W. (2015). Self-care and professional quality of life: Predictive factors among MSW practitioners. Advances in Social Work, 16(2), 292. https://doi.org/10.18060/18760
Blythe, S.L., Halcomb, E.J., Wilkes, L., & Jackson, D. (2013). Perceptions of long-term female foster-carers: I’m not a carer, i’m a mother. British Journal of Social Work, 43(6):1056-1072. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcs047
Blythe, S.L., Wilkes, L., & Halcomb, E.J. (2014). The foster carer’s experience: An integrative review. Collegian (Royal College of Nursing, Australia), 21(1):21-32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colegn.2012.12.001
Bolic, E.B. (2019). Secondary traumatic stress and vicarious traumatization in child welfare professionals in Serbia. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 13(2):214-233. https://doi.org/10.1080/15548732.2018.1502117
Bollen, K.A. (1989). Structural Equations with Latent Variables. United States: John Wiley and Sons, p.514. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118619179
Boscarino, J.A., Figley, C.R., & Adams, R.E. (2004). Compassion fatigue following the September 11 terrorist attacks: A study of secondary trauma among New York city social workers. International Journal of Emergency Mental Health, 6(2):57-66.
Bowlby, J. (1988). A Secure Base: Parent-child Attachment and Healthy Human Development. New York: Basic Books, p.205.
Bride, B.E. (2007). Prevalence of secondary traumatic stress among social workers. Social Work, 52(1):63-70. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/52.1.63
Bride, B.E., Robinson, M.M., Yegidis, B., & Figley, C.R. (2004). Development and validation of the secondary traumatic stress scale. Research on Social Work Practice, 14(1):27-35. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049731503254106
Bridger, K.M., Binder, J.F., & Kellezi, B. (2019). Secondary traumatic stress in foster carers: Risk factors and implications for intervention. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 29:482-492. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-019-01668-2
Carew, N.M. (2016). Secondary Traumatic Stress and the Foster Parenting Experience: Exploring Factors Associated with the Prevalence of Secondary Traumatic Stress in Foster Parents Caring for Children Who Have Experienced Trauma [Ph.D., Michigan State University]. In: ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. Available from: http://search.proquest.com/ docview/1835144789/abstract/5BC60A00D1D146BBPQ/21
Carmel, M.J.S., & Friedlander, M.L. (2009). The relation of secondary traumatization to therapists’ perceptions of the working alliance with clients who commit sexual abuse. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 56(3):461-467. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015422
Cederbaum, J.A., He, A.S., Fulginiti, A., Sullivan, K., Krauss, M.D., Amutah, N., et al., (2017). Caregiver qualities, family closeness, and the well-being of adolescents engaged in the child welfare system. Children and Youth Services Review, 73:113-120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2016.12.007
Collins, N.L. (1996). Working models of attachment: Implications for explanation, emotion, and behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71(4):810-832. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.71.4.810
Cooley, M.E., Womack, B., Rush, J., & Slinskey, K. (2020). Adverse childhood experiences among foster parents: Prevalence and association with resilience, coping, satisfaction as a foster parent, and intent to continue fostering. Children and Youth Services Review, 109:104679. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.104679
Dagan, S.W., Ben-Porat, A., & Itzhaky, H. (2016). Child protection workers dealing with child abuse: The contribution of personal, social and organizational resources to secondary traumatization. Child Abuse and Neglect, 51:203-211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2015.10.008
Dimitrova, N., Pierrehumbert, B., Glatz, N., Torrisi, R., Heinrichs, M., Halfon, O., et al., (2010). Closeness in relationships as a mediator between sexual abuse in childhood or adolescence and psychopathological outcome in adulthood. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 17(3):183-195. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.650
Dion, J., Gervais, J., Bigras, N., Blackburn, M.E., & Godbout, N. (2019). A longitudinal study of the mediating role of romantic attachment in the relation between child maltreatment and psychological adaptation in emerging adults. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 48(12):2391-2402. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-019-01073-4
Esaki, N., & Larkin, H. (2013). Prevalence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) among child service providers. Families in Society, 94(1):31-37.
Fauth, E., Hess, K., Piercy, K., Norton, M., Corcoran, C., Rabins, P., et al., (2012). Caregivers’ relationship closeness with the person with dementia predicts both positive and negative outcomes for caregivers’ physical health and psychological well-being. Aging and Mental Health, 16(6):699-711. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2012.678482
Figley, C.R. (1995). Compassion fatigue: Toward a new understanding of the costs of caring. In: Secondary Traumatic Stress: Self-care Issues for Clinicians, Researchers, and Educators. United States: The Sidran Press, p.3-28.
Fowler, J.C., Allen, J.G., Oldham, J.M., & Frueh, B.C. (2013). Exposure to interpersonal trauma, attachment insecurity, and depression severity. Journal of Affective Disorders, 149(1):313-318. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2013.01.045
Hannah, B., & Woolgar, M. (2018). Secondary trauma and compassion fatigue in foster carers. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 23(4):629-643. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359104518778327
Hiles Howard, A.R., Parris, S., Hall, J.S., Call, C.D., Razuri, E.B., Purvis, K.B., et al., (2015). An examination of the relationships between professional quality of life, adverse childhood experiences, resilience, and work environment in a sample of human service providers. Children and Youth Services Review, 57:141-148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2015.08.003
JASP Team. (2020). JASP (Version 0.12.2) [Computer Software]. Available from: https://jasp-stats.org/ [Last accessed on 2019 Aug 03].
Jorgensen, T.D., Pornprasertmanit, S., Schoemann, A.M., & Rosseel, Y. (2021). semTools: Useful Tools for Structural Equation Modeling. R Package Version 0.5-5. Available from: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=semTools [Last accessed on 2019 Aug 14].
Lee, K., Pang, Y.C., Lee, J.A.L., & Melby, J.N. (2017). A study of adverse childhood experiences, coping strategies, work stress, and self-care in the child welfare profession. Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership and Governance, 41(4):389-402. https://doi.org/10.1080/23303131.2017.1302898
Lindell, M.K., & Whitney, D.J. (2001). Accounting for common method variance in cross-sectional research designs. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(1):114-121. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.86.1.114
Louison Vang, M., Shevlin, M., Hansen, M., Lund, L., Askerod, D., Bramsen, R.H., et al., (2020). Secondary traumatisation, burn-out and functional impairment: Findings from a study of Danish child protection workers. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 11(1):1724416. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2020.1724416
Muller, R.T., Gragtmans, K., & Baker, R. (2008). Childhood physical abuse, attachment, and adult social support: Test of a mediational model. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue Canadienne Des Sciences Du Comportement, 40(2):80-89. https://doi.org/10.1037/0008-400X.40.2.80
Munoz, R.T., Pharris, A.B., & Hellman, C.M. (2021). A linear model of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) as drivers of lower hope mediated by lower attachment security in an adult sample. Journal of Family Violence, 37:1-9. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-021-00282-5
NCTSN. (2018). Secondary Traumatic Stress: A Fact Sheet for Child-Serving Professionals [Text]. Los Angeles, CA: The National Child Traumatic Stress Network. Available from: https://www.nctsn.org/resources/secondary-traumaticstress-fact-sheet-child-serving-professionals [Last accessed on 2019 May 16].
Nelson-Gardell, D., & Harris, D. (2003). Childhood abuse history, secondary traumatic stress, and child welfare workers. Child Welfare: Journal of Policy, Practice, and Program, 82(1):5-26.
R Core Team. (2020). R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Viena, Austria. Available from: http://www. Rproject.org [Last accessed on 2019 Aug 14].
Reimer, D. (2021). Better Quality in Foster Care in Europe- How Can It Be Achieved? Thematic Discussion Paper EU Commission Peer Review on Foster Care.
Revelle, W. (2018). Psych: Procedures for Personality and Psychological Research, Illinois, USA: Northwestern University. Available from: https://CRAN.R-project.org/ package=psych version = 1.8.12
Rosseel, Y. (2012). Lavaan: An R package for structural equation modeling. Journal of Statistical Software, 48(2):1-36. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v048.i02
Schaufeli, W.B., Leiter, M.P., & Maslach, C. (2009). Burnout: 35 years of research and practice. Career Development International, 14(3):204-220. https://doi.org/10.1108/13620430910966406
Senreich, E., Straussner, S.L.A., & Steen, J. (2020). The work experiences of social workers: Factors impacting compassion satisfaction and workplace stress. Journal of Social Service Research, 46(1):93-109. https://doi.org/10.1080/01488376.2018.1528491
Shi, D., & Maydeu-Olivares, A. (2020). The effect of estimation methods on SEM fit indices. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 80(3):421-445. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164419885164
Stamm, B.H. (1995). Secondary Traumatic Stress: Self-care Issues for Clinicians, Researchers, and Educators. United States: The Sidran Press, p.279.
Stamm, B.H. (2010). The Concise ProQOL Manual: Technical Manual. 2nded. Pocatello: ProQOL.
Steele, H., Bate, J., Steele, M., Dube, S.R., Danskin, K., Knafo, H., et al., (2016). Adverse childhood experiences, poverty, and parenting stress. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/ Revue Canadienne Des Sciences Du Comportement, 48:32-38. https://doi.org/10.1037/cbs0000034
Steen, J.T., Senreich, E., & Straussner, S.L.A. (2021). Adverse childhood experiences among licensed social workers. Families in Society, 102(2):182-193. https://doi.org/10.1177/1044389420929618
Survey AnyPlace (2020). Survey AnyPlace [Software Platform]. Available from: https://surveyanyplace.com/use-cases/ survey-templates [Last accessed on 2019 Jan 28].
Teculeasa, F., Golu, F., & Gorbănescu, A. (2022). What mediates the link between foster parents’ sensitivity towards child posttraumatic stress symptoms and job satisfaction? The role of compassion fatigue and foster parent-child relationship. Journal of Child and Adolescent Trauma, 16:309-320. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-022-00513-x
WHO-Adverse Childhood Experiences International Questionnaire (ACE-IQ). (n.d.). Available from: http:// www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/ activities/adverse_childhood_experiences/en [Last accessed on 2019 Jul 14].
Widom, C.S., Czaja, S.J., Kozakowski, S.S., & Chauhan, P. (2018). Does adult attachment style mediate the relationship between childhood maltreatment and mental and physical health outcomes? Child Abuse and Neglect, 76:533-545. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.05.002