Study: Social workers five years in job tend to stay

Child protection social workers are more likely to remain in the job long term if they are still operating in the area after five years, according to a longitudinal study. The new research, which looked at the experiences of longtime child protection social workers, also found that while some felt they were working in “less than optimal conditions”, the challenges of the work was one of the reasons they chose to stay on.

‘Findings From a Longitudinal Qualitative Study Of Child Protection Social Workers’ Retention: Job Embeddedness, Professional Confidence and Staying Narratives’ has been published in the British Journal of Social Work. The three-person team behind the study was led by Dr Kenneth Burns of the School of Applied Social Studies at University College Cork.