Re: measuring stress levels child welfare workers (who cares!)

["john murray" <psychometre@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Would you (Aron or anyone else) be able to provide me with a e-copy of the 
article you raise here. I seek out this type of info' as so little seems to 
be done adressing the dangers of systems abuse. If systems are to realy 
protect, then this type of study should be as prevalent amongst the 
literature as is research on resilience.

I use resilience as an example for I see it a very dangerous path to go down 
when present systems are so flawed. Instead of adressing systems 
abuse-failure (abuse in foster placement, abuse in residential care 
facilities etc), "lets just get the children use to this type of abuse, and 
by improving their 'resilience' to that abuse- well, they'll turn out 
great".

Not my perferred line of thought!

cheers
John

From: Aron Shlonsky <shlonsky@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@xxxxxxxxxxx
To: Child Maltreatment Researchers   
<CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: measuring stress levels child welfare workers (who cares!)
Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2001 15:27:08 -0800

Seems to me that both issues are valid, but they should be addressed within 
the context and culture of the entire system.  Eileen Gambrill and I just 
published an article that's somewhat related to this in the latest issue of 
Children and Youth Services Review (vol 23, 1).  In it, we highlight the 
need for a comprehensive risk management system, which includes the risk the 
agency itself poses to children, families, and workers.

Aron

At 03:42 PM 3/16/2001 -0500, you wrote:
>Thank you to Niki Delson for approaching this topic from a different
>perspective.  Also as someone who 'trains' others, I have found similar
>resistence to taking some responsibility about the mixed emotions involved 
>in
>decision making  and that 'blaming' the organisation, government etc. is
>often far 'safer'.  It is not only social workers but teachers, health
>visitors and so on.  There are huge organisational dynamics involved where
>often the behaviour of the professionals 'reflects' the families they are
>dealing with (the comparison between the social workers and battered women
>was very interesting) and the meaning of personal behaviours within a team
>can get lost.
>
>However, John Murray's original comments were provocative to say the least
>and perhaps were intended to be so.
>
>Maria Robinson

Aron Shlonsky, MSW, MPH
UC Berkeley
School of Social Welfare
Center for Social Services Research
16 Haviland Hall #7400
Berkeley, CA  94720-7400
(510) 642-8139
(510) 642-1895 fax
shlonsky@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx




From: Aron Shlonsky <shlonsky@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@xxxxxxxxxxx
To: Child Maltreatment Researchers   
<CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: measuring stress levels child welfare workers (who cares!)
Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2001 15:27:08 -0800

Seems to me that both issues are valid, but they should be addressed within
the context and culture of the entire system.  Eileen Gambrill and I just
published an article that's somewhat related to this in the latest issue of
Children and Youth Services Review (vol 23, 1).  In it, we highlight the
need for a comprehensive risk management system, which includes the risk
the agency itself poses to children, families, and workers.

Aron

At 03:42 PM 3/16/2001 -0500, you wrote:
>Thank you to Niki Delson for approaching this topic from a different
>perspective.  Also as someone who 'trains' others, I have found similar
>resistence to taking some responsibility about the mixed emotions involved 
>in
>decision making  and that 'blaming' the organisation, government etc. is
>often far 'safer'.  It is not only social workers but teachers, health
>visitors and so on.  There are huge organisational dynamics involved where
>often the behaviour of the professionals 'reflects' the families they are
>dealing with (the comparison between the social workers and battered women
>was very interesting) and the meaning of personal behaviours within a team
>can get lost.
>
>However, John Murray's original comments were provocative to say the least
>and perhaps were intended to be so.
>
>Maria Robinson

Aron Shlonsky, MSW, MPH
UC Berkeley
School of Social Welfare
Center for Social Services Research
16 Haviland Hall #7400
Berkeley, CA  94720-7400
(510) 642-8139
(510) 642-1895 fax
shlonsky@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


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