Analysis of Job-Related Demands and Resources in Ambulatory Youth Welfare Services: A Qualitative and Quantitative Approach

Sylvie Vincent-Höper, Julia C. Lengen, Maren Kersten and Sabine Gregersen
Additional contact information
Sylvie Vincent-Höper: Department of Work and Organizational Psychology, Universität Hamburg, 20146 Hamburg, Germany
Julia C. Lengen: Institute for Occupational and Maritime Medicine (ZfAM), University Clinic Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20459 Hamburg, Germany
Maren Kersten: Department of Occupational Medicine, Hazardous Substances and Public Health, Institution for Statutory Accident Insurance and Prevention in the Health and Welfare Services, 22089 Hamburg, Germany
Sabine Gregersen: Department of Occupational Medicine, Hazardous Substances and Public Health, Institution for Statutory Accident Insurance and Prevention in the Health and Welfare Services, 22089 Hamburg, Germany

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 8, 1-16

Abstract: In this study, we investigated health-relevant job characteristics of social workers in ambulatory youth welfare services, combining qualitative and quantitative methods. Based on a systematic literature review, expert workshops, and focus group discussions with 9 experts of the target group, we identified target group-specific job demands and job resources, which we compiled into a questionnaire using content-valid scales. The target group-specific survey tool comprises 9 scales for assessing job demands and 10 scales for assessing job resources. Analyses of data from 209 social workers demonstrated desirable psychometric properties and substantial correlations of the scales with coping behaviours and indicators of employee well-being. The scales for assessing job demands were negatively related to psychological well-being and job satisfaction and positively related to burnout and depressiveness. The scales for assessing job resources showed positive correlations with indicators of positive well-being and negative correlations with indicators of impaired well-being. Regression analyses revealed that job resources explained a higher amount of variance in the positive well-being indicators compared to job demands. The study identified a broad range of health-relevant job characteristics for social workers in ambulatory youth welfare. Applying the target group-specific survey tool allows organisations to derive suitable implications for the design of health promotion programs.

Keywords: social workers; ambulatory youth welfare; job demands; job resources; questionnaire; validation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/8/2941/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/8/2941/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:8:p:2941-:d:349739

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().