Resilience of direct care workers in adolescent residential treatment facilities: An exploratory study

Research suggests that organizational commitment, more than job satisfaction, is a direct measure of an employee's intentions to stay or leave a job (Tang, Kim, & Tang, 2000). The unemployment rate and the employee's financial requirements also make an impact on job satisfaction and the voluntary turnover rate (Tang, Kim, & Tang, 2000). Direct care workers in adolescent residential treatment facilities vary in their beliefs about the relationships they have built with the children they serve (Zirkle, Jensen, Collins-Marotte, Murphy, & Maddux, 2002). This variance may be related to the education and training levels of the direct care workers. The research is limited regarding the reasons for job turnover of direct care workers. This study focused on the resilience of direct care workers in adolescent residential treatment facilities. Research demonstrated that the resilience of direct care workers in several disciplines is a problem. This qualitative methodology used focus groups with direct care workers employed in three Michigan adolescent residential treatment facilities. The results of this study benefit stakeholders of residential care facilities. The administrators and managers are educated on the factors that influence resilience of direct care workers in adolescent residential care facilities. The factors that emerged created opportunity to identify resilience in direct care workers which may reduce the turnover rate of direct care workers and increasing the quality of care to residents.