Relationship between burnout and coping among Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services workers

This study explored burnout among Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) field social workers and the coping strategies they used to deal with stress. The Coping Strategy Indicator (CSI) and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) were administered to 31 field social workers.; The burnout level for the respondents was moderate on all three of the MBI subscales: Emotional Exhaustion, Professional Efficacy, and Depersonalization. Respondents reported using moderately high levels of problem-solving and seeking-social-support types of coping. The lowest level of coping strategy was avoidance. This study found that an increased use of the avoidance type of coping was associated with a higher level of emotional exhaustion; a higher level of emotional exhaustion was found in workers with a higher case load.; Finding suggested that DCFS field social workers could benefit from training on how to more effectively cope with stress.