A Phenomenological Study of Child Protection Social Workers’ Experience of Job Risk and Burnout

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216224%3A14230%2F25%3A00142610" target="_blank" >RIV/00216224:14230/25:00142610 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://rsw.erickson.international/archivio/vol-n-11/06_orock_2-25/" target="_blank" >https://rsw.erickson.international/archivio/vol-n-11/06_orock_2-25/</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.14605/RSW922506" target="_blank" >10.14605/RSW922506</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

A Phenomenological Study of Child Protection Social Workers’ Experience of Job Risk and Burnout

Original language description

Research on job risk and burnout in social work shows a notable gap in understanding these professionals’ more profound lived experiences — how they make sense of their roles, responsibilities, and emotional labor within their specific lifeworlds. This article explores the lived experience of job risk and burnout among child protection social workers through Heideggerian phenomenology. Drawing on one of the authors’ doctoral research projects in Seychelles using a phenomenological perspective with their existential concepts, such as being in the world, Dasein, Care, Fallenness, and Das Man, the paper shows how child protection social workers make sense of their professional challenges within institutional, social, and relational contexts. Findings from in-depth interviews reveal that burnout is not merely a consequence of workload or procedural stress but an existential experience shaped by emotional labor, public scrutiny, and structural constraints. The analysis highlights how interpersonal and intrapersonal dimensions of these practitioners’ work intersect with ontological realities and how moments of authenticity and self-care serve as pathways toward resilience. The article underscores the relevance of interpretive phenomenology for deepening our understanding of the affective and relational fabric of social work practice. It also offers implications for organizational support and educational programs, advocating for greater integration of reflexive and phenomenological approaches in the training of social workers.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_ost - Miscellaneous article in a specialist periodical

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

50403 - Social topics (Women´s and gender studies; Social issues; Family studies; Social work)

Project

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Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2025

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Relational Social Work

ISSN

2532-3814

e-ISSN

2532-3814

Volume of the periodical

9

Issue of the periodical within the volume

2

Country of publishing house

IT - ITALY

Number of pages

19

Pages from-to

101-119

UT code for WoS article

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EID of the result in the Scopus database

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