Workforce ICR - Appendix D_Research Questions and Constructs by Respondent

Research Questions and Constructs by Respondent Type

Research Questions	Construct/Information to be Collected		Author/Publisher			Respondent(s)
Workforce Characteristics and Competencies What are the demographic and educational characteristics of the child welfare workforce, including caseworkers, supervisors, and agency directors? What are the primary roles and responsibilities of the child welfare workforce? What personal characteristics and competencies (knowledge, skills, and abilities) do child welfare staff members possess and/or demonstrate?	Title and function within agency Primary roles and responsibilities Demographics Education Years of experience/Prior Child Welfare System (CWS) experience Length of employment (and time in current role) Prior CWS training/experience when hired Promotions within same agency		Project developed items			Agency Director, Supervisor, Caseworker
	Personal characteristics and competencies		Project developed items			Supervisor, Caseworker
Training and Professional Development What training did child welfare staff possess when they were hired? Did their training include any courses in child welfare? What recruitment practices do agencies use to attract and hire child welfare candidates? What onboarding practices do agencies have for new child welfare workers? What types of training and professional development opportunities are offered to child welfare staff? What factors influence child welfare staffs’ abilities to engage in training and professional development opportunities? What training and professional development opportunities do child welfare staff engage in? How does this training and professional development influence job satisfaction, retention, turnover, increased knowledge, and practice?	Training budget and resources Recruitment and onboarding practices Types of training offered and format of training		Project developed items			Agency Director
	Required versus optional training and professional development (PD) opportunities Frequency and availability of training and PD opportunities Training mode and location Evaluation of knowledge/practice application Caseworker competencies New employee mentoring		Project developed items			Supervisor
	Perceived sufficiency/adequacy of available training Factors/barriers that influence engagement in training and professional development Perceived impact of training on increased knowledge, job satisfaction Casework preparedness		Project developed items			Caseworker
Research Questions		Construct/Information to be Collected		Author/Publisher	Respondent(s)
Organizational Factors What is the public child welfare agency landscape? This includes (but is not limited to) the number of child welfare staff, caseload size, turn-over rates, ratio of supervisors to workers, vacancy rates, salary levels and benefits, and union/non-union. To what extent are public–private child welfare partnerships taking place? What is the extent of privatization and contracting out? What is the organizational culture and climate within the public child welfare agency? How do organizational culture and climate influence workforce issues including role conflict, burnout, turnover, supervision, caseload/workload, or education and training requirements? How do child welfare staffs’ perspectives about organizational culture and climate influence workforce issues?		Responsibilities and purview of the county/public CW agency (investigation/assessment, services) Agency structure and organization Agency budget Number and composition of child welfare staff in agency Number and types of agency vacancies Contractual arrangements with private child welfare agencies Relationships with state’s central administration Workforce policies		Project developed items	Agency Director
		Type and frequency of interactions with caseworkers Frequency and content of staff meetings Future career plans		Project developed items	Supervisor
		Quality of relationship with supervisor		Items adapted from the Leader-Member Exchange (LMX7; Graen et al., 1995)	Supervisor, Caseworker
		Work-related stress and burnout		Copenhagen Burnout Inventory: Work-related burnout subscale (Kristensen et al., 2005)	Supervisor
		Caseload size Ratio of supervisors to caseworkers Turnover rates		Project developed items	Agency Director, Supervisor
		Physical safety of caseworkers and workers compensation claims		Project developed items	Supervisor, Caseworker
		Salary level and benefits Union/non-union status Stress/burnout Intent to stay/leave the agency		Project developed items	Caseworker

Research Questions	Construct/Information to be Collected	Author/Publisher	Respondent(s)
	Job satisfaction/Mastery of work	Items adapted from the Mastery of Work subscale of the QPS General Nordic Questionnaire for Psychological and Social Factors at Work (Dallner et al., 2000)	Caseworker
	Supervisory support	Modified version of the Supervision subscale from the Comprehensive Organizational Health. Assessment (COHA; Potter et al., 2015)	Supervisor, Caseworker
	Psychological distress	Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6; Kessler et al., 2003)	Supervisor, Caseworker
	Secondary traumatic stress	Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (Bride et al., 2004)	Caseworker
	Organizational culture and climate	Organizational Social Context (OSC; Glisson et al., 2006)	Caseworker
	Potential Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on policies and practice	Project developed items	Agency Director, Supervisor, and Caseworker

References

Bride, B. E., Robinson, M. M., Yegidis, B., & Figley, C. R. (2004). Development and validation of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale. Research on Social Work Practice, 14(1), 27-35.

Dallner, M, Elo, A., Gamberale, F., Hottinen, V., Knardahl, S., Lindstøm, K., Skogstad, A., Ørhede, E. (2000). Validation of the General Nordic Questionnaire (QPSNordic) for Psychological and Social Factors at Work. Nordic Council of Ministers, 12.

Glisson, C., Landsverk, J., Schoenwald, S., Kelleher, K., Hoagwood, K.E., Mayberg, S., Green, P., & Research Network on Youth Mental Health. (2008). Assessing the organizational social context (OSC) of mental health services: Implications for research and practice. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 35(1-2), 98-113.

Graen, G. B., Uhl-Bien, M. (1995). The Relationship-based approach to leadership: Development of LMX theory of leadership over 25 years: Applying a multi-level, multi-domain perspective. Leadership Quarterly, 6(2), 219-247.

Kessler‚ R.C.‚ Barker‚ P.R.‚ Colpe‚ L.J.‚ Epstein‚ J.F.‚ Gfroerer‚ J.C.‚ Hiripi‚ E.‚ Howes‚ M.J‚ Normand‚ S-L.T.‚ Manderscheid‚ R.W.‚ Walters‚ E.E.‚ Zaslavsky‚ A.M. (2003). Screening for serious mental illness in the general population. Archives of General Psychiatry, 60(2), 184-189.

Kristensen, S., Borritz, M., Villadsen, E., Christensen, K. (2005). The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory: A new tool for the assessment of burnout. Work & Stress, 19, 192-207.

Potter, C.C., Leake, R., Longworth-Reed, L., Altschul, I., Rienks, S. (2016). Measuring organization health in child welfare agencies. Children and Youth Services Review, 61, 31-39.

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