Competency Curriculum Intervention: Student Task Self-Efficacy and Attitudes in Child Welfare

Abstract

Three cohorts of Keywords: Child welfare students; competencies; task self-efficacy; work attitudesFor too long social work organizations that specialize in public child welfare have faced considerable difficulties in recruiting and retaining qualified, experienced practitioners. As a result, the ability of organizations to provide effective services to their clients may be compromised (Daly, Dudley, Finnegan, Jones, & Christiansen, 2001). While the status quo of public child welfare invites many, often conjectural explanations, the hereand-now of how to curb or even to fix the endemic turnover in public child welfare demands increased vigilance and attention. Through their research, Ellett, Ellis, Westbrook, and Dews (2007) have already established the structural persistence of such turnover. Willis, Chavkin, and Leung (2016) agree but go a step further to indicate that turnover is to be expected for a variety of reasons, some of which can be healthy for the agency. These authors describe means by which agencies work not to cut the rates of turnover but to reduce its impact on the agency. Their study does not necessarily take into account the disruption to children and families when they lose a caseworker for reasons such as low pay or high caseloads. The negative impact of turnover on children in the foster care system is well-documented. For example, Flower, McDonald, and Sumski (2005) indicate that higher permanency outcomes for children occur when they have the same caseworker throughout their time with the agency.Much of the research on turnover and retention strategies has addressed two key concerns: the importance of retaining highly educated and skilled workers; and, absent that, the negative impacts on the worker, client, and agency experience in the wake (Mor Barak, Nissly, & Levin, 2001). As noted above, Flower and colleagues (2005) established that