Previous measurements of work-related well-being in the social work profession were mainly carried out to measure negative outcomes of employees‟ well-being. As a result, there are a number of concepts describing social workers‟ distresses, but concepts dealing with positive aspects of occupational well-being are highly underrepresented. In this master‟s thesis, a positively orientated concept of occupational well-being was developed, an instrument to measure occupational well-being for the social work profession positively created, and a survey of occupational well-being among Finnish and German social workers working with families and children implemented. The main goal was to focus on positive aspects of work-related issues instead of on the negative outcomes. The findings of the empirical part basically confirm the assumptions of the theoretical construct of occupational well-being, which are related to the complexity of the five dimensions of occupational well-being. The level of well-being depends on the functional interaction of employees and the organisation.
Extensive education and training, a supporting social background of employees, the work-climate, social support at work, and a balanced work environment together lead to work engagement, highly professional outcomes, and, finally, to occupational well-being among employees.
Attaining good levels of occupational well-being requires certain activities on the social workers‟ as well as on the organisational side. Social workers need to be prepared better for the demanding work with families and children, which sometimes are not easily to deal with.
This is sometimes difficult to realise. For example, people cannot always draw on a supporting social environment as a resource for maintaining work power, because peoples‟
private situation varies during their life-times. However, everybody should be aware of the importance of the social environment and self-care strategies for occupational well-being.
Other aspects related to individual factors are the professional and methodological skills that employees have to master the work tasks, and also the skills to avoid emotional harm. Age and work experience were found to be characteristics supporting a better occupational well-being. These characteristics describe a process resulting in effective strategies to avoid work-related stress. One question that arises is how can this process be accelerated, i.e. how can young professionals acquire those strategies? One way is to prepare young professionals better for work and its hazards. This should happen ideally already during their education.
Beside professional knowledge and methodological skills, coping strategies should be taught
101 to avoid emotional harm from work-related stressors, as well as the processes responsible for the development of work-related distresses. If occupational well-being were included in social work education curricula, young professionals would gain one more professional skill.
Organisations should be prepared better for lessening the negative effects of social work with families and children. The focus should be on the work environment and work climate, to enable employees to activate all their knowledge and skills. The adaptation of work processes, social areas, training and social support possibilities to the employees‟ needs in maintaining their occupational well-being should become a standard in any organisation.
These efforts do not necessarily require a big amount of resources, neither economic nor personnel. But the application of such an organisational attitude will show its effects holistically. To reduce the activities inside the organisation to a minimum, the employers‟
expectations and requirements concerning employees‟ skills should be communicated to schools of social work education. The advantages of this would be manifold for both sides.
Organisations could recruit employees with the required profile, and later efforts to maintain their well-being could be minimised. Students of social work could profit from the work experiences, and would be better prepared for challenging situations.
Furthermore, improving individual and organisational quality in the ability to produce and to maintain occupational well-being among social service employees would also benefit clients, which in the best case leads to better outcomes of the helping process. More attention should be paid to the interaction between employees and their work environment, and its impact on the helping process. The results of this thesis reveal the importance of interactivity between employees and the organisation, which runs parallel to the interaction between employees and their clients. The relationship between these processes and their effects on each other are still unknown, and need to be included in further development of the concept of social workers‟ occupational well-being. The main target of those activities should be identifying the synergetic characteristics of both interaction circles, and to integrate them into the organisational outcome procedure.
Further research is needed into occupational well-being. This thesis provides a concept aiming at a holistic view of the topic. Using the findings of this survey, further studies could improve the concept. The contributing characteristics should be described more clearly, in order to understand their impact on the dimensions better, and to learn more about their impact on individuals and organisations. Further, attention needs to be paid to the interaction
102 between personal and organisational factors, in order to understand its effects better. This should be done through more studies of occupational well-being, preferably in a comparative cross-national context. The instrument for this enterprise was developed in this study particularly for the social work profession, and its adaptability to other fields than work with families and children is given through the multidimensionality. With some modifications the questionnaire could be suitable for further use, and the weighting of the dimensions might vary from field to field. However, the most important element in any research project is the results, which in this case contribute to the improvement of social workers‟ occupational well-being.
103
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APPENDIX
Appendix 1: Occupational Well-being Questionnaire, Finnish Version
Työhyvinvointikysely
Vastaa kyselyyn joko sanallisesti tai valitsemalla itsellesi mahdollisimman osuvin vastausvaihtoehto. Kyselyn lopuksi paina "Tallenna kysely". Paljon kiitoksia yhteistyöstä!
I) Taustakysymykset
10. Mikä on
työpaikalla tapahtuvaa ulkopuolista
19. Kuinka itse
21. Työni
III) Työhön liittyvä mieliala
45. Työni tekee minut
uupuneeksi 46. Työni tekee minut
pelokkaaksi 47. Työni tekee minut
raivostuneeksi
48. Työni tekee minut synkäksi
49. Työni saa minut
inspiroitumaan 50. Työni saa minut ottamaan rennosti 51. Työni tekee minut
täydellisen tyytyväiseksi
IV) Fyysisten oireiden luettelo
Onko sinulla ollut viimeisen vuoden aikana?
52. Vatsa sekaisin tai pahoinvointia
ei koskaan harvoin joskus melko usein hyvin usein
53. Selkäkipua
54.
Univaikeuksia
55. Ihottumaa
56.
Hengityskatkoksi a
57. Rintakipua
58. Päänsärkyä
59. Kuumetta
60. Happoista ruuansulatushäir iötä tai sydämen polttelua 61. Silmien rasitusta
62. Ripulia
63.
Mahakramppeja
64. Ummetusta
65.
Sydämentykytyst ä
66. Tulehdus
67.
Ruokahaluttomu utta
68. Huimausta
69. Uupumusta tai väsymystä
V) Organisatoriset rajoitteet
Kuinka usein tunnet vaikeaksi tai mahdottomaksi tehdä työsi riittävän hyvin...?
70. Huonojen
VI) Työmäärän luettelo
81. Kuinka usein työsi vaatii sinua työskentelemää n hyvin nopeasti?
ei koskaan harvoin joskus melko usein hyvin usein
82. Kuinka usein työsi vaatii sinua työskentelemää n hyvin ankarasti?
83. Kunka usein työssäsi on liian vähän aikaa saada työt tehdyiksi?
84. Kuinka usein sinulla on paljon töitä tekemättä?
85. Kuinka usein sinun täytyy tehdä enemmän töitä kuin mihin pystyisit?
VII) Työn autonomia
Kuinka usein sinun täytyy pyytää lupaa
86. Pitääksesi tauon
ei koskaan harvoin joskus melko usein hyvin usein
87. Pitääksesi lounastauon
88. Lähteäksesi aikaisemmin työstä
89. Vaihtaaksesi työtuntejasi
90. Lähteäksesi työstä tai työpaikalta
91. Tullaksesi myöhemmin töihin
92. Ottaaksesi vapaa-aikaa
VIII)Kuinka usein työssäsi tapahtuu seuraavia asioita?
93. Kuinka usein joku sanoo sinulle mitä sinun täytyy tehdä
ei koskaan harvoin joskus melko usein hyvin usein
94. Kuinka usein joku sanoo sinulle milloin sinun täytyy
94. Kuinka usein joku sanoo sinulle milloin sinun täytyy