Contribution of Child Protection Social Workers' Attitudes to Their Placement Decision-Making
Date Issued
2015
Date
2015
Author(s)
Shih, Chiao-Yi
Abstract
This study aims to examine contributions of protection social workers'' attitudes toward issues of out-of-home placement services with their placement decision-making. Using a quantitative approach, there were 272 study participants out of 409 child protection workers in our local governments. They were presented with a vignette describing the case of a child at risk and asked to indicate their recommendations for intervention. They also completed an attitudes questionnaire gauging their attitudes. Through regression analysis, the results from this study indicate two conclusions: (1) Workers'' attitudes toward family reunification services predicted their placement decision-making. More positive attitudes toward family reunification services contributed to more intrusive intervention recommendations. (2) Years of workers’ working experience and child rearing experience predicted their placement decision-making. More experienced workers were less inclined to implement their decisions in intrusive intervention recommendations. And the workers who had parenting experiences were more inclined to implement their decisions in intrusive intervention recommendations. Through analysis of correlation, the research indicates that workers with higher satisfactions with supervisor’ support had less inclined to implement their decisions in intrusive intervention recommendations. Through analysis of correlation, the research result related to protection social workers'' attitudes indicated three conclusions: (1) Negative correlations of attitudes were found with age and years of experiences of workers. (2) Positive correlation was found between attitudes and workers’ satisfactions with supervisors. (3) Positive correlation was found between attitudes and training frequency. Based on the findings, the research provides suggestions of social work practices and further research to institutions and workers in related fields.
Subjects
child and adolescent protection social worker
out-of-home placement
placement decision-making
attitudes toward out-of-home placement services
Type
thesis