Effective Interventions to Reduce Burnout in Social Workers: A Systematic Review

Social workers are at risk of developing burnout, which is associated with many adverse implications including increased risk of depression. A number of intervention studies have aimed to reduce burnout in this population; however, a systematic review of the evidence has yet to be performed. This review therefore aimed to fill that gap. A comprehensive search of major academic databases was conducted and the inclusion criteria were interventions that reported pre- and post-measures of burnout outcomes within a population of qualified social workers. Of the 2,456 records identified, nine were included in the review. Results showed that a number of burnout interventions have been developed for social workers, including mindfulness-based interventions, group-based skills training, exercise and taking a sabbatical. However, the overall quality of the studies was poor and therefore definitive recommendations for effective interventions could not be offered. Mindfulness-based and group skills development interventions warrant further investigation and organisational or institutional change to tackle burnout, alongside individual-level interventions, is crucial. It was concluded that future burnout intervention researchers should implement a greater methodological rigour, use theory to underpin intervention approaches, adopt a longitudinal design where possible, and administer validated measures of burnout. Due to factors such as high job demands and working long hours, social workers have long been reported to be at an increased risk of a condition known as burnout. Burnout has many consequences, including increasing the risk of other health issues (e.g. depression or insomnia), poor work performance, sickness days taken, and staff leaving their jobs. Burnout can therefore not only negatively impact social workers' health, well-being and performance, but it can negatively impact on how social work organisations operate and support those relying on the service. The focus of this research was to collect information on all the interventions that had ever been conducted to reduce burnout in social workers, and then use a rigorous process to help decide how effective those intervention approaches were. Nine studies were found that showed approaches such as mindfulness and exercise had been used as intervention techniques. However, the results showed that the overall quality of the studies was poor, and therefore did not allow for any conclusive recommendations to be made on how best to reduce burnout in social workers going forward. This study concluded that better quality research in this area is needed.