How can teams in social work be strengthened? An example from a two-year project among social workers in child welfare.

This article aims to present and discuss results from team-strengthening activities carried out in an implementation study among child welfare social workers. The study builds on previous research by one of the authors, on working conditions among social workers in child welfare, where survey data w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Social Work Practice Vol. 39; no. 1; pp. 37 - 52
Main Authors: Tham, Pia, Westling Söderström, Mikael
Format: Article
Published: Taylor & Francis Ltd Mar2025
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Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Description
Summary:This article aims to present and discuss results from team-strengthening activities carried out in an implementation study among child welfare social workers. The study builds on previous research by one of the authors, on working conditions among social workers in child welfare, where survey data was collected in the same workplaces on three occasions over a period of 15 years. Previous results showed that workgroups that stood out from others by describing greater job satisfaction and lower intention to leave the workplace were characterised by a positive and cohesive climate in the team and a good relationship to the manager. Based on these results, an implementation study was designed consisting of three interventions: team-strengthening activities, leadership training and weekly small team supervision for social workers new to the profession. These interventions were offered to child welfare social workers at a workplace that had suffered from high turnover and many vacancies. Questionnaires and team interviews showed that the situation at the workplace in several aspects had improved after the two project years. Also, turnover had almost stopped and vacancies were filled. In the present article the contents of team-strengthening activities and the social workers' assessments of them are presented and discussed.