Personal and environmental factors associated with self-reported resilience among social workers

Abstract

Resilience is a very significant issue in the context of social work practice and therefore receives a great deal of research interest. However, certain factors and combinations of factors that could explain the variability in resilience among social workers have not yet received proper research attention. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the contribution of several personal factors (gender and length of work experience) and environmental factors (subjection to client violence, social support, and social and economic exchange in the employee–organization relationship) to self-reported resilience among social workers in Israel. Structured questionnaires were administered to 346 social workers. The findings suggest that previous subjection to violence by clients was associated with lower levels of self-reported resilience. Perceived social support and social exchange were positively associated with self-reported resilience. However, gender, length of professional experience, and economic exchange were not significantly associated with self-reported resilience among social workers.