Tae Kyung Park, PhD, is assistant professor, Department of Social Work, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, 1420 Austin Bluffs Parkway, Colorado Springs, CO 80918, USA.
Jangmin Kim, PhD, is assistant professor, School of Social Work, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, USA.
Soc Work. 2024 Jun 21;69(3):231-239. doi: 10.1093/sw/swae017.
This study examines the moderating effects of distant leader's practice of transformational leadership on the relationship between secondary traumatic stress (STS) and burnout among child welfare workers. Caseworkers and supervisors in a Midwest U.S. state (N = 210) rated their regional director's use of transformational leadership skills using a survey. Given the nature of the clustered data, multilevel modeling was employed to examine the main effects of transformational leadership on worker burnout and its cross-level interaction effect on the association between worker STS and burnout. Multilevel modeling demonstrated that worker burnout was positively associated with STS and negatively associated with organizational-level transformational leadership. The cross-level interaction between transformational leadership and STS was significant. Specifically, the positive association between workers' STS and burnout decreased as transformational leadership increased. These findings suggest that organizational approaches such as transformational leadership can influence workforce results. Further research will guide child welfare policymakers to develop more sophisticated training programs in leadership skills and strategies.
本研究考察了远程领导者实施变革型领导对儿童福利工作者二次创伤压力（STS）与倦怠之间关系的调节作用。美国中西部一个州的社会工作者和主管（N=210）使用调查评估了他们地区主管使用变革型领导技能的情况。考虑到数据的聚类性质，采用多层次模型来检验变革型领导对员工倦怠的主要影响及其对 STS 与倦怠之间关联的交叉层次交互作用。多层次模型表明，员工倦怠与 STS 呈正相关，与组织层面的变革型领导呈负相关。变革型领导与 STS 之间的交叉层次交互作用显著。具体来说，随着变革型领导的增加，员工 STS 与倦怠之间的正相关关系减弱。这些发现表明，组织方法（如变革型领导）可以影响劳动力的结果。进一步的研究将指导儿童福利政策制定者制定更复杂的领导技能和策略培训计划。
