Missouri Family Development Training and Credentialing Program FDC

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Missouri Family Development Training and
Credentialing Program (FDC)

• Evaluation of a training program for family
  service workers

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• Conference Presentation and
• St. Louis Focus Group Research
• Megan McCarthy, MSW Candidate
• George Warren Brown School of Social Work
• Washington University in St. Louis
• Principal Investigator Deborah B. Smith, Ph.D.
• Director, Family Studies Program
• University of Missouri- Kansas City

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St. Louis Evaluation

• MO FDC is currently being evaluated throughout
  the state by the University of Missouri- Kansas
  City.
• A separate evaluation study was conducted by this
  author at the St. Louis agency that facilitates
  the FDC program for the city.

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Study Goals

• Evaluate effectiveness for the St. Louis agency.
• Test the hypothesis
• the FDC training program improves confidence,
  efficacy, and assertiveness amongst participants
  and affects workers perception of the
  communication with client family members.

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Theoretical Background

• Freudenberg (1974) coins the term burnout.
• Maslach (1996) defines the term Burnout is a
  psychological syndrome of emotional exhaustion,
  depersonalization, and reduced personal
  accomplishment that can occur among individuals
  who work with other people in some capacity (p.
  192).

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• Research shows that emotional exhaustion,
  depersonalization, and decreased personal
  accomplishment correlate positively with low job
  satisfaction.

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• The consequences of burnout in human service
  professionals can include decreased work
  effectiveness, absenteeism, physical symptoms,
  drug and alcohol abuse, insomnia, interpersonal
  problems, and job turnover.

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• Shapiro found that higher amounts of professional
  reading correlated significantly with higher
  levels of job satisfaction. Additionally,
  professionals who attended more trainings scored
  significantly higher on the self-actualization
  factor of the job satisfaction questionnaire.

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• Research finds significant associations between
  an impaired sense of accomplishment with clients
  and higher levels of burnout.

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Methods

• Convenience sample of former FDC participants.
• Subjects worked at a variety of social service
  agencies in St. Louis, including the Division of
  Family Services, YWCA, Head Start, battered
  womens shelters, and community organizations
• Focus groups were conducted with FDC program
  participants and two questionnaires
  (demographics, job satisfaction, and facilitator
  evaluation) administered.

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Methods, cont.

• Based on New York State evaluation, Focus group
  questions asked about three concepts
• Assertiveness and Confidence of workers
• Perceptions of effectiveness with clients
• Empowerment of workers

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Methods, cont.

• Sub-topics explored included
• Self care and stress
• Communication with clients
• Setting limits and boundaries
• What worked and didnt work about the
  facilitation style, content, etc.

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Important Definitions

• Confidence a feeling of being sure about oneself
  and comfortable in ones environment.
• Efficacy a feeling of being capable of creating
  change and of being useful and helpful to
  clients.
• Assertiveness behavior that clearly states ones
  needs and wants without aggression or submission.
  
• Study participants were familiar with these
  definitions as they are addressed in the training
  program content.

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Demographics

• Participants were primarily African American
  females, with one Caucasian female and one Native
  American male.
• Most workers held a bachelors degree and had
  work experience in the field.
• Some workers were instructed to take this
  training by their employer, others had to
  persuade their employer to let them participate.

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Results, Participants Report

• new ability to set limits with clients, let go,
  and step back from clients successes and
  failures.
• new ability to let clients set their own goals
  and ability to partner with clients instead of
  taking over.
• new ability to take care of themselves and avoid
  burnout.
• new ability to focus on strengths with clients.

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Participants Report

• increased skill in communication.
• new feeling of respect from coworkers,
  supervisors, and colleagues.
• being more organized and focused in their work,
  as well as having more tools at their disposal
  for working with clients (e.g. the Family
  Development Plan form).
• Participants attributed all of these changes to
  the FDC Program.

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Results

• Participants overall satisfaction with the FDC
  program was rated as good, with one person rating
  it as excellent and one rating it as average.
• Colleges graduates rated their satisfaction with
  the FDC training higher than those without
  college degrees.
• Seven of the eight participants found the
  training either very useful or somewhat useful.

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Significance of the Findings

• Results do indicate a link between feelings of
  effectiveness, empowerment, and confidence among
  workers and their participation in the FDC
  program.
• FDC may increase job satisfaction and/or lower
  worker turnover.
• Significance of these findings is limited by the
  small sample size. An experimental pre and post
  survey is underway.

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Possible Benefits for Organizations

• Workers who feel effective, empowered, and
  confident experience more satisfaction in their
  professional lives.
• Training programs can increase these positive
  feelings and reduce turnover.
• Particularly for social service workers, who may
  experience higher levels of burnout, training and
  support is a must!

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Future Research

• The Family Studies Program of the University of
  Missouri- Kansas City, led by Dr. Deborah Smith,
  is investigating the link between the FDC program
  and job satisfaction, as well as evaluating the
  overall effectiveness of the entire MO FDC
  Program.

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Contact Information

• Principal Investigator
• Deborah B. Smith, Ph.D.
• Director, UMKC Family Studies Program
• www.umkc.edu/mofdc or Google keyword family
  development
• familystudies_at_umkc.edu
• [phone]
• Conference Presenter, focus group researcher,
  St. Louis contact
• Megan McCarthy, MSW Candidate
• mmccarthy_at_gwbmail.wustl.edu
• [phone]