Mental Health Problems and Job Satisfaction amongst Social Workers in the United Arab Emirates

Social workers are susceptible to mental health problems that could lead to develop burnout symptoms and traumatic stress. This study examined the prevalence of secondary traumatic stress and burnout and its relationship to the job satisfaction in 180 social workers who work in schools, hospitals, welfare centers, and NGOs, in Abu Dhabi (39%) and Alain(61%) cities, (mean age=36.4). The percentage of male and female participants were (46.4%) and (53.6%), respectively, and 81% of them were married. Measures used were the professional Quality of Life Questionnaire (ProQOL; Stamm, 2005) and interviews. ProQOL was factor analyzed, and it yielded three factors; compassion satisfaction (CS), secondary traumatic stress (STS/or compassion fatigue), and burnout. Correlation analysis showed that age is negatively related to burnout and secondary traumatic stress and positively related to compassion fatigue. Burnout was positively related to place of work. Analysis of variance results showed significant differences related to place of work in burnout. Social workers work in social welfare centers were at high risk of burnout. Interviews reported that school social workers were dissatisfied. Longitudinal study was recommended for future research.