UC San Diego

Burnout in child welfare staff is a well-documented issue that can have detrimental effects on staff well-being, child health outcomes, and organizational sustainability. To improve the system programs and policies, more agencies are considering the use of research evidence (URE). This study examined URE and potential factors, like burnout, influencing agency efforts to improve system effectiveness. To explore the impact of staff burnout on research evidence intentions (REIS) and whether supervisory support of URE influences this relationship, our study analyzed results from web surveys collected in 2020 (n=652) and 2021 (n=674) from frontline providers and first-level supervisors. Our findings demonstrated a significant, negative association between burnout and REIS, with supervisory support for URE negatively moderating this relationship. Addressing staff burnout may facilitate the acceptability and uptake of URE among frontline providers. Staff perceptions of supervisor proactiveness and support for URE were also significantly positively associated with REIS, indicating certain supervisor qualities are integral to promoting the agency’s macro-level endeavors. This study adds to the existing literature supporting multi-level interventions and policies to address burnout and URE in child welfare staff.