Florida Study of Professionals for Safe Families (FSPSF): Waves 1-2

The Florida Study of Professionals for Safe Families (FSPSF) is a longitudinal study of Florida’s child welfare workforce. The primary focus of the study examines turnover and retention decisions among frontline workers. FSPSF project staff recruited all Child Protective Investigators and Dependency Case Managers in pre-service training between Sept. 1, 2015 and December 31, 2016 and 84% of eligible participants provided consent and baseline information (N = 1,500). Participants were followed even if they left their child welfare positions during the study timeframe. Workers were surveyed every six months for approximately 3.5 years focusing on individual, occupational, and organizational influences on child welfare employee retention.
This statewide study examined worker personal characteristics (e.g., educational background, family history, self-esteem, etc.) worker experiences and responses (e.g., stress and burnout, work/family balance, social support, and coping, etc.), and organizational influences (e.g., organizational climate, supervisory practices, and caseload responsibilities etc.). Respondents were surveyed every 6-7 months with a core instrument and three in-depth substantive modules that were rotated during the data collection period. Modules included a focus on
(1) supervision and organizational functioning (assessed at waves 2, 5, and 8);
(2) work/family life balance (assessed at waves 3, 6 and 8); and
(3) mental health (assessed at waves 4 and 7).
Overall, 100% of child welfare administrative units across the state of Florida agreed to be part of the study. Individual response rates for each wave were also very high. Across all waves of data collection, response rates averaged 81% and ranged from 77% to 87%, and 62% (n = 929) of participants responded at every wave of data collection.