Addressing turnover in the child welfare workforce: a research note on high-attenders in a cluster-randomized trial of Resilience Alliance

Abstract

Introduction: United States’ child welfare agencies have been challenged with workforce turnover. We previously tested an adaptation of Resilience Alliance (RA), a program designed to mitigate the impact of secondary traumatic stress. Results from the randomized trial showed no statistically significant difference between the RA treatment and control conditions in rates of caseworker/supervisor separation from their jobs. The current treatment-on-treated analysis compares separation based on actual RA attendance, rather than random assignment. Methods: The high attendance group (n = 87) attended 75% or more RA sessions; the no attendance group (n = 192) attended none. Baseline demographics did not differ between groups. Hypothesis: High attendance is associated with decreased workforce separation over time. Results: Bivariate analyses demonstrated a significant difference between groups with 40% in the no attendance group separating from the agency versus 28% in the high attendance group (χ2 = 3.747; p = .05). However, logistic regression analyses showed no statistically significant difference between groups in the odds of separation when controlling for differences in case-carrying experience, turnover intentions, and stress. For separation from case-carrying work, aOR = .92 (p = .77); for separation from the agency, aOR = .81 (p = .51). Initially observed differences did not persist.