Background
Most of the research conducted on social workers focused on negative aspects such as burnout and occupational stress. However, little is known about the factors that promote wellbeing of social workers in Japan. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in exploring self-compassion as a predictor of positive mental health.
Hypotheses/Research Questions
This study examined the relationship between self-compassion and wellbeing, and the mediating role of burnout and work engagement among Japanese social workers.
Sample Characteristics and Sample Size
A total of 300 Japanese social workers (150 males, 150 females, mean age= 45.59, SD= 11.26) working in welfare service for the elderly, children, and persons with disabilities. Participants completed the short form of the Self-Compassion Scale, the Burnout Assessment Tool, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale and the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale all in Japanese.
Design
Cross-sectional study
Results
Correlational analysis indicated that self-compassion was positively correlated with both work engagement and wellbeing, whereas self-compassion was negatively correlated with burnout. Structural equation modeling revealed that self-compassion was significantly associated with wellbeing directly, and bootstrap methods also showed the indirect effect of self-compassion on wellbeing that was mediated by work engagement and burnout as mediating variables.
Scientific Contribution
This is the first study to investigate the relationship between self-compassion and wellbeing as well as work engagement among Japanese social workers. The results of this study suggest that self-compassion not only promotes Japanese social workers’ wellbeing, but also contributes to improve work engagement among social workers who are at high risk of burnout. Future research is needed to develop interventions that focus on enhancing self-compassion among Japanese social workers for their better mental health as well as improving their social welfare services to their clients.