The Problem, the Organisation, the Context

Abstract

Human service work sometimes requires helping the most powerless members of society and involves embroilment in some of societies most difficult situations: making decisions to remove children from their parents; supervising youth in secure care; counselling people who can’t make ends meet; and helping in cases of domestic violence. This book is about a human service agency with high levels of stress claims and high associated costs, that commissioned a study about the sources of work strain for its employees. The study uses a participatory action research design and a multi-method approach to explore organisational issues, and makes recommendations about how to reduce work stress and respond effectively to stressed workers.