Problem
State welfare agencies are a pillar in providing care to children from families with financial problems. However, the workload and the complexity of dealing with families present many issues to organizations and their workers. At the same time, the mental health of children and youth continues to face new challenges. In 2020, approximately a third of young students reported being unhappy or depressed (Abramson, 2022).
Emergency visits due to mental health also increased by almost a quarter for young children and more than 30% for teenagers (Abramson, 2022). The arising issues include the strain on the financial abilities of organizations, increased workload of welfare agencies, and additional pressure on employees leading to burnout (Abramson, 2022; Berg-Weger, 2019; Phillips et al., 2020). These problems are further impacted by the changing health industry and the growing concerns related to mental health.
Research Question
The need for research arises based on the statistics and the current state of children’s mental and physical health concerns. The research question for the proposed project concerns the potential barriers that impact the effectiveness of state welfare agencies’ ability to provide medical services to children. The proposed research question for the study is as follows, “What barriers preventing effective delivery of psychological and physical medical services by state welfare agencies to children can be identified?”
Methodology
An exploratory qualitative research design is appropriate for the proposed research question. The researcher will interview 15-25 caseworkers to discuss their concerns and gather information to determine which factors prevent effective care delivery. Semi-structured interviews between 30 and 60 minutes allow one to consider the participants’ personal views, while convenience and snowball sampling will increase the number of potential interviewees. The sampling process will depend on the researcher’s professional circle. Key themes in collected data will be analyzed using the Atlas.ti software.
Conceptual Framework
The framework for the study will utilize the theory of organizational ecology proposed by Hannan and Freeman. According to the model, organizational effectiveness depends on the environment in which the entity operates, and its factors determine the success of performance (Haveman & Wetts, 2019). Therefore, organizations in challenging settings may need to perform more effectively to meet the needs of the environment, thus showing higher levels of adaptation and quality. Based on this theory, the challenging environment of child welfare will be analyzed during the interviews to determine which factors are the most influential for caseworkers’ performance.
References
Abramson. A. (2022). Children’s mental health is in crisis. American Phycological Association. Web.
Berg-Weger, M. (2019). Social work and social welfare: An invitation. Routledge.
Haveman, H. A., & Wetts, R. (2019). Contemporary organizational theory: The demographic, relational, and cultural perspectives. Sociology Compass, 13(3), e12664. Web.
Phillips, J. D., Lizano, E. L., He, A. S., & Leake, R. (2020). Factors associated with caseworker burnout in child welfare: Does tenure matter? Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 11(2), 261-283. Web.