First Advisor

John F. Longres

Term of Graduation

Spring 1981

Date of Publication

6-12-1981

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Social Work (MSW)

Department

Social Work

Language

English

Subjects

Social workers -- Oregon -- Willamette River Valley, Burn out (Psychology)

DOI

10.15760/etd.5383

Physical Description

1 online resource (ix, 118 pages)

Abstract

In a profession such as social work, where one is responsible for dealing with the ills of society and meeting the needs of other individuals, such emotional detachment and estrangement from others is antithetical to the purpose of the field and eminently destructive to those seeking and needing assistance. With the current push for accountability, factors such as burnout or alienation from one's work become of crucial importance. In addition, burnout leads to a high rate of absenteeism and job turnover (Minihan, 1980). This too decreases cost effectiveness and the quality of service, matters of extreme concern in a field designed to serve the needs of individuals in society and to do so on limited funds and resources.

Thus, alienation is of paramount importance to the field of social services and can no longer be ignored or relegated to a back seat in terms of study and research. Current literature in the field of social work deals only with the subjective expression of alienation; it has omitted linking the psychological with the social-structural aspects of alienation: indeed, with linking burnout to alienation itself. This study proposes to begin to fill this gap. What conditions in the structure of the work place and/or society cause or are correlated with the expression of alienation? It is this question which we endeavor to pursue.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Comments

Other authors: John Deihl, Judy Harris, Jay Jones, Bonnie Rothman, Sabrina Ullmann, Beth Weinberg-Gordon, Phyllis Weter, Patricia Whitty, Loretta Wilson

A research practicum submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Social Work.

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this dissertation or thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to pdxscholar@pdx.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/19652

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