*Social Workers in Iceland in the Pandemic: Job Satisfaction, Stress, and Burnout DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.106515*

#### **Table 5.**

*Stress symptoms.*

job satisfaction regarding leadership, unstandardized beta = −1.080 standardized beta = −0.215, t = −3.078 (df = 253), p < 0.01, and (4) job satisfaction regarding work environment, unstandardized beta = −0.082, standardized beta = −0.145, t = −2.389 (df = 252), p < 0.05. Child protection workers were experiencing the highest number of stress symptoms, 8.45 on the average compared with 5.94 among social workers who were working in other areas, t = 3.347 (df = 275), p < 0.001. There was not a significant difference in number of stress symptoms among social workers working in the capital city area compared with social workers working in rural areas, t = 0.686 (df = 262), p = 0.495. The higher number of stress symptoms the social workers were experiencing, the more likely they were to want to get another job in the near future. Beta = 0.061, standardized beta = 0.277, t = 4.718 (df = 268), p < 0.001.

Moreover, 62 social workers (22%) had been from work previously because of a burnout. Regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship of age with burnout in the past. Age did not seem to affect burnout. Standardized beta = − 0.17 (df = 272, p = 0.8). However, the higher the employment ratio was, the more likely the social workers were to have experienced burnout. Standardized beta = 0.128 (df = 269, p = 0.035). Child protection workers (27%) and social workers working in psychiatric health care (11%) were not more likely to have experienced burnout compared with social workers in general (22%), Chi-square = 1972 (df = 2, p = 0.373).

When asked about how likely the social workers were to change jobs in the next future, nearly a third (31%) thought that it was very unlikely that they would change jobs, and additional 26% thought rather unlikely that they would change jobs. Onequarter (24%) thought that there were neither more likely nor less likely that they would change jobs. However, 10% thought it was rather likely, and 6% that it was very likely that they would change jobs. Thus totally, quarter of the social workers thought that it was rather likely or very likely that they would change jobs in the near future.

Supervision is important for social workers, especially when they are faced with stress and are experiencing stress and even burnout symptoms. They were asked if they had received supervision, both in general and the last year. They were also asked about the education background of the supervisor. **Table 6** shows the educational background of the professionals that the social workers had received supervision from. Note that each social worker could mark more than one educational background, since some of them might have had received supervision from more than one professional during the past. Interestingly, more social workers had received supervision from psychologists (61%) than from social workers (51%). Few had received supervision from professionals with other educational background as can be seen in **Table 6**. A considerable part of the social workers (57%) had received supervision during the year prior to participating in this study, and nearly two-thirds (63%) had received group supervision sometime in the past. Social workers who had received supervision at any time in the past were more likely to have experienced burnout in the past. Chi-square = 4.471 (df = 1, p = 0.034). However, social workers who had experienced burnout in the past might have been more likely to have experienced more stress in their job prior to the burnout. Social workers who had been in supervision during the last year had significantly fewer stress symptoms compared with social workers who had not been receiving supervision during the last year before they participated in the study, t = 3.465 (df = 272), p < 0.001.


**Table 6.** *Supervision received.*

*Social Workers in Iceland in the Pandemic: Job Satisfaction, Stress, and Burnout DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.106515*

The participants were asked about their work conditions during the pandemic, if they had worked at home completely or in part and if they preferred to work not at all, in part, or completely at home. The mean number of days that the social workers worked at home during the week before the epidemic was 0.31, but 1.83 during the epidemic. The difference was significant (t = 13.3, df = 204, p > 0,001). Most of the social workers, 75% wanted to be able to work partly at home following the epidemic. However, a quarter (25%) did not want to work at home at all following the pandemic. Only two social workers wanted to work completely at home following the pandemic.
