Evans et al (Reference Evans, Huxley and Gately2006) address major issues concerning mental health social workers, who are an important part of the multidisciplinary team. Although a remarkable paper, I would like to raise a few points regarding the methodology.
First, a single-item rating scale was used to measure job satisfaction, which I consider a multidimensional construct. It can be influenced by a variety of factors and should have been measured using scales such as the Job Descriptive Index (JDI; Reference Balzer, Kihm and SmithBalzer et al, 1997) or the Warr-Cook-Wall scale (Reference Warr, Cook and WallWarr et al, 1979). The JDI assesses the amount of work in the job, current pay, opportunities for promotion, supervision and co-workers. The Warr-Cook-Wall questionnaire covers overall job satisfaction and satisfaction with nine aspects of work, each rated on a seven-point Likert scale with higher scores representing greater satisfaction.
Second, there is no mention of the reliability or validity of scales used to measure burnout and job satisfaction. In addition, the adjusted response rate is only 49% and the profile of non-responders is not included to clarify responder bias. Moreover, stepwise multiple regression would have been more useful than linear regression to investigate the relationship between several independent variables and a dependent variable.
Notwithstanding these limitations, this paper should be an eye-opener to employers regarding the needs of mental health social workers.
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