Practice supervisors’ views on workplace risks for child protection social workers in Gauteng, South Africa: a qualitative description

Child protection social workers (CPSWs) views on workplace risks and the adverse outcomes of this practice setting are well documented in the literature. However, little is known about the views of practice supervisors. Given the significance of supervisors in CPSWs’ professional functioning, we conducted a qualitative descriptive study in Gauteng, South Africa, to augment the existing knowledge about workplace risks for South African CPSWs from the perspective of supervisors. We conducted semi-structured interviews with eight supervisors and performed qualitative content analysis. Bronfenbrenner’s socioecological model was applied to the findings, comprising the following dimensions: intrapersonal: misaligned motivations, an inadequate skill set, and the personal make-up of CPSWs; interpersonal: dangerous working environments, client and community profile, and a lack of support; institutional: inherently distressing work, unmanageable workloads, low salaries, and restricted funding and resources; community: being disregarded and disrespected by other professionals and unreliable role players; and policy level: political interference, amendments to childcare legislation, and administrative demands from the government. Participants’ views substantiate existing literature with some nuanced expansions and more examples on how South African universities are partly responsible for CPSWs’ inadequate skill set, as well as more details on how political interference amplifies CPSWs’ stress.