Evaluation of the effects of the COVİD-19 pandemic on the burnout and professional satisfaction levels of social workers

Social justice, human rights, social welfare, and respect for differences in society are central to the social work profession. Social work is a profession and discipline that aims to optimize people's quality of life and functionality. Social services have become more important during the Covid-19 process. The whole world, caught unprepared for an extraordinary situation, has faced some negativities. At the beginning of these are the workload of the employees, the increase in working hours and the effects of Covid-19. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the burnout and professional satisfaction levels of social workers and to provide a holistic assessment within the scope of social work. This research is a cross-sectional and descriptive study aiming to determine the relationship between the Covid-19 process and Job Satisfaction and Burnout Levels of the personnel who have worked actively in social service organizations during the Covid-19 pandemic. The universe of this study consists of 420 personnel who are actively working in the social service institutions in the province of Tokat during the pandemic period. The sample of this study was made with 220 people who were actively working in social service institutions in the city center of Tokat during the pandemic period. Sociodemographic Questionnaire, Diabetes Burnout Scale and Minnesota Job Satisfaction Scale were used as data collection tools. In the study, t-test and Tukey test were used and whether the difference between the means was significant or not was examined with one-way analysis of variance. Of the 220 participants who participated in the study, 61.8% (n=136) were male and 38.2% (n=84) were female. When the distribution of the participants according to the institutions is examined, 34.1% is in the Tokat Nursing Home Directorate, 26.4% is in the Tokat Care and Rehabilitation Center Directorate, 18.6% is in the Tokat Children's Homes Site Directorate, and 10.9% is Tokat Family and Social They work in the Provincial Directorate of Services and 10% in the Tokat Social Service Center Directorate. The mean age of the participants was 40 ± 4.1%, 12.9% in the 22-30 age group, 32.7% in the 31-40 age group, 41.9% in the 41-50 age group and 12.4% ' of them are in the age group of 50+. Internal satisfaction, external satisfaction and burnout levels do not differ significantly according to institutions (p>0.05). In other words, the levels of internal and external satisfaction and burnout of people in different institutions are similar. In the independent groups, the levels of internal and external satisfaction and burnout did not differ significantly according to gender (p>0.05). In other words, the level of internal and external satisfaction and burnout levels of men and women are close to each other. While the level of internal satisfaction differs significantly according to educational status (p<0.05), the level of external satisfaction and burnout do not differ significantly according to educational status. While it was observed that the burnout scale differed significantly according to the weekly working time (p<0.05), it was observed that the internal and external satisfaction levels did not differ significantly according to the weekly working time. It was observed that the levels of internal and external satisfaction and burnout levels did not differ significantly according to the length of time they worked in the profession (p>0.05). In other words, the levels of internal and external satisfaction and burnout of people with different working hours in the profession are at similar levels. As a result of the study, it was determined that the burnout levels of those who worked 55 hours or more per week were significantly higher than the other groups, and the internal satisfaction level of those who did not work in shifts was significantly higher than those who worked in shifts. It is important that social workers are given opportunities to take time for themselves and cope with stress. Keywords: Covid-19, Social Work, Burnout, Motivation.