Abstract
Background
Child and Youth Care is a challenging field characterized by intensive daily involvement with youth at risk. It belongs to the wider area of hel** professions but has its distinct attributes related to clients’ characteristics and working environment.
Objective
This study explores how Child and Youth Care workers in Israel experience their work with youth, its goals, the challenges involved in it, and how they cope with them.
Method
The study employed a qualitative phenomenological approach. The data was gathered through semi-structured in-depth interviews with 34 Child and Youth Care workers and analyzed in accordance with the phenomenological data analysis approach.
Results
The interview analysis yielded four themes related to participants’ perceptions of their work: Child and Youth Care workers’ job definition, the personal meaning they ascribe to their work, factors that challenge their satisfaction with their work, and factors that help them cope with these challenges.
Conclusions
The workers see their job as an important part of their lives and as a source of satisfaction and meaning. This experience involves several youth-related, workplace-related and personal difficulties and benefits, conceptualized in terms of risk and resilience factors. The balanced interplay between these factors enables the workers to cope with the high physical and psychological demands of their job and facilitates an enhanced sense of meaningfulness.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anglin, J. (1999). The uniqueness of child and youth care: A personal perspective. Child and Youth Care Forum, 28, 143–150.
Bakker, A. B., & de Vries, J. D. (2021). Job Demands–resources theory and self-regulation: New explanations and remedies for job burnout. Anxiety, Stress, and Co**, 34(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/10615806.2020.1797695
Banks, J. A. (1998). The lives and values of researchers: Implications for educating citizens in a multicultural society. Educational Researcher, 27, 4–17. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X027007004
Barford, S. W., & Whelton, W. J. (2010). Understanding burnout in child and youth care workers. Child and Youth Care Forum, 39, 271–287. https://doi.org/10.1007/S10566-010-9104-8
Barnett, M. (2007). What brings you here? An exploration of the unconscious motivations of those who choose to train and work as psychotherapists and counsellors. Psychodynamic Practice, 13, 257–274. https://doi.org/10.1080/14753630701455796
Beech, I. (1999). Bracketing in phenomenological research. Nurse Researcher, 6, 35–51.
Binks, C., Jones, F. W., & Knight, K. (2013). Facilitating reflective practice groups in clinical psychology training: A phenomenological study. Reflective Practice, 14(3), 305–318. https://doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2013.767228
Boyas, J. F., Wind, L. H., & Ruiz, E. (2013). Organizational tenure among child welfare workers, burnout, stress, and intent to leave: Does employment-based social capital make a difference? Children and Youth Services Review, 35(10), 1657–1669. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2013.07.008
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Burchinal, M., Howes, C., & Kontos, S. (2002). Structural predictors of child care quality in child care homes. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 17, 87–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0885-2006(02)00132-1
Capitano, J., & Greenhaus, J. H. (2018). When work enters the home: Antecedents of role boundary permeability behavior. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 109, 87–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2018.10.002
Cohen, Y., Haberfeld, I., & Kristal, T. (2013). Mizrahim, Ashkenazim and the “mixed”: Educational gaps among Israeli-born Jews. In Y. Yonah, N. Mizrachi, & Y. Feniger (Eds.), Practices of difference in Israeli education: A view from below (pp. 36–58). Van Leer Jerusalem Institute.
Conrad, D., & Kellar-Guenther, Y. (2006). Compassion fatigue, burnout, and compassion satisfaction among Colorado child protection workers. Child Abuse and Neglect, 30(10), 1071–1080. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2006.03.009
Creswell, J. W., & Clark, V. L. P. (2007). Designing and conducting mixed methods research. Sage.
Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2017). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Sage.
Curry, D., Eckles, F., Stuart, C., & Qaqish, B. (2010). National child and youth care practitioner professional certification: Promoting competent care for children and youth. Child Welfare, 89(2), 57–77.
Curry, D., McCarragher, T., & Dellmann-Jenkins, M. (2005). Training, transfer and turnover: The relationship among transfer of learning factors and staff retention in child welfare. Children and Youth Services Review, 27, 931–948. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2004.12.008
Dahl, R., & Gunnar, M. R. (2009). Heightened stress responsivity and emotional reactivity during pubertal maturation: Implications for psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 21(1), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579409000066
Davidsen, A. S. (2013). Phenomenological approaches in psychology and health sciences. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 10(3), 318–339. https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2011.608466
Englander, M. (2016). The phenomenological method in qualitative psychology and psychiatry. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being, 11, 30682. https://doi.org/10.3402/qhw.v11.30682
Etzion, D., & Romi, S. (2015). Typology of youth at risk. Children and Youth Services Review, 59, 184–195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2015.10.017
Farrell, E. (2020). Researching lived experience in education: Misunderstood or missed opportunity? International Journal of Qualitative Methods. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406920942066
Ferguson, L. M., Yonge, O., & Myrick, F. (2004). Students’ involvement in faculty research: Ethical and methodological issues. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 3(4), 56–68. https://doi.org/10.1177/160940690400300405
Flyvbjerg, B. (2006). Five misunderstandings about case-study research. Qualitative Inquiry, 12(2), 219–245. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800405284363
Fosco, G. M., Mak, H. W., Ramos, A., LoBraico, E., & Lippold, M. (2019). Exploring the promise of assessing dynamic characteristics of the family for predicting adolescent risk outcomes. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 60(8), 848–856. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13052
Fusch, P. I., & Ness, L. R. (2015). Are we there yet? Data saturation in qualitative research. The Qualitative Report, 20(9), 1408–1416. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794107085301
Giorgi, A. (2006). The value of phenomenology for psychology. In P. D. Ashworth & M. C. Chung (Eds.), Phenomenology and psychological science. History and philosophy of psychology. Springer.
Griffiths, A., Royse, D., & Walker, R. (2018). Stress among child protective service workers: Self-reported health consequences. Children and Youth Services Review, 90, 46–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.06.012
Grupper, E., & Romi, S. (2015). The complexity of training professional child- and youth-care workers. In Children and adolescents at risk in Israel: The voice of young people and issues faced by child and youth care workers (Vol. 2, pp. 329–350). Mofet Institute. (Hebrew)
Grupper, E., Romi, S., & Salkovsky, M. (2014). Introduction. In E. Grupper & S. Romi (Eds.), Children and adolescents at risk in Israel: Overview of the field and core issues (Vol. 1, pp. 9–19). Mofet Institute. Hebrew.
Guttman, J., & Daniels, S. (2001). What do school counsellors gain from their role as psychotherapists? Educational Psychology, 21, 203–218. https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410020043896
Hadas, D., Amitai, B., Degani, T., Alharar, A., Kotnick, H., Yigar, O., Gefen, E., Piler, N., & Ben-Dovid, G. (2013). A comparison of family-of-origin perception of undergraduates: Social work students and students in other fields. Journal of Social Work, 13(5), 492–507. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468017311435046
Hamama, L. (2012). Burnout in social workers treating children as related to demographic characteristics, work environment, and social support. Social Work Research, 36(2), 113–125. https://doi.org/10.1093/swr/svs003
Hartje, J. A., Evans, W. P., Killian, E. S., & Brown, R. (2008). Youth worker characteristics and self-reported competency as predictors of intent to continue working with youth. Child and Youth Care Forum, 37, 27–41. https://doi.org/10.1007/S10566-007-9048-9
Hartley, P., & Kennard, D. (2009). Staff support groups in the hel** professions: Principles, practice and pitfalls. Routledge.
Hennigan, K. M., Kolnick, K. A., Vindel, F., & Maxson, C. L. (2015). Targeting youth at risk for gang involvement: Validation of a gang risk assessment to support individualized secondary prevention. Children and Youth Services Review, 56, 86–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2015.07.002
Hrbackova, K., & Suchankova, E. (2016). Self-determination approach to understanding of motivation in students of hel** professions. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 217, 688–696. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.02.120
Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics. (2019). Statistical abstract of Israel 2019- No.70. Central Bureau of Statistics.
Karanikola, M., Doulougeri, K., Koutrouba, A., Giannakopoulou, M., & Papathanassoglou, E. D. E. (2018). A phenomenological investigation of the interplay among professional worth appraisal, self-esteem and self-perception in nurses: The revelation of an internal and external criteria system. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01805
Karnieli-Miller, O., Frankel, R. M., & Inui, T. S. (2013). Cloak of compassion, or evidence of elitism? An empirical analysis of white coat ceremonies. Medical Education, 47(1), 97–108. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2012.04324.x
Kinn, L. G., & Aas, R. W. (2009). Occupational therapists’ perception of their practice: A phenomenological study. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 56(2), 112–121. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1630.2007.00714.x
Knoche, L., Peterson, C. A., Pope Edwards, C., & Jeon, H. J. (2006). Child care for children with and without disabilities: The provider, observer, and parent perspectives. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 21, 93–109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2006.01.001
Kottler, J. A. (1993). On being a therapist. Jossey-Bass.
Krueger, M. (2002). A further review of the development of the child and youth care profession in the United States. Child and Youth Care Forum, 31, 2–13. https://doi.org/10.1606/1044-3894.3621
Krueger, M. (2007). Four areas of support for child and youth care workers. Families in Society, 88(2), 233–240. https://doi.org/10.1606/1044-3894.3621
Kvale, S. (1996). InterViews. An introduction to qualitative research writing. Sage.
Lavie-Ajayi, M., & Krumer-Nevo, M. (2013). In a different mindset: Critical youth work with marginalized youth. Children and Youth Services Review, 35(10), 1698–1704. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2013.07.010
Lowery-Moore, H., Latimer, R. M., & Villate, V. M. (2016). The essence of teacher leadership: A phenomenological inquiry of professional growth. International Journal of Teacher Leadership, 7(1), 1–16.
Meir-Glitzenstein, E. (2015). A different Mizrahi story: How the Iraqis became Israelis. In F. Markowitz (Ed.), Toward an anthropology of nation building and unbuilding in Israel (pp. 107–121). University of Nebraska Press.
Melkman, E., Mor-Salwo, Y., Mangold, K., Benbenishty, R., & Zeller, M. (2015). Care leavers as helpers: Motivations for and benefits of hel** others. Children and Youth Services Review, 54, 41–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2015.05.004
Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services. (2021). Ministry of labor, social affairs and social services organization structure. https://www.gov.il/he/departments/general/molsa-organization-structure
Moustakas, C. (1994). Phenomenological research methods. Sage.
Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute. (2018). The Arab population in Israel: Facts and figures, 2018. Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute.
NACCW. (2021). International child and youth care definition. http://www.naccw.org.za/international-child-and-youth-care-definition
Nadler, A. (2002). Inter-group hel** relations as power relations: Maintaining or challenging social dominance between groups through hel**. The Journal of Social Issues, 58(3), 487–502. https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-4560.00272
Newberry, A. M. (2012). Social work and hermeneutic phenomenology. Journal of Applied Hermeneutics.
Nieswiadomy, R. M., & Bailey, C. (2018). Foundations of nursing research. Pearson.
Pascal, J. (2010). Phenomenology as a research method for social work contexts: Understanding the lived experience of cancer survival. New Scholarship in the Human Services, 9(2).
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods. Sage.
Plaut, S. (2014). The myth of ethnic inequality in Israel. Middle East Quarterly, 21(3), 1–12.
Ponterotto, J. G. (2005). Qualitative research in counseling psychology: A primer on research paradigms and philosophy of science. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52(2), 126–136. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.52.2.126
Razer, M. (2014). Reframing with educational work with students at risk of exclusion: Exploring students’ inner sources of strength. In E. Grupper & S. Romi (Eds.), Children and adolescents at risk in Israel: Overview of the field and core issues (Vol. 1, pp. 309–335). Mofet Institute. Hebrew.
Salloum, A., Kondrat, D., Johnco, C., & Olson, K. (2015). The role of self-care on compassion satisfaction, burnout and secondary trauma among child welfare workers. Children and Youth Services Review, 49, 54–61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.12.023
Savicki, V. (2002). Burnout across thirteen cultures: Stress and co** in child and youth care workers. Praeger/Greenwood.
Sellers, S. L., & Hunter, A. G. (2005). Private pain, public choices: Influence of problems in the family of origin of career choices among a cohort of MSW students. Social Work Education, 24(8), 869–881. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615470500342223
Semyonov, M., & Lewin-Epstein, N. (2011). Wealth inequality: Ethnic disparities in Israeli society. Social Forces, 89(3), 935–959. https://doi.org/10.2307/41290095
Shemesh, I., & Shemesh, R. (2014). Resilience builds the future: Components of resilience in working with at risk youth in Israel. In E. Grupper & S. Romi (Eds.), Children and adolescents at risk in Israel: Overview of the field and core issues (Vol. 1, pp. 336–356). Mofet Institute. Hebrew.
Shkedi, A. (2003). Words of meaning: Qualitative research-theory and practice. UK: Ramot. Hebrew.
Smeeton, J., & O’Connor, P. (2020). Embodied social work practice within risk society. Journal of Social Work, 20(5), 673–691. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468017319860800
Stevens, M., Moriarty, J., Manthorpe, J., Hussein, S., Sharpe, E., Orme, J., Mcyntyre, G., Cavanagh, K., Green-Lister, P., & Crisp, B. R. (2012). Hel** others or a rewarding career? Investigating student motivations to train as social workers in England. Journal of Social Work, 12(1), 16–36. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468017310380085
Stolz, S. A. (2020). Phenomenology and phenomenography in educational research: A critique. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 52(10), 1077–1096. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2020.1724088
Sue, D. W., & Sue, D. (2008). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice (5th ed.). Wiley.
Syed, M., & Nelson, S. C. (2015). Guidelines for establishing reliability when coding narrative data. Emerging Adulthood, 3(6), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167696815587648
Taylor, J., Bradley, S., & Nguyen, A. N. (2003). Job autonomy and job satisfaction: New evidence. UK: Lancaster University.
The International Child and Youth Care Network. (2021). The profession. http://www.cycnet.org/profession/pro-defnitions.html
The CYC Certification Board. (2021). Competencies. https://www.cyccb.org/competencies
Tremmel, S., Sonnentag, S., & Casper, A. (2019). How was work today? Interpersonal work experiences, work-related conversations during after-work hours, and daily affect. Work and Stress, 33(3), 247–267. https://doi.org/10.1080/02678373.2018.1496158
Tymieniecka, M. T. (2003). Introduction: Phenomenology as the inspirational force of our times. In M. T. Tymieniecka (Ed.), Phenomenology world-wide. Foundations-expanding dynamics life-engagements. A guide for research and study (pp. 1–10). Kluwer Academic.
van Manen, M. (1997). Researching lived experience. Althouse Press.
Watt, T., & Kim, S. (2019). Race/ethnicity and foster youth outcomes: An examination of disproportionality using the national youth in transition database. Children and Youth Services Review, 102, 251–258. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.05.017
Wojnar, D. M., & Swanson, K. M. (2007). Phenomenology: An exploration. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 25(3), 172–180.
Yakhnich, L., Grupper, E., & Romi, S. (2018). Focused training of child and youth care workers for promoting social and educational inclusion of youth at risk. Child and Youth Services, 39(1), 43–53. https://doi.org/10.1080/0145935X.2018.1435266
Yakhnich, L., Himi, H., & Michael, K. (2021). Students’ perspectives regarding adolescence and their motivation for choosing the Child and Youth Care track. Child and Youth Services. https://doi.org/10.1080/0145935X.2021.1894922
Yakhnich, L., Michael, K., & Yanai-Ventura, G. (2021). The role of ethnicity in Child and Youth Care practice: “When they heard my last name, they suddenly respected me.” Child and Youth Care Forum. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-021-09603-7
Yanay-Ventura, G., Issaq, L., & Sharabu, M. (2020). Civic service and social class: The case of young Arab women in Israel. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-020-00210-z
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The author declares that she has no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yakhnich, L. “I Did a Lot of Good Today”: Child and Youth Care Workers’ Perceptions of Their Work. Child Youth Care Forum 51, 1175–1194 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-022-09672-2
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-022-09672-2