Stress identification for social workers in health care: a preventive approach to burn-out

The primary goal of this paper is to present a paradigm for identifying specific stresses related to providing social services in health care settings that can then be the basis of a stress management program. The authors review the occupational stress literature, with special emphasis on two frameworks: James House' conceptual paradigm of the interactive perspective of stress and John Adams' typologies for the assessment of stress. The social work literature is also reviewed for the possible stressors specific to the social work profession. A new framework is presented and discussed that is ecological in nature and provides a basis for future social work stress research in health care.