A teamwork model for reducing role conflicts among staff in residential child care homes: A mixed methods study

Abstract

<p><strong>Background:</strong> A counselling service scheme has been introduced to 4 residential child care homes of Hong Kong since 2016. Role conflict was reported frequently among staff in the home setting. The current study aimed to examine the benefits to workers by adding a counsellor in care home settings. It also explored the teamwork among workers of the 4 homes and attempted to develop a good practice model for improving the residential child care service.</p><p><strong>Research Design:</strong> A single-group and mixed-methods study design was adopted. A total of 149 workers were recruited from the 4 residential care homes between June 2019 and May 2022. They filled in the self-report questionnaire at baseline and every 6 months on role stress (including domains of role ambiguity and role conflict), and burnout in the personal, work, and client domains. The 4 counsellors were invited for a focus group and individual interviews, while the centre in-charges of each home were invited to individual interviews to develop the teamwork model. Latent growth modelling and regression analysis were used to analyse the growth trajectories in role stress and job burnout of the workers and the relationships between changes in role stress and job burnout. Thematic analysis was conducted to investigate the interviewees’ experience and the effectiveness of the project.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Change in role conflict showed significant and positive effects on personal burnout (<em>β</em> = 0.23, SE = 0.08, <em>p</em> < 0.01), work burnout (<em>β</em> = 0.27, SE = 0.09, <em>p</em> < 0.01), and client burnout (<em>β</em> = 0.24, SE = 0.12, <em>p</em> = 0.04). It suggests that managing the role conflict of the workers could effectively lower the levels of burnout across various domains and improve their occupational well-being. Three elements for a good teamwork model emerged from the interviews: 1) responsible management, 2) trust and transparency, and 3) no overlaps in job duties. The interviewees stated that a responsible management could largely reduce role conflicts among workers because it helped develop a trustworthy and transparent work environment so that different parties could work closely but independently (without overlaps in job duties) to promote understanding of children, and make arrangements to accommodate their personalities and needs.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The findings highlighted the importance of managing role conflict and establishing a good teamwork in the residential child care home to maximize the benefits of counselling to both children and staff.</p>