In the theoretical part of my master's thesis, I described stress, stress factors, types
of stress and its consequences. I focused mainly on stress in the workplace and stress
management at individual, family and friendship, community and organisational levels among
social workers in social work centres. My research is qualitative and based on a random sample
of social workers employed in social work centres. I conducted ten interviews with social
workers employed in social work centres. I confirmed the findings of many other studies that
the social work profession is stressful and demanding. The theme examined is influenced by
the particular field of work, length of employment, personality characteristics, individual
coping with stress, closer and wider social networks, community resources, and organisational
resources available to social workers to cope with stress in social work centres. To cope with
stress, social workers emphasise the importance of physical activity, good relationships with
colleagues, and support from the social network, especially family. I have found that social
workers in some areas are very stressed by the amount of work and administration and therefore
need more staff in the social work centres. The social workers need more professional support
from the staff. They need as much work and cases as they can handle. Social workers need more
education and training to deal better with stress. They need time to take part in training and
further education measures. They need better quality supervision, especially more opportunities
for individual supervision. Social workers want more collective cohesion in social work centres.
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