1. Self-Care Practices of Fresno State MSW Title IV-E Students
Vanessa Cregar, MSW
Good morning,
My name is Vanessa Cregar and my research project was on the self-care practices of Fresno State MSW Title IV-E Students

2. About the Author California State University, Fresno graduate:
BA in Sociology (2014)
Master’s of Social Work, Title IV-E (2017)
Madera County Department of Social Services, Emergency Response
Second generation public child welfare social worker
Project: Self-Care Practices of MSW Title IV-E Students
A little about me
I graduated from CSU Fresno with my BA in sociology and Masters in Social worker in I was a student of the Title IV-E program, where I received specialized seminars and classes in preparation to entering public child welfare.
I am currently employed with Madera County DSS and placed in Emergency Response
I am a second generation public child welfare social worker. My mother, Alicia Garcia, worked for Fresno County as a social worker and supervisor for 27 years. Mom, can you stand up? Lets give her a hand. Thank you mom.
While in graduate school, I decided to research the self-care practices of MSW title iv-e students

3. Why Study Self-Care? High levels of stress in graduate school
Assignments, internship, working, researching, social life
Encouraged self-care before entering the field
High levels of stress in public child welfare
Large caseload, limited support, long hours, working with vulnerable populations, etc.
Effects: Secondary trauma, burnout, and turnover
Encouraged to practice self-care
So, why study self-care?
While in graduate school, I experienced a high level of stress: Papers, internship, working part-time, researching, and attempting to see my family/friends
My classmates were also stressed, some juggling full time jobs, in the 3 or 4 year program, and raising a family
In class and Title IV-E seminars, we were told to practice self-care
I asked myself, “What’s self-care?” “What does self-care look like?” “Am I already practicing self-care?”
In Title IV-E seminars, we also learned that child welfare is a stressful job
Due to high caseloads, limited support, long hours, and working with vulnerable populations
Some social workers developed secondary trauma, the development of PTSD symptoms
Overall, burnout and turnover is high in in CW
This often led to social workers leaving the field
This caused me to wonder, as a title IV-E student, how are we preparing to enter the field of child welfare?
Are we practicing self-care?
If not, why?

4. Purpose of this Study
Examine the lived experiences of Title IV-E social work students who are enrolled in the Fresno State MSW program.
Focused on two areas:
Stress levels during graduate school
Use of self-care to lower or better manage those stressors

5. Research Questions
What is the experience of MSW Title IV-E students at Fresno State in their experience of stress in graduate school?
What role, if any, does self-care play in the lives of MSW Title IV-E graduate students in managing stress?

6. Activities that positively contributes to their overall well-being
What is Self-Care?
Activities that positively contributes to their overall well-being
Serves to address the individual’s social, psychological/emotional, physical, spiritual, and professional domains
Benefits: Reduce stress, burnout, illness, and improve quality of service
(Lee & Miller, 2013)
Before we begin discussing my research, it is important to define self-care.
Though self-care has been defined multiple ways, it is generally seen as how an individual engages in activities that positively contribute to their overall well-being (Lee & Miller, 2013; Salloum et al., 2015). There are many ways to practice self-care that can lead to constructive outcomes. Self-care serves to address the individual’s social, psychological/emotional, physical, spiritual, leisure, and professional domains (Lee & Miller, 2013).
What a noticed, ppl dont practice self-care in school or office.

7. What Does Self-Care Look Like?
Personal life
Cooking, meditation, family and friends, psychotherapy, exercising, etc.
Professional Life
Take scheduled breaks and lunches, set realistic goals when it comes to completing work, and seeking guidance and support from colleagues and supervisors
(Newell & Nelson-Gardell, 2014)

8. Literature Review: Stress in Graduate School
High levels of stress (Moore et al., 2011)
May not have the opportunity, skills, or time to manage their stress (Moore et al., 2011)
Students who do not learn or practice self-care are at risk for secondary trauma and possibly burnout (Newell & Nelson-Gardell, 2014)
Teaching self-care is not required by social work curriculum (Newell & Nelson-Gardell, 2014)
Subjected to high levels of stress due to class work, assignments, placement/internship, working with vulnerable populations, balancing family life, as even working part time or full time.
Students may not have the opportunity, skills, sufficient time, or energy to manage their time and lower their stress levels.
Students who do not learn or practice self-care are at risk for secondary trauma, leading to possible burnout once they enter the field.
Teaching the use of self-care is not required by social work curriculum, though it is encouraged by NASW and CSWE.

9. Literature Review: Stress & Self-Care in Social Work
Heightened stress
Risk of developing secondary trauma, contributes to burnout and turnover
Encouraged to incorporate self-care to manage stress and reduce secondary trauma and burnout
(Boyas et al., 2015; Salloum et al., 2015)
Child welfare social workers face several challenges that put them at a heightened risk for developing high levels of stress. Their stress levels are often caused by their high caseloads, long hours, lengthy paperwork, inadequate salaries, and limited support. Unfortunately, many child welfare agencies are unable to hire additional staff to change these conditions due to limited funding and budget cuts.
They are also at risk

10. Gaps in Literature
Limited research on self-care with social work graduate students.
Has not examined different areas within social work, specifically child welfare.
Studies tend to use quantitative data.
As previously stated, there is a depth of research studies that examine the incorporation of self-care in particular with social work graduate students. The literature review does show that social work students rarely have the opportunity to learn about self-care during graduate school. However, when given the opportunity, studies have found that students have been able to manage or reduce their stress levels and improving their own overall well-being learning useful coping skills, including journaling and mindfulness practice, which also can be used when experiencing stress in the field. Moreover, previous literature has not examined the different areas within the social work profession such as child welfare, though research indicates high rates of secondary trauma and burnout in this professional population. The next paragraph belongs to this section
Though there has been limited research on the use of self-care in social work graduate students, many of these studies used a quantitative research method. This method has shown to be beneficial as it allows the researcher to collect data from a larger sample size. However, this method does not go in depth by exploring the graduate student’s experience related to their stress or types of self-care practices they utilize to lower or manage their stress. In addition, past research has failed to study stress levels and self-care practices of social work students who plan on entering child welfare. The purpose of this research is to address this gap by exploring how graduate social work students who plan on working in child welfare use self-care during graduate school to lower or better manage their stress levels

11. Methodology Participants 4 `MSW program
2 full-time students and in their final year
1 participant was a part-time student and in their final year
1 participant was a full-time student in their first year
Ethnicity/Race
2:White/Caucasian
1: Asian
1: Hispanic
Age
3: 24 to 34 years of age
1: 45 to 54 years of age

12. Methodology One-on-one interviews Open-ended questions
Explored their stress, self-care practices, academic assignments or seminars dedicated to self-care, and benefits and limitations of incorporating self-care
Participants picked location, signed consent form, and was provided a copy of the questions
Data analysis: transcribed and imported into NVivo, answers were placed into themed categories

13. Themes Graduate school is stressful Limited curriculum on self-care
Student’s practiced self-care
Student’s faced challenges incorporating of self-care
There were four themes that emerged from this study: (a) graduate school is stressful, (b) limited curriculum on self-self, (c) practicing self-care, and (d) challenges of self-care. In each of these sections, I will share some direct quotes from the 4 participants.

14. Graduate School is Stressful
Direct Quote From Student
“I would say 80% of the program was stress. You're having to deal with school, assignments, classroom time, internship and research, all of this. Plus, you have so many deadlines you have to meet and you freak out.”
All of the students shared that they experienced some form of stress while in graduate school, which varied from participant to participant due to the amount of work that is required from the program.
Part B said….
Connect it to the county now

15. Graduate School is Stressful
Direct Quote From Student
“I've has so many breakdowns. Like, mental breakdowns, just because of how much is put on your plate. Like, it’s a lot. I know I've had people tell me that the workload prepares you for your career. I can’t imagine it being that much of a plate load.”
They also shared the impact stress had on their overall well-being. One participant stated ….
Participant B

16. Limited Curriculum on Self-Care
Direct Quote From Student
“I think the only time that self-care practice really happened was probably in social work 225 in our group lab. The presenter did their topic on self-care and stress management. So we did a visual meditation in class. That was helpful.”
A second theme that was found was in relation to limited curriculum and Title IV-E seminars that inspired or encouraged the participants to engage in self-care practices. All four participants reported difficulty in recalling classroom assignments that focused on self-care.
Participant A shared her group lab experience, called social work 225, stating that she engaged in an activity that discussed self-care and stress management:
“I think the only time that self-care practice really happened was probably in social work 225 in our group lab. The presenter did their topic on... self-care and stress management. So we did a visual meditation in class. That was helpful.”

17. Limited Curriculum on Self-Care
Direct Quote From Student
“Title IV-E seminar, definitely nothing comes to mind. I mean, everyone hints upon it. Like, “Hey make sure you guys do self-care.” But nothing structured and nothing really reinforced.”
However, none of the students shared that Title IV-E dedicated a seminar towards self-care, but briefly discussed it.
“Title IV-E seminar, definitely nothing comes to mind. I mean, everyone hints upon it. Like, “Hey make sure you guys do self-care.” But nothing structured and nothing really reinforced.”

18. Practicing Self-Care
Direct Quote From Student
“I always incorporate self-care by not doing anything really school related and kind of just like go grab coffee with like a friend or close friend of mine that I haven't seen in awhile. Cause, being a graduate student, school consumes your life… I love counseling, I love therapy… Just talking about all that stuff and talking about dealing with my mental health, the master’s program, it was super helpful.”
The third theme founds looked at the self-care practices of the participants. All four participants described unique ways they engaged in self-care.
One participant stated
“I always incorporate self-care by not doing anything really school related and kind of just like go grab coffee with like a friend or close friend of mine that I haven't seen in awhile. Cause, being a graduate student, school consumes your life… I love counseling, I love therapy… Just talking about all that stuff and talking about dealing with my mental health, the master’s program, it was super helpful.”

19. Challenges of Self-Care
Direct Quote From Student
“Time and time management has made it super difficult to do anything… maybe I need to find more forms of self-care, like, even just sitting and meditating. But I feel like there is not enough time in the day to do it.”
The last theme looks at the challenges and difficulties implementing self-care. Three out of the four participants shared that time management was their largest issue.
One participant said:
“Time and time management has made it super difficult to do anything… maybe I need to find more forms of self-care, like, even just sitting and meditating. But I feel like there is not enough time in the day to do it.”

20. Implications for Social Work Practice
Title IV-E
Educate students on self-care
Student’s can create a self-care plan
Public Welfare Counties
Include self-care practices and support within your county
Support groups, activities to build moral, ensure
Retain new, returning, and experienced social workers
So how can we incorporate self-care and help prepare students for entering child welfare?
We must introduce student on self-care in the Title IV-E program through
Educate MSW Title IV-E students about self-care
students will feel more prepared upon graduating and entering the field of child welfare.
My study found that when students incorporated self-care, which helped lower their stress, but faced challenges due to time constraints and do not have the opportunity to learn or practice it during Title IV seminars.
B. Students can create a self-care plan
Students can then create individual self-care plans which identifies self-care practices that they can use in their day-to- day lives and when they face a crisis.
Students can then begin incorporating self-care practices while in graduate school in order to prepare for the field upon graduation.
These strategies can support the students’ transition into their profession by equipping them with beneficial tools to manage stress and thus, become better prepared to serve their clients.
2. Counties can play an important role and help social workers encourage self-care.
Encourage self-care practices within the county
Walking groups, creating support groups, and lunches that can bring workers together. This can have a beneficial impact, including:
Social workers will be better equipped to manage their stress, lower risk of secondary trauma, and improve their services to families and children and
Social workers will feel better supported by their employers
This can lead to retaining new, returning, and experienced social workers
Child welfare social workers cannot do their job alone
They depend on the support of their coworkers, supervisor, and county in order to manage their stress
In summary, being a social worker in child welfare is not an easy job. We face stress in multiple areas of our careers, from managing our caseloads to working with vulnerable populations. However, when social workers actively engage in self-care, it drastically affects how we not only deal with stress, but the quality of services we provide. I was able to create my self-care plan while in graduate school that I was able to bring with me into my career. However, I want to ensure every student who enters child welfare can also have their self-care plans ready. Lastly, I hope that from my presentation, you take away the important it is to encourage and provide self-care opportunities to not only your CW social workers, but all staff in your county.

21. Thank you
for the stipend
opportunity!

22. References
Boyas, J., Wind, L., & Ruiz, E. (2015). Exploring patterns of employee psychosocial outcomes among child welfare workers. Children and Youth Services Review, 52,
Lee, J., & Miller, S. (2013). A self-care framework for social workers: Building a strong foundation for practice. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, 94(2),
Moore, S., Bledsoe, L., Perry, A., & Robinson, M. (2011). Social work students and self-care: A model assignment for teaching. Journal of Social Work Education, 47(3),
Newell, J., & Nelson-Gardell, D. (2014). A competency-based approach to teaching professional self-care: An ethical consideration for social work educators. Journal of Social Work Education, 50(3),
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,