A Phenomenological Study of Child Protection Social Workers’ Experience of Job Risk and Burnout
Orock Ayuk Nyakpo, Navratil Pavel, Gakuba Theogene-Octave, Bolzman Claudio
Research on job risk and burnout in social work shows a notable gap in understanding these professionals’ more profound lived experiences — how they make sense of their roles, responsibilities, and emotional labor within their specific lifeworlds. This article explores the lived experience of job risk and burnout among child protection social workers through Heideggerian phenomenology. Drawing on one of the authors’ doctoral research projects in Seychelles using a phenomenological perspective with their existential concepts, such as being in the world, Dasein, Care, Fallenness, and Das Man, the paper shows how child protection social workers make sense of their professional challenges within institutional, social, and relational contexts. Findings from in-depth interviews reveal that burnout is not merely a consequence of workload or procedural stress but an existential experience shaped by emotional labor, public scrutiny, and structural constraints. The analysis highlights how interpersonal and intrapersonal dimensions of these practitioners’ work intersect with ontological realities and how moments of authenticity and self-care serve as pathways toward resilience. The article underscores the relevance of interpretive phenomenology for deepening our understanding of the affective and relational fabric of social work practice. It also offers implications for organizational support and educational programs, advocating for greater integration of reflexive and phenomenological approaches in the training of social workers.
Keywords
Heideggerian Phenomenology, Existential Vulnerability, Lived Experiences, Child Protection Social Workers, Reflexivity.
