A Study on Mediation Effect of Support System in Job Stress and Coping Behavior of Social Workers

Abstract

Stress affects the type of adaptation required for each case and the type of social support is also different. In order for social support to have a buffer effect on stress, we want to understand how to measure social support and support according to specific stress situations. Therefore, this study examines coping behaviors of community service workers exposed to these job stresses and examines the effect of support system (family support, peer support, superior support) on coping behavior. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of stress, coping resources and coping behaviors of community service workers. In this study, self - report method was used to investigate the questionnaire using structured questionnaires. In this study, the statistical program was used for data analysis and hierarchical regression analysis.

1. Introduction

The 'Community Service Investment Project', launched in 207 as a youth project group, is a service in which the social services sector emerged as a blue ocean for job creation amid the growth of unemployment and the introduction of market mechanisms for the creation of jobs and social services for young people. The existing format is being transformed from the service type provided by the government o the provider type to the consumer support type using the voucher now.

In this wave of change, the number of people providing services has increased dramatically and various efforts have been made to improve the quality of services. Despite these efforts, however, the improved changes in the treatment of social service workers have remained virtually unchanged over the past decade. In 2016, there are 3,875 agencies and 20,969 people in the community service industry nationwide, showing an increase trend nationwide. Gwangju Metropolitan City also has 1,01 employes in 456 institutions.

Working conditions of service workers in the area of community service are showing a very poor working environment due to the increase of providers, bubbles of job creation, excessive competition among providers, decrease of excellent institutions, and increase of insolvent institutions. Community service workers have diverse qualifications in various fields and do not have a common qualification compared to other social services. Those who are qualified in these various fields are faced with many difficulties due to their diversity of work and complexity of work.

The changes in the working environment and the various community service workers engaged in various environments are suffering from a lot of mental and physical stress. Excessive stress on these workers contributes to a deterioration in the mental health of workers, a decrease in job motivation and productivity, increased accidents, increased absenteeism, unemployment and turnover rates [4-6].

Stress refers to not being directly affected by a specific event or situation, perceiving an event or situation as stress when it feels that it cannot be solved or overcome according to an individual situation stress affects adaptation and maladjustment.

In fact, social workers belonging to the same group as the service providers of community service are reported to be perceived as stressful in the course of their work, and the similar task and stress level the individual is a coping behavior when it is judged by the stress by the cognitive evaluation of the individual.

The coping is the type of thought and action to deal with the internal and external stress [6], this means an individual's effort o resolve a problem that threatens itself beyond its adaptive capacity [7]. Thus, stress coping can be said to be a process of burdening an individual's ability or dealing with an environmental ned beyond their ability to cope. It is important that individuals undergo the same external stimuli to evaluate them and what strategies to cope with them, and if these two processes are not appropriate, stress-related lines or maladjustment may be induced [3].

The type of coping with stress varies from person to person. Even when exposed to the same stress situation, the result of self-awareness and coping with individual stress appears differently. In other words, even under the same stress conditions, some people actively cope with the stress by using useful resources that they can utilize, while others cause physiological changes and are threatened with life [8].

In order to have a stress buffering effect, it is necessary to distinguish between social supports and support types according to specific stress situations because it is different from the type of adaptation required for each case It will help you to understand how supportive members and support work.

Therefore, this study investigates coping behaviors of community service workers exposed to these job stresses, and examines the effect of support system (coping, support, superiors support) on coping behavior.

2. Research method

2.1 Survey subject and data collection procedure

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of stress, coping resources and coping behaviors of community service workers. In this study, self - report method was used to investigate the questionnaire using structured questionnaires. This survey surveyed 243 community service workers in Gwangju.

2.2 Survey tool

1) Job stress

Job stress was consisted of a 5-point Likert scale of the short-form job stress measurement tool. The higher the score, the higher the job stress. To confirm the internal consistency of the items, the reliability coefficient of the reliability test was .86.

2) Support system

The reliability coefficient of this survey is .96. Family support, per support, and superior support are more likely to be supported by higher 5-point Likert scale. The reliability coefficients of the survey were family support of .95, per support of .94, and superior support of .93.

3) Coping behavior

The coping behavior was measured by problem - oriented coping behavior and emotional coping behavior. The reliability coefficient of problem coping behavior was .85 and the reliability coefficient of emotional coping behavior was .7. Coping behavior is a 5-point Likert-type scale, and the higher the value, the higher the coping behavior score.

2.3 Analysis method

In this study, SPSS /WIN 20.0 statistical program was used for data analysis. The descriptive statistics of frequency and percentage, mean, and standard deviation were used to examine the occupational stress and coping styles of the community service workers. To investigate the relationship between job stress, stress coping style and supporting system, hierarchical regression analysis was performed.

3. Results

3.1 General characteristics of survey subjects

The sociodemographic characteristics were the highest in the 40s (39.3%), followed by the 20s (2.3%), the 30s (16.9%), the 50s (14.9%) and the 60s and over (6.6%). The gender of female was 84.3%, which was higher than that of male 15.7% (15).

The marriage status was 63.6% for married and 36.4% for unmarried. The educational level was 5.4% for college graduates, 18.6% for professional college graduates, and 12.4% for graduate students.

3.2 Job stress and coping style

The general tendency of job stress, support system, and coping behavior of survey subjects is shown in Table 1. The average job stress was 2.6 (SD = .52). The support system had mean family support of 4.03 (SD = .61). The mean score of coping behavior score was 3.58 (SD = .40), the mean score of emotional coping behavior was 2.95 (SD = .49).

Table 1. Job stress, support system, coping behavior skill statistics

3.3 Mediating effect of support system on job stress and coping behavior of subject

The results of using the mediator effect proposed by confirm the mediating effect of the support system on emotional coping same. In the first step, the influence of the job stress on the support system of the parameter is statistically significant (β = -. 562, p <.01), the influence of job stress on the emotional coping, (Β = -. 231, p <.01). In the third step, the influence of the mediating support system on emotional coping is significant (β = .209, p <.01), the influence of job stress on emotional coping is higher than the second equation (β = .231) (Β = .348), respectively. Therefore, it can be seen that the support system has no mediating effect in the effect of job stress on emotional coping.

Table 3 shows the mediating effect of the support system on the effects of perceived job stress on problem coping. In the first step, the influence of independent variables-job stress on the parameter-support system was statistically significant (β = -. 562, p <.01) (P = .01, p <.01). The results of this study are as follows.

In the third step, the influence of the mediator-support system on the problematic coping is significant (β = -. 053, p <.01), the influence of the job stress on the problematic coping is more than the second equation - 293) decreased in the third equation (β = -. 053). Therefore, it can be seen that the support system is partially mediated in the effect of job stress on problematic coping.

Table 2. Effects of Job Stress on Emotional Coping Behavior

*p＜.05, p**＜.01, p***＜.001.

Figure 1. The Effects of Job Stress on Emotional Coping Behavior

Table 3. The effect of job stress on problem coping behavior

*p＜.05, p**＜.01, p***＜.001

Figure 2. The effect of job stress on problem coping behavior

4. Conclusion

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between job stress and coping behaviors and the mediating effect of support system among the social service workers in Gwangju metropolitan city.

First, coping behaviors of problem - centered coping behaviors were very high (3.59) and emotional coping behaviors were 2.95. Community service providers were found to use both problem - oriented coping behaviors and emotional - centered coping behaviors in order to cope with stress.

The results of it was found that the higher the job stress, the lower the coping behavior. And the support system showed no mediating effects on the emotional coping of job stress.

The effect of job stress on problem coping behaviors was statistically significant, and the influence of job stress, but here was no statistically significant effect of job stress on the problematic coping. In the third step, the influence of the mediating supportive system on the problematic coping is significant, and the influence of the job stress on the problematic coping is more than the second equation decreased in the third equation. Therefore, it can be seen that the support system is partially mediated in the effect of job stress on problematic coping.

Social support, and coping behaviors. In support of stress cushion effect, support system has a buffer effect on coping behavior rather than emotional coping behavior. Stress coping style is related to job satisfaction and coping style is one of the important moderator variables overcoming job stress source. In the study of the health promotion workforce, the workforce coping with the stress was found to be high in the job satisfaction by the problem-centered coping style, and also consistent with the study of the emergency staff. Therefore, in this study, supportive system can be explained as an important variable to overcome job stressors as a mediator of problem coping behavior.

In order to reduce the stress of community service workers and increase problem coping behavior, family support, superiors' support, and peer support are important variables and an environment that can enhance their support system is needed.