The effects of the ARC organizational intervention on caseworker turnover, climate, and culture in children's service systems.
OBJECTIVE
This study examines the effects of the Availability, Responsiveness, and Continuity (ARC) organizational intervention strategy on caseworker turnover, climate, and culture in a child welfare and juvenile justice system.


METHODS
Using a pre-post, randomized blocks, true experimental design, 10 urban and 16 rural case management teams were randomly assigned to either the ARC organizational intervention condition or to a control condition. The culture and climate of each case management team were assessed at baseline and again after the one-year organizational intervention was completed. In addition, caseworker turnover was assessed by identifying caseworkers on the sampled teams who quit their jobs during the year.


RESULTS
Hierarchical Linear Models (HLM) analyses indicate that the ARC organizational intervention reduced the probability of caseworker turnover by two-thirds and improved organizational climate by reducing role conflict, role overload, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization in both urban and rural case management teams.


CONCLUSIONS
Organizational intervention strategies can be used to reduce staff turnover and improve organizational climates in urban and rural child welfare and juvenile justice systems. This is important because child welfare and juvenile justice systems in the U.S.A. are plagued by high turnover rates, and there is evidence that high staff turnover and poor organizational climates negatively affect service quality and outcomes in these systems.
Glisson
Charles
C
Children's Mental Health Services Research Center, The University of Tennessee, 128 Henson Hall, Knoxville, TN 37996-3332, USA.
Dukes
Denzel
D
Green
Philip
P
D000328:Adult; D019090:Case Management / Q000458:organization & administration*; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D010563:Personnel Turnover / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012947:Social Work; D019037:Urban Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016526:Workload