Editing Social work (section)

== Mental health of social workers ==
Several studies have reported that social workers have an increased risk of common mental disorders, long-term sickness absence due to mental illnesses and antidepressant use.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last1=Knihs de Camargo |first1=Carolina |last2=Falkstedt |first2=Daniel |last3=Pan |first3=Kuan-Yu |last4=Almroth |first4=Melody |last5=Nevriana |first5=Alicia |date=2024-06-15 |title=Diagnoses of common mental disorders among social workers in Sweden: A register-based cohort study |journal=Journal of Affective Disorders |volume=355 |pages=415–421 |doi=10.1016/j.jad.2024.03.170 |issn=0165-0327|doi-access=free |pmid=38570040 }}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last1=Wieclaw |first1=J. |last2=Agerbo |first2=E. |last3=Mortensen |first3=P. B. |last4=Bonde |first4=J. P. |date=2006-05-01 |title=Risk of affective and stress related disorders among employees in human service professions |url=https://oem.bmj.com/content/63/5/314 |journal=Occupational and Environmental Medicine |language=en |volume=63 |issue=5 |pages=314–319 |doi=10.1136/oem.2004.019398 |issn=1351-0711 |pmid=16621851|pmc=2092492 }}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last1=Buscariolli |first1=André |last2=Kouvonen |first2=Anne |last3=Kokkinen |first3=Lauri |last4=Halonen |first4=Jaana I. |last5=Koskinen |first5=Aki |last6=Väänänen |first6=Ari |date=2018-06-01 |title=Human service work, gender and antidepressant use: a nationwide register-based 19-year follow-up of 752 683 women and men |url=https://oem.bmj.com/content/75/6/401 |journal=Occupational and Environmental Medicine |language=en |volume=75 |issue=6 |pages=401–406 |doi=10.1136/oemed-2017-104803 |issn=1351-0711 |pmid=29374096}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rantonen |first1=O. |last2=Alexanderson |first2=K. |last3=Pentti |first3=J. |last4=Kjeldgård |first4=L. |last5=Hämäläinen |first5=J. |last6=Mittendorfer-Rutz |first6=E. |last7=Kivimäki |first7=M. |last8=Vahtera |first8=J. |last9=Salo |first9=P. |date=December 2017 |title=Trends in work disability with mental diagnoses among social workers in Finland and Sweden in 2005–2012 |journal=Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences |language=en |volume=26 |issue=6 |pages=644–654 |doi=10.1017/S2045796016000597 |pmid=27608540 |issn=2045-7960|pmc=6999035 }}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |last1=Rantonen |first1=O. |last2=Alexanderson |first2=K. |last3=Clark |first3=A.J. |last4=Aalto |first4=V. |last5=Sónden |first5=A. |last6=Brønnum-Hansen |first6=H. |last7=Hougaard |first7=C.Ø. |last8=Rod |first8=N.H. |last9=Mittendorfer-Rutz |first9=E. |last10=Kivimäki |first10=M. |last11=Oksanen |first11=T. |last12=Salo |first12=P. |date=May 2019 |title=Antidepressant treatment among social workers, human service professionals, and non-human service professionals: A multi-cohort study in Finland, Sweden and Denmark |url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2019.03.037 |journal=Journal of Affective Disorders |volume=250 |pages=153–162 |doi=10.1016/j.jad.2019.03.037 |pmid=30856492 |issn=0165-0327}}</ref> A study in Sweden has found that social workers have an increased risk of receiving a diagnosis of depression or anxiety and stress-related disorders in comparison with other workers.<ref name=":4" /> The risk for social workers is high even when comparing to other similar human-service professions,<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":5" /> and social workers in psychiatric care or in assistance analysis are the most vulnerable.<ref name=":4" />

There are multiple explanations for this increased risk. Individual components include secondary traumatic stress,<ref name=":8">{{Cite journal |last1=McFadden |first1=Paula |last2=Campbell |first2=Anne |last3=Taylor |first3=Brian |date=July 2015 |title=Resilience and Burnout in Child Protection Social Work: Individual and Organisational Themes from a Systematic Literature Review |url=https://academic.oup.com/bjsw/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/bjsw/bct210 |journal=British Journal of Social Work |language=en |volume=45 |issue=5 |pages=1546–1563 |doi=10.1093/bjsw/bct210 |issn=0045-3102}}</ref> compassion fatigue<ref name=":8" /> and selection of vulnerable employees into the profession.<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal |last1=Madsen |first1=Ida E. H. |last2=Aust |first2=Birgit |last3=Burr |first3=Hermann |last4=Carneiro |first4=Isabella Gomes |last5=Diderichsen |first5=Finn |last6=Rugulies |first6=Reiner |date=July 2012 |title=Paid Care Work and Depression: A Longitudinal Study of Antidepressant Treatment in Female Eldercare Workers Before and After Entering Their Profession: Antidepressant Rates in Eldercare Workers |journal=Depression and Anxiety |language=en |volume=29 |issue=7 |pages=605–613 |doi=10.1002/da.21940|doi-access=free |pmid=22473936 }}</ref> On an organizational level, high job strain,<ref name=":9" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rantonen |first1=O. |last2=Alexanderson |first2=K. |last3=Pentti |first3=J. |last4=Kjeldgård |first4=L. |last5=Hämäläinen |first5=J. |last6=Mittendorfer-Rutz |first6=E. |last7=Kivimäki |first7=M. |last8=Vahtera |first8=J. |last9=Salo |first9=P. |date=December 2017 |title=Trends in work disability with mental diagnoses among social workers in Finland and Sweden in 2005–2012 |journal=Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences |language=en |volume=26 |issue=6 |pages=644–654 |doi=10.1017/S2045796016000597 |issn=2045-7960 |pmc=6999035 |pmid=27608540}}</ref> organizational culture and work overload<ref name=":8" /> are important factors. 

There is a difference in gender.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":7" /> When comparing to their same-gender counterparts in other professions, men in social work have a higher risk than women.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /> Male social workers, when compared to men in other professions, have a 70% increased risk of being diagnosed with depression or anxiety disorders.<ref name=":4" /> Female social workers have an increased risk of 20% when comparing to women in other professions.<ref name=":4" /> This might be due the baseline prevalence of common mental disorders, which is high among women and lower among men in the general population.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Farhane-Medina |first1=Naima Z. |last2=Luque |first2=Bárbara |last3=Tabernero |first3=Carmen |last4=Castillo-Mayén |first4=Rosario |date=October 2022 |title=Factors associated with gender and sex differences in anxiety prevalence and comorbidity: A systematic review |journal=Science Progress |language=en |volume=105 |issue=4 |pages=003685042211354 |doi=10.1177/00368504221135469 |pmid=36373774 |issn=0036-8504|pmc=10450496 }}</ref> Another potential explanation is that men in gender-balanced workplaces tend to seek help from healthcare providers more often than men in male-dominated industries.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Milner |first1=A. |last2=Scovelle |first2=A. J. |last3=King |first3=T. |date=December 2019 |title=Treatment-seeking differences for mental health problems in male- and non-male-dominated occupations: evidence from the HILDA cohort |journal=Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences |language=en |volume=28 |issue=6 |pages=630–637 |doi=10.1017/S2045796018000367 |issn=2045-7960 |pmc=6998979 |pmid=30033889}}</ref>