Wellness
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Leadership
Dr. Austin Griffiths is an Assistant Professor at Western Kentucky University and the Director of the Center for Child Welfare Education and Research. Previously a child welfare practitioner in the commonwealth of Kentucky, Dr. Griffiths is passionate about improving the lives of vulnerable children and their families, as well as supporting and advocating for a healthy and vibrant child welfare workforce.
Dr. Kim Link is an Assistant Professor of Nursing at Western Kentucky University and a Scholar for the Center for Child Welfare Education and Research. Dr. Link has 14 years of experience working as a Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. She has worked with many clients and families who have been the recipient of child welfare services. She understands the immense pressure that frontline child welfare workers face on a daily basis and wants to use her psychiatric nursing background to assist these workers with better understanding their stress levels and how they can better manage their stress to improve their overall health.
Dr. Kara Haughtigan is an Assistant Professor of Nursing at Western Kentucky University. Dr. Haughtigan has 31 years of experience as a Registered Nurse, with over 9 years working as an Adult Nurse Practitioner. She has worked with many individuals evaluating and treating both acute and chronic physical health conditions which can be impacted by stress.
Overview
The Kentucky Child Welfare Workforce Wellness Initiative is an interdisciplinary and collaborative pilot study that combines three public agencies: Kentucky's Department for Community Based Services, Western Kentucky University, and Lifeskills (south central Kentucky’s regional community mental health care provider).
The research team consists of Drs. Austin Griffiths, Kimberly Link, and Kara Haughtigan, faculty members at Western Kentucky University, and will focus on the health and wellness of a sample of frontline public child welfare workers in south-central Kentucky. Child welfare workers are subject to significant job stress, yet little is known about the actual health consequences associated with working in this position.
This project will integrate wearable objective biometric assessment technology which is an important and innovative component in this project. Specifically, the research team will continually collect data on a number of key personal health related indicators that are known to be influenced by the job stress associated with working in child welfare (i.e. blood pressure, heartrate, weight, steps, stress level, heart rate variability, quality of sleep).
The research team will use a longitudinal design to evaluate the workers’ responses to job stress in the following areas: 1) Physical Health; 2) Mental Health; 3) Overall Well-being; and 4) Work-Life Balance. After the collection of baseline data, participants will have an opportunity to participate in a Mindfulness-Based Intervention (MBI), delivered virtually and through live sessions. MBIs have been shown to assist participants in positively responding to stress, anxiety, depression, and pain.
After feedback and refinement, the protocol will be launched with a new sample of child welfare workers in surrounding counties to develop an evidence-based model that will be of statewide and national interest. Vulnerable populations depend on a healthy and stable child welfare workforce, and child welfare workforce turnover has been a significant problem for decades--one that continues to affect practice, permanency, and children’s lives.
The Kentucky Child Welfare Workforce Wellness Initiative is a grant-funded project supported by Kentucky’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Department for Medicaid Services, State University Partnership Program, and the Kentucky Social Welfare Foundation.
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