Students pursuing an MSW who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) are experiencing some aspects of burnout more than their white counterparts, especially in the area of feeling effective in their profession.
That’s according to a new study, “Taking off the Cape: Removing the Cloak of Invincibility to Support BIPOC Graduate Students,” conducted by five School of Social Work faculty members, who wanted to determine students’ stress levels and explore strategies to help them.
The team includes Alicia Johnson, Clinical Assistant Professor and Principal Investigator; Aliya Durham, Director of Community Engagement; Deborah Robinson, Field Assistant Professor; Yodit Betru, Director of the MSW program; and Toya Jones, Director of the BASW Program. They looked at three aspects of burnout—exhaustion, cynicism, and efficacy. Seventy students completed surveys and joined focus groups.
The data revealed:
- Thirty-nine percent of MSW students had full-time jobs; more BIPOC than white students were working fulltime and going to school full-time;
- White students felt more effective in their work than the students of color;
- BIPOC students felt they needed to do something to improve their situation, whereas White students put the onus on the system or the structures within the School; and
- Both BIPOC and White students were aware that supports were available but felt too burned out to access them.
“Burnout is an occupational hazard for social workers,” explained Johnson.
The idea began percolating when Jones mentioned how exhausted she was after defending her dissertation – more exhausted, she felt, than other members of her cohort. The emerging research team, all female faculty of color, discussed everything on their plates – caring for children and elderly parents, working full-time, working on dissertations, and pursuing their own education while also supporting students. They wondered if the MSW students felt the same burdens.
Johnson said BIPOC students talked about feeling tokenized in classes and how tiring it is to constantly speak out on behalf of Black people or Black college students.
“They feel there are some professors who are not culturally competent, and so they feel the need to speak up. And it can be exhausting – being the representative for the entire Black race,” she said. She adds that some of these students feel enormous pressure if they are the first person in their family pursuing a graduate degree or if they are the main family breadwinner.
The researchers now want to collaborate with other Pitt units – the University Counseling Center, the Office for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, and Disability Resources and Services.
They want to see processes streamlined so that accommodations and supports that are currently available for BASW students can carry over to the MSW program. They want the Counseling Center services made even more accessible. And they want to take a closer look at recruiting more BIPOC students into Pitt’s fellowship programs, many of which offer financial support.
What they don’t want to see is students of color burning out at a young age and leaving the profession.
“We need clinicians of color in the field,” Johnson said. “Clients do better when they have a therapist who they feel understands them. That really is a driving factor for us.”