# Longitudinal Trajectories of Workplace Violence and Worker Health Among Child Protective Services Workers

> **NIH ALLCDC R03** · FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY · 2023 · $77,000

## Abstract

Abstract
Workplace violence, or the act or threat of verbal abuse or physical violence directed toward workers
completing their jobs, is rampant and harmful to workers in the health and social assistance sector. Estimates
suggest that 62% to 97% of these workers experience violence in their careers. Moreover, violence in the
sector has risen over the last decade, and, an apparent surge during the Coronavirus pandemic poses an
“international emergency” undermining health systems. The human and economic tolls of workplace violence
are high including physical injury, psychological illness, lost productivity, and lower service quality. Workers in
this sector have a non-fatal workplace injury rate 5 times that of all U.S. workers (10.4 vs. 2.1 per 10,000
workers) and account for 73% of U.S. workplace injuries. One group in this sector, Child Protective Services
(CPS) workers, responsible for investigating and providing services to families with alleged or verified child
abuse or neglect, are particularly vulnerable to violence, specifically client violence in which the perpetrator
becomes violent while receiving client services. The nature of CPS work (e.g., threat of child removal, hostile
clients, dangerous neighborhoods) places workers in unique and violent-prone environments. The overall goal
of this project is to examine the longitudinal prevalence and health consequences of client violence among
CPS workers. Specifically, this study aims to (1) determine the 3-year longitudinal trajectories of client violence
by subtype (i.e., verbal abuse, threat, physical); (2) test the role of client violence in predicting worker health
over time; and (3) determine the extent to which client violence trajectories and job demands and supports
interact to influence workers’ health trajectories. We will use data from the Florida Study of Professionals for
Safe Families (FSPSF), a statewide, longitudinal cohort study of CPS workers (N = 1,500) that we collected to
provide insight into CPS work and worker wellbeing. This project is significant because it responds to
NIOSH’s (2019) Strategic Goal 1 by tracking work-related injuries and illnesses and generating knowledge to
inform intervention strategies. Moreover, analyzing worker attributes; job demands and supports; violence type
and accumulation; and health consequences addresses NORA’s (2019) Research Agenda Objective 3 by
examining the epidemiology of workplace violence and identifying strategies for prevention and mitigation. The
project offers conceptual innovation by examining client violence and worker health longitudinally among a
cohort of CPS workers over the first three years on the job, the time of highest turnover and increased risk of
violence. Our use of advanced statistical longitudinal modeling to provide stronger evidence of explanatory
pathways not determined in current research is methodologically innovative. The frequency and intensity of
client violence among the health and social assistance...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10691367
- **Project number:** 5R03OH012395-02
- **Recipient organization:** FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Melissa Radey
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** ALLCDC
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $77,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-09-01 → 2024-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10691367

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10691367, Longitudinal Trajectories of Workplace Violence and Worker Health Among Child Protective Services Workers (5R03OH012395-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10691367. Licensed CC0.

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