Page 48 - IJPS-9-2

International Journal of
Population Studies Professional quality of life – a mediation model

feel close to the children I work with.” of having their correlations enhanced due to the presence
of common method variance (CMV) (Lindell & Whitney,
2.4. Data analysis 2001). The authors of this study chose Harman’s Single-
The following packages for the R software environment Factor Test as a technique to identify CMV and used
(R Core Team, 2020) were used: the Lavaan package Jasp software to implement this method. Because the
(Rosseel, 2012) was used to perform the statistical analysis percentage of variance explained by the factor is smaller
through SEM; the psych package (Revelle, 2020) was than 50% (18.3%), it can be concluded that CMV does not
used to perform the descriptive analysis. Jasp software affect the quality of this study.
version 0.12.2 (Jasp, 2020) was employed to test common
method bias. 3. Results
As SEM deals with intangible concepts, latent The descriptive analyses showed that 58% of foster parents
variables were taken into account. To determine the perceived themselves as having a parent-child relationship
latent variables of the model, the reference variable with the child in their care, while 35% think of the child as
method was utilized. This method requires assigning being part of the family. 63% of specialists considered that
a value of one to the unstandardized coefficient of they have a sufficiently close relationship with the children
each respective latent variable, providing a unit of they work with. Only 4% of the specialists perceived
measurement for each variable (Bollen, 1989). Burnout themselves as not being close to the children they work
and STS were brought together to form the CF factor, with. Regarding the exposure to ACEs, 12% of child
and the Depend, Close, and Anxiety components were protection professionals reported no ACEs, 27% reported
brought together to form the attachment factor. They 1 ACE and 48% of the employees reported between 2 and
can be seen in the graphical model in Figure 1 as ovals. 5 ACEs. Burnout was identified as being low for at least
The study variables were evaluated using a path model 70% of foster parents, social workers, and psychologists.
for latent variables. Within this model, there were Similarly, STS levels were considered low for most child
linear connections between each variable: ACEs as an protection employees. Approximately 83% of child
antecedent of attachment security and closeness in the protection professionals had a secure attachment.
child-employee dyad, which culminate in more or less Pearson correlations between the study variables
CF and compassion satisfaction. are presented in Table 1. For example, there is a positive

Studies that examine the connection between attitudes association between ACEs and burnout (r = 0.31, p < 0.001),
and behavior using a cross-sectional approach are at risk and between ACEs and the severity of STS among child
protection professionals (r = 0.26, p < 0.001), and a negative
association between ACEs and CS (r = −0.22, p < 0.01).
There are significant correlations between closeness and
the components of the PQL.
According to Shi & Maydeu-Olivares (2020), the
most frequently employed estimation method for fitting
SEM models that involve continuous outcomes is the
maximum likelihood (ML). The following fit indices were
used to evaluate model fit: the root mean square error of
approximation (RMSEA = 0.087 [90% CI: 0.055 – 0.120]);
the comparative fit index (CFI: 0.951); the standardized
root mean square residual (SRMR: 0.063). The full model
can be seen in Figure 1. In accordance with Bowlby’s
attachment theory (1988), the present study found that
ACEs had a significant inverse correlation with secure
attachments (β = −0.25). This implies that individuals who
experienced more ACEs were less likely to feel securely
attached to others.
The mediation analysis of the effect of secure attachment
and closeness on the relationship between ACEs and the
Figure 1. Structural equation modeling for mediation analysis of adverse
childhood experiences as a driver of professional quality of life via PQL components was performed with SEM. The following
attachment security and closeness in child-employee dyad. direct and indirect effects were estimated: ACEs have

Volume 9 Issue 2 (2023) 42 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.0884