1. Practicing What We Preach
Text Messaging Intervention to
Encourage Social Workers to Take
Time For Themselves

2. Parameters of Intervention
Text Message: Control Group
I am the most important
person in my life. I should take
at least 15 minutes to do
something for myself.
Text Message: Experimental
Group
I am the most important
person in my life. It’s okay to
take at least 15 minutes to do
something for myself.
What I Measured
1. If they took the time to do something
for themselves.
Responded Yes or No
2. How long they spent doing something
for themselves each day.
Give me the amount of time in
minutes
Operationalize “Doing
something for themselves”
They had to do something where
they were only giving to themselves.
So although going out a date would
make them happy, they would still be
expending energy and attention on
someone else.
Method
I sent them the text message twice a
day.

3. Results: Comparing Measures
Yes or No
Between Group Comparison
Blue/Series 1- Control Group
Red/Series 2- Experimental Group
Between Group Comparison
Blue/Series 1- Control Group
Red/Series 2- Experimental Group
How Many Minutes

4. Qualitative Results
It made me more
conscious that I
don’t take enough
time for myself
It was good
motivation
With all of the roles I
have, I really need to
make sure I have time
for myself instead of
just living each day
doing regular duties.
It was nice getting
an affirming text
message everyday.
I really liked having a
reminder. It kinda forced me
to do something for myself. I
wish I could get those
always.
Sometimes it came at a time
of day when I was super busy
at work and it didn’t stay
fresh on my mind. However, I
did take time this week to
consciously, which is
something I don’t usually do.
It’s good to focus on the fact
that you’re doing something
for self-care purposes, not just
because you enjoy it. As social
workers , we know we should
do it and we coach our clients
about its importance. But we
forget to practice it.
It really made me
think about taking
better care of
myself.

5. Conclusions
• Social workers need to be reminded to take time for
themselves.
• It is important to encourage them to do something active for
themselves (i.e. more than laying on the couch) and
something that would only benefit them.
– In the beginning, many of them told me they went out with friends
or played with their children. I had to specify that things like that
didn’t count because they weren’t just giving to themselves.
• It is easy for social workers to do something for someone else
but not for themselves.
• It may be necessary to give social workers permission versus
just telling them they should. They know they should but don’t
take time for self-care.
• This intervention may be something that agencies and
organizations can do to improve the mental health of their
social workers.