The Impact of Structured Training on Knowledge and Perceived Job Performance of Child Support Professionals

Using data from the New Jersey Child Support Institute, this article evaluated the professional knowledge of child support workers before and after a training program and examined how changes in knowledge influenced their perceived job performance. The findings found that child support workers only answered 54.5% of the questions correctly on the pre-training assessment. The training program significantly improved workers' knowledge of child support enforcement and that the increase in knowledge was associated with a 0.64 standard deviations of perceived job improvement for worker. The findings highlight the importance of training in a continually changing profession.