The Effects Of Job-specific Role Stresses And Personal Control On Burnout And Other Psychological Strains Among Child Welfare Workers.

Abstract

Burnout is a serious but not well understood problem in human service organizations. To gain a better understanding, burnout was conceptualized as a psychological strain and examined within a theoretical framework of human stress. Within this framework, it was compared with another job-specific psychological strain, job dissatisfaction. Two sets of hypotheses served as the central focus of this study: (1) perceived role stresses produce psychological strains, and (2) personal control reduces psychological strains by reducing perceived role stresses and the impact of perceived role stresses on psychological strains. Predictions based on these hypotheses were tested using survey data obtained from 205 female, state child welfare workers. As predicted, most perceived role stresses were positively correlated with most psychological strains including burnout, measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory (1981). Also, as predicted, personal control was negatively correlated with psychological strains including burnout. Little evidence was found to suggest that personal control reduces psychological strains by reducing perceived job-specific role stresses or by reducing the impact of these stresses on psychological strains. In general, burnout and job dissatisfaction appear to respond in similar ways to the perceived role stresses examined here and to personal control. However, burnout appears to bear associations with some stresses and general personal control which do not overlap with those of job dissatisfaction. In particular, perceived role overload appears to have an association with depersonalization and with emotional exhaustion that is independent of its association with job dissatisfaction. The results reported here provide some support for future examinations of burnout as a distinct job-specific psychological strain within the theoretical framework of human stress. They also provide some support for strategies aimed at reducing burnout among child welfare workers by reducing perceived role stresses and increasing personal control.