Burnout in Education.

Abstract

The study was undertaken to discover how various teachers, counselors and administrators view their jobs and the people with whom they work closely; how their perceptions relate to burnout; and how often they use the support of family, friends, colleagues and professionals when coping with stress and burnout. The Maslach Burnout Inventory was administered to 358 teachers, counselors and administrators in order to assess their perceptions of the intensity of burnout that they had experienced. The inventory consists of subscales tapping three basic phases of the burnout syndrome: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment feelings. The Maslach Burnout Inventory has been found to be reliable, valid and easy to administer. One aspect of interpersonal relations, social support, has been hypothesized to be a buffer against poor physical or mental health and as a defense against burnout. In an attempt to measure how often respondents use the support of family, friends, colleagues and professionals, items relating to support group use were added to the inventory. Mean scores and st and ard deviations were computed for all of the items on the Maslach Burnout Inventory, as well as for the items relating to social support. Comparisons were made by conducting one-way analysis of variance and t-tests between individuals in the various categories studied. Comparisons were also made between the results of the original Maslach/Jackson study and the present study. Findings from the original Maslach/Jackson study and the present study are similar for the emotional exhaustion subscale and very similar for the depersonalization and personal accomplishment subscales. These findings indicate that individuals from both studies view their jobs, the people with whom they work closely and their personal accomplishments in much the same way. The current data seem to indicate that teachers, counselors and administrators at all levels have experienced being emotionally drained from their work, frustrated by their job, used up at the end of the day and fatigued when they get up in the morning and have to face another day on the job. In addition, they report having experienced feelings that working with people all day is a strain, that they are working too hard on the job, that working directly with people puts too much stress on them, that they are "at the end of their rope" and that they feel burned out from their work. It also appears that educators in general experience fairly intense feelings of emotional exhaustion, yet they do not report frequent utilization of the support networks that are available to them. Social support, however, has been recommended as a defense against burnout for members of all types of human service organizations. It has been speculated that high levels of social support from coworkers, supervisors and family will protect or buffer individuals in all types of high stress situations from poor physical or mental health. The overall findings of this study suggest a need for the development of preservice and inservice programs relating to stress and its causes; burnout and its causes; psychological and physiological implications of stress and burnout; holistic approaches to stress management; perception and the misconception of stress; exercise, diet; relaxation techniques; barriers to effective stress management; problem solving; conflict resolution; balance in lifestyle; and consulting with colleagues undergoing stress. In addition, the development of a "mentor" system, where an experienced educator would be assigned to work with new individuals, and the organization of staff development programs on how to develop building-level support networks for teachers, could also be helpful.