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Changes in the education system in Ecuador have increased the workload of university teachers, producing stress and burnout. This study analyses the relation between work overload, coping styles and emotional exhaustion in a sample of 202 university teachers by using a hierarchical regression model analysis. The results show that work overload and evasive coping are positively related to emotional exhaustion, while active coping is negatively related to emotional exhaustion. Evasive coping moderated the relationship between work overload and emotional exhaustion so that teachers who use more evasive coping in situations of high work overload experience less burnout than teachers who use this coping style less. Finally, we discuss the limitations of this study and its theoretical and practical contributions for university professors in Latin American contexts.

Burnout is a highly prevalent globalized health issue that causes significant physical and psychological health problems. In Latin America research on this topic has increased in recent years, however there are no studies comparing results across countries, nor normative reference cut-offs. The present meta-analysis examines the intensity of burnout (emotional exhaustion, cynicism and personal accomplishment) in 58 adult nonclinical samples from 8 countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela). We found low intensity of burnout but there are significant differences between countries in emotional exhaustion explained by occupation and language. Social and human service professionals (police officers, social workers, public administration staff) are more exhausted than health professionals (physicians, nurses) or teachers. The samples with Portuguese language score higher in emotional exhaustion than Spanish, supporting the theory of cultural relativism. Demographics (sex, age) and study variables (sample size, instrument), were not found significant to predict burnout. The effect size and confidence intervals found are proposed as a useful baseline for research and medical diagnosis of burnout in Latin American countries.

Título: Lidiando con el burnout: Análisis de relaciones lineales, no lineales y de interacción. Resumen: Este estudio analiza la relación entre el afrontamiento centrado en la acción y en la emoción y las dimensiones del burnout (agotamiento emocional, cinismo y realización personal) comparando los modelos lineal, no-lineal y de interacción mediante análisis de regresión cuadrática. La muestra consistió en 202 profesores de universidad. Variables como el sexo o la edad no resultaron significativas al explicar la relación entre el afrontamiento y el burnout. Los resultados muestran relaciones significativas negativas entre el afrontamiento centrado en la emoción y el agotamiento y cinismo y positivas con la realización personal (modelo lineal). También muestran que niveles muy bajos o muy altos de afrontamiento centrado en la emoción disminuyen la realización personal de forma significativa (modelo no-lineal), y que el efecto combinado de estrategias de afrontamiento es significativo, de forma que cuando el uso de las estrategias enfocadas en la emoción es mayor que el de las enfocadas en la acción, el agotamiento aumenta y la realización personal disminuye. Estos resultados apoyan la idea de que para comprender la naturaleza flexible y adaptativa del afrontamiento y de que éste opera en un proceso combinado donde unas estrategias afectan a las otras, es de gran utilidad la aplicación de modelos nolineales y de interacción. Finalmente, se discuten las implicaciones prácti-cas para futuras investigaciones y para los programas de prevención y de intervención sobre el burnout. Palabras clave: Afrontamiento enfocado en la acción; afrontamiento enfocado en la emoción; burnout; relación lineal; relación no lineal; efecto de interacción.Abstract: This study analyzes the relationship between action-focused coping, emotion-focused coping and burnout dimensions (emotional exhaustion, cynicism and personal accomplishment) by comparing linear, non-linear and interaction models using quadratic regression analysis. The sample consisted of 202 college professors. Variables such as gender or age were not significant when explaining the relationship between coping and burnout. The results show significant negative relationships between emotion-focused coping and exhaustion and cynicism, and positive relationships with personal accomplishment (linear model). They also show that very low or very high levels of emotion-focused coping diminish personal accomplishment significantly (non-linear model), and that the combined effect of strategies is significant, so that when the use of emotion-focused coping is greater than the use of action-focused coping, exhaustion increases and personal accomplishment decreases. These results support the idea that in order to better understand the flexible and adaptive nature of coping and that it operates in a combined process where one strategy affects the other, the application of non-linear and interaction models are very useful. Finally, we discuss the practical implications for future research ...