Burnout Among Primary School Teachers in the Wazzane Region in Morocco: Prevalence and Risk Factors

Abstract

Introduction: Burnout is a real malaise that affects the mental health of teachers. The objective is to determine the prevalence of burnout among primary school teachers in the Wazzane region and to look for associated risk factors. Methods: Descriptive crosssectional study conducted in 2017-2018 with a sample of 330 teachers. Socio-demographic and work-related data were assessed by a self-administered questionnaire and the Karasek Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) the Karasek, the burnout by the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Results: 330 teachers participated in the study with a male predominance of 62.4% and an average age of 38.4 (SD = 8.9). The average scores for emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment were (21.8 ± 9.2); (14.1 ± 9.9) and (15.1 ± 8.4) respectively. Pathologically, emotional exhaustion was high in 23.9%, depersonalization was high in 24.2% and personal accomplishment was low in 26.1% of participants. 46.6% were victims of burnout, of which 23.9% had a low level; 14.2% had a moderate level and 8.5% had severe burnout. Logistic regression analysis showed that the predictors of burnout were female gender (p<0.01), Problems of equipment didactic (p<0.01), student demotivation (p<0.05), conflict with colleagues (p<0.05), work overload (p<0.01) and low decision-making autonomy (p<0.01).Conclusion: These results justify the interest of a prevention program and intervention at different levels to protect teachers.

Work-related burnout among public secondary school teachers is significantly influenced by the psychosocial work factors: a cross-sectional study from Ethiopia

“…Furthermore, student demotivation was a predictor of WRB in the current study, which is consistent with previous studies conducted in the USA (Aloe et al, 2014) and Morocco (Amri et al, 2021). Student demotivation problems disrupt the teaching-learning process or interfere with the orderly operation of the classroom, so teachers spend a considerable amount of time and energy dealing with student's disruptive behavior, so this can cause anger and frustration for teachers, these repeated experiences of frustration and anger in response to students lead to WRB (Aloe et al, 2014).…”

“…The result of our study showed that job demand was significantly associated with WRB. This is consistent with findings from Sweden ( Arvidsson et al, 2019 ), Indonesia ( Ramdan et al, 2020 ), and Morocco ( Amri et al, 2021 ). A possible explanation could be that an increase in high job demands and work tasks may lead to increased time pressure, and less freedom to determine how work is carried out may contribute to increased WRB ( Arvidsson et al, 2019 ).…”

“…Our study found a higher prevalence of WRB compared to the studies in Namibia (28.8%) ( Louw et al, 2011 ), the Republic of Srpska (5.1%) ( Marić et al, 2020 ), Morocco (23.9%) ( Amri et al, 2021 ), and Tunisia (27.4%) ( Chennoufi et al, 2012 ). On the other hand, our study found a lower prevalence of WRB compared to studies in Malaysia (50%) ( Subon and Sigie, 2016 ), the USA (52%) ( Rumschlag, 2017 ), and Indonesia (73.3%) ( Ramdan et al, 2020 ).…”

“…The data in our study were collected at the end of the school year, so teachers may have higher levels of burnout at the end of the school year ( Marić et al, 2020 ). Another possible reason for the difference could be due to teachers’ coping strategies to deal with stressors, cultures of reporting distress, definitions, and levels of perception of WRB across countries ( Amri et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Student demotivation was measured by 4 items related to school work (5-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree, α = 0.85). A score of 19 or higher indicates that participants experience problems due to student demotivation ( Amri et al, 2021 ).…”