Burnout as an important factor in the psychophysiological responses to a work day in Teachers

Abstract

Burnout syndrome is an important psychosocial risk in the job context, especially in professions with a strong social interaction, as in the case of teaching. This study analyses the role of burnout in the psychophysiological responses to a work day in teachers. High burnout was related to worse mood, and higher perceived stress throughout the work day. Moreover, burnout is positively related to systolic blood pressure and negatively related to salivary cortisol levels at the beginning of the work day. Higher scores of burnout in teachers are also related to lower heart rate in the middle of the work day. The psychophysiological responses to a work day are specifi cally associated with the different burnout subscales (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment). Men presented higher diastolic blood pressure than women at the beginning and the middle of the work day. Burnout could induce an alteration in mood together with a dysregulation of the cardiovascular activity and the hypothalamopituitary-adrenocortical axis functioning in response to a work day in teachers. Moreover, our results offer different burnout-dependent patterns of relationships between psychological, cardiovascular and cortisol responses, and they suggest that gender plays a moderator role in the cardiovascular response to a work day.

Respuestas psicobiológicas en profesores al inicio y al final de un curso académico

“…In fact, in WD2 C is less pronounced during the morning and the evening compared to WD1. In addition, reduction in diurnal C amplitude was seen in a large study of groups reporting increased levels of stress (Rosmond, Dallman, & Björntorp, 1998), in subjects with burnout (Pruessner, Hellhammer & Kirschbaum, 1999, Moya-Albiol et al 2010a) and in female teachers with allostatic load (Bellingrath, Weigl & Kudielka, 2009). Dahlgren et al (2006) concluded that fatigue and exhaustion may be related to individual differences in the C response to stress.…”

“…Moreover, it has been observed that negative mood autorregulation has positive effects on the way of coping with stressful events in a working day (Mearns & Cain, 2003). In this sense, negative mood and PS has been positively related to burnout during a working day (Moya-Albiol, Serrano & Salvador, 2010a) and in stress situations (Flynn & James, 2009). Furthermore, positive affect is related to favorable profiles of functioning in several biological systems (Steptoe & Wardle, 2005).…”

“…Concretely, BP levels increase in periods of high stress in teachers (Ritvanen, Louhevaara, Helin, Väisänen & Hän-ninen, 2006), living negative emotions during the day, especially when people suffer emotional inestability (Greiner, Krause, Ragland & Fisher, 2004) or with high burnout (Moya-Albiol et al 2010a). Moreover, a heightened cardiovascular reactivity to acute stress can contribute to longitudinal changes in BP in middle-aged people (Steptoe & Marmot, 2005).…”

“…Day-to-day experiences are important as they can be considered the onset of all the changes that lead to disease. In fact, changes in blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) have been associated with PS (Pollard, Pearce, Rousham & Schwartz, 2007) and mood variations (Moya-Albiol et al 2010a) during a working day. Kamarck et al (1998) hypothesized that emotional changes are the mechanism by means of which life events elicit cardiovascular reactions, probably due to the cumulative experience (Alonzo, 1999).…”

Evaluating Psychosocial Variables and Their Link to Hypertension Using Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

“…140,141,143 Two studies assessed perceived stress based on a single question 140,141 and 1 study developed more elaborate questionnaires. 143 All studies except 1 used a reliable method of blood pressure measurement.…”