Nursery teachers in preschool institutions facing burnout: Are personality traits attributing to its development?

Abstract

Introduction The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of burnout syndrome among nursery teachers in Belgrade's preschool institutions, and to assess the role of personality traits in its development. Materials and methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in all Belgrade’s preschool institutions. A stratified cluster sampling method was used to obtain a representative sample. Burnout was measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory- General Survey (MBI-GS). The MBI-GS adaptation was based on an internationally accepted methodology for translation and cultural adaptation. Psychometric properties of the Serbian version of the MBI-GS were analyzed through the examination of factorial structure and internal consistency. A shortened version of Big Five Plus Two questionnaire was used to measure Personality traits. Results Three hundred two health care professionals were enrolled. The mean age was 38±9.2 years and all were female. Confirmatory factor analysis validated the three-factor structure of the questionnaire (exhaustion, cynicism and professional efficacy). Overall, 251 (83.1%) respondents were found to have moderate burnout. In multiple regression analysis, positive valence and conscientiousness were significantly associated with professional efficacy. Aggressiveness, neuroticism, openness, and age, were significantly associated with exhaustion. Aggressiveness, neuroticism and additional jobs showed association with cynicism. Conclusion Present study provided the evidence for the appropriate metric properties of the Serbian version of MBI-GS. Most nurses demonstrated moderate burnout level. Personality traits are characteristics that affect presence of burnout syndrome in healthcare professionals working in preschool institutions.

Big five model personality traits and job burnout: a systematic literature review

“…On the contrary, introverted individuals tend to experience greater feelings of helplessness and lower levels of ambition [ 204 ], which instead results in a risk factor for job burnout. Although the negative association is the most frequent, some studies have found a directly proportional association between Burnout and Extraversion [ 54 ], Cynicism [ 127 , 173 ], and reduced Professional Accomplishment [ 50 , 60 , 62 , 143 , 146 , 159 ]. Again, the authors do not provide reasons for this discordant result from the literature.…”

“…The authors do not provide reasons for this discordant result from the literature. Other studies instead have found a positive association between Openness and all dimensions of Burnout [ 116 ]: Exhaustion [ 131 , 173 ], Depersonalization [ 131 ], and reduced Personal/Professional Accomplishment [ 142 ]. Finally, the longitudinal study by Ghorpade and colleagues [ 120 ] attributes Openness to the role of the positive predictor of Emotional exhaustion.…”

Special Kindergartens: Does the Risk of Burnout Depend on the Profession?

“…Intervention programmes for teachers and teaching assistants and educational activities, which are aimed at strategies to decrease psychosocial distress, emotional and spiritual support, stress management methods and techniques and psychotherapeutic support, should be implemented into practice. (Tasic et al, 2020) To motivate teachers in participations in these programs is highly essential. Another interesting tool for burnout prevention can be the use of supervision as a psychosocial support for educators.…”

Personality Dimensions of Serbian Lifeguards

“…Differences between the groups, in all analyzes, were examined using one-way multivariate analysis of variance (One-way MANOVA). The reliability of the VP+2 questionnaire dimensions was examined using Cronbach’s α coefficient [ 38 ]. All of the analyzes were performed in SPSS for Windows v22 [ 39 ].…”