Professionals under stress: A review of burnout among the helping professions with implications for school psychologists

Abstract

Based upon a review of the literature regarding burnout among the helping professions, this article discusses organizational, interpersonal, and intrapersonal conditions that may create or exacerbate problems of burnout among school psychologists. Suggestions for coping with burnout in school settings are presented. The need for a research agenda related to burnout among school psychologists is underscored.

Personality and burnout among school psychologists

“…The general finding that individuals who are not well adjusted are more prone to burnout is important, in that attempts at intervention for burnout such as stress management (Huebner, 1993) may not be enough. It may be more important to select welladjusted individuals for training programs in school psychology or for high-stress school psychology positions rather than trying to intervene before or after burnout.…”

“…The MBI has been used in other research on burnout among school psychologists (Aronin & Kubelun, 1981; Huberty & Huebner, 1988; Huebner, 1992). It is a paperand-pencil self-report in which the respondent indicates the frequency and occurrence of 22 behaviors from never (0) to every day (6).…”

“…Huebner (1993) has recently reviewed the literature on burnout among school psychologists and other professionals examining three categories of factors related to burnout: organizational factors (role ambiguity, role conflict and role overload, lack of resources), interpersonal factors (quality of peer and supervisory interactions), and intrapersonal factors (personality traits and competencies in school psychologists). The first two factors have been studied suggesting that burnout is related to lack of resources, interpersonal conflicts, unclear performance expectations, lack of supervisory support, and perceived heavy caseloads coupled with insufficient time (see Huebner, 1993, for a comprehensive review). Most of the research to date has focused on the relationship between burnout and demographic variables, job-related stressors, and role conflicts, and these factors have been thought to be more influential than intrapersonal variables in accounting for the variance in burnout (Huebner, 1993).…”

“…The first two factors have been studied suggesting that burnout is related to lack of resources, interpersonal conflicts, unclear performance expectations, lack of supervisory support, and perceived heavy caseloads coupled with insufficient time (see Huebner, 1993, for a comprehensive review). Most of the research to date has focused on the relationship between burnout and demographic variables, job-related stressors, and role conflicts, and these factors have been thought to be more influential than intrapersonal variables in accounting for the variance in burnout (Huebner, 1993).…”

“…School psychology is not a stress-free profession. There is high turnover among school psychologists (Connolly & Reschly, 1990) and a high level of burnout (Huberty & Huebner, 1988;Huebner, 1992;Reiner & Hartshorne, 1982). Burnout has been described as a condition occurring in human services professions that is characterized by a high level of emotional exhaustion, a sense of depersonalization, and a sense of reduced personal accomplishment (Maslach & Jackson, 1986).…”