Awareness of Self—A Critical Tool

This paper discusses the applications of self-awareness to all levels of clinical practice, and the urgency for its development in social work students; self-reflectiveness builds clinical competence, can prevent boundary violations and burnout, and offers protection against client violence. It is a basic cornerstone for the development of the professional self, which is the foundation for evolving professional maturation. Students need guidance in becoming aware of how their own feelings, attitudes, and relationships with clients are major factors in the helping process in all service settings, and further, that helping others is in itself a process. Students are generally idealistic, and wish to ease suffering, without understanding the obstacles to be overcome, nor how they themselves would be involved in the process. Social work education, dominated by cognitive-behavioral theories and evidence-based treatments, reinforces students' own tendencies to offer advice and to provide the ‘right solution’ to clients' problems. Educational recommendations for developing self-reflectiveness include: reclaiming psychodynamic theories; emphasizing self-awareness academically and in the field; utilizing process recording; and providing special educational opportunities such as video labs and observational experiences.     

Predictors of Job Satisfaction and Burnout in Child Abuse Professionals: Coping,Cognition, and Victimization History

ABSTRACT

This study investigated coping style, work-related cognition, and victimization history as predictors of job satisfaction and burnout in child abuse professionals. Subjects were 215 participants in a conference on sexual abuse victim treatment. We developed a questionnaire assessing a variety of cognitions related to work with human services clients. One of the findings was that job satisfaction showed no relation to items portraying simple optimism or pessimism about helping clients, but satisfaction was related to a number of cognitions that combined realism and hope in a distinctive fashion. The coping strategies of Planful Problem Solving, Positive Reappraisal, and Seeking Social Support were associated with positive work experience, and the coping mechanisms of Confrontive Coping, Escape/Avoidance, and Accepting Responsibility were associated with negative work experience. Job satisfaction was higher in subjects reporting a childhood history of sexual abuse or neglect.     

The construct validity of an alternative measure of burnout: Investigating the English translation of the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory

While the most commonly employed burnout measure has been the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), researchers have been troubled by some of the psychometric limitations of that scale (e.g. wording of the scale items) as well as the limited conceptualization of burnout upon which it is based. As a result, Demerouti et al. have developed an alternative measure of burnout, the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI). The purpose of this paper is to develop evidence for the validity and reliability of an English-language translation of the OLBI. As such, this study is among the first validation studies of the OLBI, and the first to assess the characteristics of the OLBI an English-speaking sample. Using data from 2599 employees across two samples from the United States (a generalized sample of working adults and a sample of fire department employees), our preliminary multi-trait, multi-method (MTMM) and confirmatory factor analyses suggested that the OLBI may be a viable alternative to the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS). It demonstrates acceptable reliability (test-retest reliability and internal consistency) as well as factorial, convergent, and discriminant validity. We discuss the implications of this study for the measurement and conceptualization of burnout and suggest a variety of research directions that stem from our findings. Our findings suggest that the OLBI offers researchers an alternative measure of burnout that offers balanced wording, that can also be used to measure the opposite phenomenon (engagement), and provides an expanded conceptualization of the exhaustion component of burnout.     

Anxiety, burnout and coping styles in general hospital staff exposed to workplace aggression: a cyclical model of burnout and vulnerability to aggression

Although an increasing problem, the aggression ( physical assault, threatening behaviour and verbal aggression) directed toward general hospital staff rather than staff in psychiatric institutions has not been widely investigated. The present study first compared anxiety, coping styles and burnout according to the frequency of aggressive experiences. Second, a sub-sample was examined to determine any immediate after-effects from aggressive encounters. Healthcare staff ( n = 375) across professions completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Coping Responses Inventory, which were analysed according to the type and frequency of aggression experienced within the preceding year. There were no significant differences in levels of anxiety or in coping styles. However, significant differences were determined in levels of burnout. Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization were significantly higher in those staff more frequently victimized suggesting that aggressive encounters might lead to an increase in burnout. Equally, the converse might be true. Therefore, a cyclical model is put forward in which we propose that elevated levels of burnout from all sources might increase vulnerability to victimization. Increases in emotional exhaustion lead directly to an increase in depersonalization as a coping mechanism, which subsequently manifests as a negative behavioural change toward patients, thus rendering staff more vulnerable to further aggression.     

The behaviour of police officers in conflict situations: how burnout and reduced dominance contribute to better outcomes

Dominance plays an important part in police-civilian interactions. However, burnout is associated with a reduction in dominance, and this might, paradoxically, lead to more effective outcomes in conflict situations. There is a lack of knowledge about the effects of burnout in professional practice, and this multi-method study was conducted to better understand these dynamics. It is unique in that it combined self-reported burnout with observed behaviour in interactions with civilians. In this study, the relationships between the imbalance between demands and rewards, occupational burnout and police officers' behaviour in conflict situations (in terms of dominance and effectiveness) were examined. A questionnaire was used to assess job demands, rewards and burnout among 358 Dutch police officers. In addition, police officers' interactions with civilians were observed over 122 days. The results of structural equation modelling analyses showed that the imbalance between job demands and rewards was predictive of burnout (emotional exhaustion and depersonalization). Burnout, in its turn, predicted a decrease in dominant behaviour in conflict situations and, consequently, more effective conflict outcomes. These findings show that reduced dominance associated with burnout could in fact have positive consequences for professional behaviour in conflict situations. The benefits of reduced dominance in these situations should be taken into account in the training of professionals.     

Burnout in Greek teachers: Main findings and validity of the Maslach Burnout Inventory

The factorial structure of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach and Jackson 1986) was investigated in a sample of 220 Greek teachers and was found to be similar to that reported by Maslach and Jackson. A job satisfaction measure was employed for the investigation of the discriminant validity of the burnout measure. Correlations between job satisfaction and the three burnout dimensions were found to be low to moderate. It is suggested that the relationship and the degree of overlap between emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction require further examination. Greek teachers reported lower levels of burnout on the emotional exhaustion and depersonalization scales than teachers in other countries. Finally, younger teachers experienced more emotional exhaustion than older ones and primary education teachers experienced more personal accomplishment and less depersonalization than their counterparts in secondary education.     

The role of work-related personal projects during two burnout interventions: a longitudinal study

Burnout is nowadays a common problem among employees, and a new approach to reduce its extent is needed. This study looked at burnout interventions in terms of personal goals and/or projects. These represent what individuals are striving to achieve, and include work-related goals. Our aim was to examine the extent to which two kinds of burnout intervention, in the form of different types of psychotherapy, influence employees' personal projects. The two types of therapy were psychoanalytic and experiential, both in the form of group therapy. To determine the extent, 62 employees who had contacted the Helsinki Occupational Health Services suffering from severe burnout participated, in the course of a single year, in 16 sessions of either analytic or experiential group psychotherapy. In addition, 28 employees suffering from severe burnout served as controls. All the participants filled in Little's Personal Project Analysis and the Bergen Burnout Indicator one month before the intervention, in the middle of the intervention and one month after the intervention. The results showed that among participants in the intervention groups the level of burnout decreased. Further, the number of work-related personal projects, project-related negative emotions, and tendencies towards negative action, decreased among those in the intervention groups compared to the control group. Moreover, project-related progress, social support and managing project-related emotions increased during the intervention. Finally, the results showed that when the negative emotions related to personal projects decreased during intervention, the level of burnout also decreased.     

Whether Professional Training Matters: Attitudinal Antecedents to the Turnover Intentions of Social Workers in Guangzhou,China

This study aims to identify whether the professional training of social workers has an effect on the attitudinal antecedents of turnover intention. This study investigated 395 trained and 353 non-trained social workers from the Integrated Family Service Centers in Guangzhou, China. It was found that professional education did not significantly alter the attitudinal antecedents to turnover intention. In both groups, a higher feeling of burnout or a lower level of organizational commitment produced a higher intention of turnover. Furthermore, the significant influences of burnout and organizational commitment were found to be respectively mediated by job satisfaction with professional association or job satisfaction with organizational environment. This study not only provides insights into the stabilization of the emerging workforce of Chinese social workers, but also poses serious questions about social work education.     

工作倦怠研究的回顾与思考

本文主要回顾了工作倦怠近三十年来的研究成果与进展,包括工作倦怠的概念与主要影响因素、资源保存理论、工作需求———资源模型。从工作倦怠的维度构建和测量工具的改进、跨文化研究、过程机制、方法论等几个方面提出了进一步的研究思考。