An Assessment of Burnout in Human Service Providers

Abstract

Burnout is an occupational hazard for human service providers. The chronic emotional stress associated with the provision of human services produces syndrome of physical and emotional exhaustion, involving the development of negative self concept, negative job attitudes, and a loss of concern and feelings for clients (Pines & Maslach, 1978, page 224). Some individuals seem more predisposed than others to burnout. Feeling personality types (as classified by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) experience a much greater depletion of emotional energy in the face of negative reactions to people than do thinking types (Garden, 1987). In addition, those who are more likely to become emotionally involved in their work are more likely to burn out than those who have a more detached workstyle (Freudenberger, 1975). Leiter (1991) has suggested that burnout may be inevitable for all personality types, due to the conflict between the idealistic professional mystique with which aspiring human service providers are endowed during their training and the harsh realities of working in the human service profession. People who enter the human service profession expect their jobs to be full of challenging experiences. They anticipate many emotionally rewarding interactions with grateful consumers, an air of camaraderie among their coworkers, and an administration that allows them autonomy in decision making and rewards their initiatives. All too often, however, they find that their consumers resent them as yet another authority figure in the bureaucratic leviathan. In some work settings, such as child welfare departments, the difficulties in negotiating the legal system, the limited capabilities of the consumers to help themselves, and the emotionally gripping nature of the tragedies of the innocent can make even relatively small caseloads overly oppressive (Jayaratne & Chess, 1984). Instead of new, challenging experiences, many human service providers find that their jobs involve going through the same tedious bureaucratic exercises every day (Freudenberger, 1975; Kafry & Pines, 1980; Pines & Kafry, 1978). Positive feedback, which is an important stress reliever in many situations, is scarce (Kafry & Pines, 1980; Pines & Kafry, 1978; Streepy, 1981). Coworkers and clinical supervisors who are already burned out are not a good source of camaraderie and social support. Staff meetings, which can provide a setting for this badly needed support, are often too technical and clinical to provide a break from the routine (Ursprung, 1986). Because of the numerous regulations associated with most government agency administrations, individual autonomy is compromised and individual initiatives may be restricted (Cherniss, 1980; Kafry & Pines, 1980; Pines & Kafry, 1978; Raquepaw & Miller, 1989). Not only is the inability to exercise one's own judgements frustrating, but many service providers feel that funds are frequently allocated according to political and statistical concerns, rather than in a manner that maximizes the efficiency with which services are delivered to the consumers (Edelwich & Brodsky, 1980). Burnout has many undesirable consequences, among them stress-related psychosomatic illness, social withdrawal, substance abuse and the deterioration of significant familial and personal relationships (Freudenberger, 1975; Maslach & Jackson, 1986). In addition, burned out workers have been shown to be more likely to neglect important aspects of their jobs (Quattrochi-Tubin, Jones & Breedlove, 1982), or to demonstrate faulty judgements that may impair the level of service that they provide to their consumers (McGee, 1989). The present study measured burnout in the employees of three human service agencies in northwestern North Carolina, in an attempt to identify specific agencies for whose staff therapeutic interventions might be necessary. Method Participants Participants were recruited from the State Department of Social Services, JOBS Program (DSS), the State Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, Unit Office (DVR) and Goodwill Industries of Northwest North Carolina (GWI). …