Burnout as a crisis in professional role structures: Measurement and conceptual issues

Abstract

Abstract A group of 124 health and social service workers from various agencies in Nova Scotia completed a package of questionnaires assessing burnout, hassles, and organizational variables. The study investigated the extent to which psychological burnout among human service workers was attributable to tensions between professional role requirements and constraints of organizational procedures and structures. A measure of conditions for self-management was found to make a substantial contribution to predicting burnout. It also suggested a complex pattern of relationships between specific managerial supports for professional initiatives and workers' vulnerability to burnout. Participants' characteristic coping patterns were also found to be important in predicitng psychological burnout. In addition, the study confirmed the utility of differentiating between more proximal work hassles and general life hassles when examining the incidence of emotional exhaustion. The results of the study were discussed in terms of a structured approach to assessing organizational environments, and integration of burnout research with other aspects of managerial studies.