Occupational Burnout
Encyclopedia
Job burnout is characterized by exhaustion, cynicism
, and reduced professional efficacy within the workplace. More accurately defined, exhaustion refers to the depletion or draining of emotional resources, cynicism refers to the indifference or distant attitude of work, and reduced professional efficacy refers to the lack of satisfaction with past/present expectations. Occupational burnout is typically and particularly found within the human service professions. Such jobs that naturally experience high amounts of occupational burnout include: social workers, nurses, teachers, lawyers, physicians, and police officers. The reason why burnout is so prevalent in the human service professions is due in part to the high stress environment, emotional involvedness, and outcomes that are independent of the effort exerted by the working individual.
The individuals who are most vulnerable to occupational burnout are ones who are strongly motivated, dedicated, and involved in the work in which they partake. As work for these individuals is a source of importance in which they derive meaning in life, it is significant that they find meaning by achieving their goals and expectations. Therefore, the process of burning out is the realization and reflection of the failure to find meaning and growth in life.
Occupational burnout is associated with increased work experience, increased workload, absences and time missed from work, impaired empathy and cynical attitudes toward clientele, and thoughts of quitting.
Burnout prevention programs in the past have focused upon cognitive
-behavior, cognitive restructuring
, didactic stress management
, and relaxation. These types of prevention programs rely upon reducing the exhaustion component of occupational burnout. However, recent research indicates that, at the individual level, cognitive-behavioral strategies have the best potential for success. It is more complicated at the organizational level where reducing or removing job stressors have been shown to decrease burnout. Burnout experts believe that in order to reduce occupational burnout, a strategy of combining both organizational and individual level activities may be the most beneficial approach to reduce the three main symptoms. Improving upon job-person fit by focusing attention on the relationship between the person and the job situation appears to be a promising way to deal with burnout.
to work, self-efficacy
, learned resourcefulness, and hope
may insulate individuals from experiencing occupational burnout.
Cynicism
Cynicism , in its original form, refers to the beliefs of an ancient school of Greek philosophers known as the Cynics . Their philosophy was that the purpose of life was to live a life of Virtue in agreement with Nature. This meant rejecting all conventional desires for wealth, power, health, and...
, and reduced professional efficacy within the workplace. More accurately defined, exhaustion refers to the depletion or draining of emotional resources, cynicism refers to the indifference or distant attitude of work, and reduced professional efficacy refers to the lack of satisfaction with past/present expectations. Occupational burnout is typically and particularly found within the human service professions. Such jobs that naturally experience high amounts of occupational burnout include: social workers, nurses, teachers, lawyers, physicians, and police officers. The reason why burnout is so prevalent in the human service professions is due in part to the high stress environment, emotional involvedness, and outcomes that are independent of the effort exerted by the working individual.
The individuals who are most vulnerable to occupational burnout are ones who are strongly motivated, dedicated, and involved in the work in which they partake. As work for these individuals is a source of importance in which they derive meaning in life, it is significant that they find meaning by achieving their goals and expectations. Therefore, the process of burning out is the realization and reflection of the failure to find meaning and growth in life.
Occupational burnout is associated with increased work experience, increased workload, absences and time missed from work, impaired empathy and cynical attitudes toward clientele, and thoughts of quitting.
Occupational burnout prevention
In order to quell occupational burnout, it is important to reduce or remove the negative aspects of the three main components that make up occupational burnout. However, it is difficult to treat all three components as the three burnout symptoms react differently to the same preventive or treatment activities. Exhaustion is more easily treated than cynicism and professional efficacy, which tend to be more resistant to treatment. Research shows that intervention actually may worsen the professional efficacy of one who originally had low professional efficacy.Burnout prevention programs in the past have focused upon cognitive
Cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology is a subdiscipline of psychology exploring internal mental processes.It is the study of how people perceive, remember, think, speak, and solve problems.Cognitive psychology differs from previous psychological approaches in two key ways....
-behavior, cognitive restructuring
Cognitive restructuring
Cognitive restructuring, sometimes used synonymously with Debating, is the process of learning to identify irrational or maladaptive thoughts and challenge their veracity using strategies such as logical disputation....
, didactic stress management
Stress management
Stress management is the alteration of stress and especially chronic stress often for the purpose of improving everyday functioning.Stress produces numerous symptoms which vary according to persons, situations, and severity. These can include physical health decline as well as depression. According...
, and relaxation. These types of prevention programs rely upon reducing the exhaustion component of occupational burnout. However, recent research indicates that, at the individual level, cognitive-behavioral strategies have the best potential for success. It is more complicated at the organizational level where reducing or removing job stressors have been shown to decrease burnout. Burnout experts believe that in order to reduce occupational burnout, a strategy of combining both organizational and individual level activities may be the most beneficial approach to reduce the three main symptoms. Improving upon job-person fit by focusing attention on the relationship between the person and the job situation appears to be a promising way to deal with burnout.
Employee rehabilitation
Employee rehabilitation is defined as a tertiary preventive intervention which means the strategies used in rehabilitation are meant to alleviate, as well as, prevent burnout symptoms. Such rehabilitation of the working population includes multidisciplinary activities with the intent of maintaining and improving employees' working ability and ensuring a supply of skilled and capable labor in society.Insulation from burnout
One study suggest that social-cognitive processes such as commitmentCommitment
Commitment may refer to:*Promise, or personal commitment*Contract, a legally binding exchange of promises*Brand commitment*Involuntary commitment, the use of legal means or forms to commit a person to a mental hospital, insane asylum or psychiatric ward...
to work, self-efficacy
Self-efficacy
Self-efficacy is a term used in psychology, roughly corresponding to a person's belief in their own competence.It has been defined as the belief that one is capable of performing in a certain manner to attain certain set of goals. It is believed that our personalized ideas of self-efficacy affect...
, learned resourcefulness, and hope
Hope
Hope is the emotional state which promotes the belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life. It is the "feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best" or the act of "look[ing] forward to with desire and reasonable confidence" or...
may insulate individuals from experiencing occupational burnout.
See also
- Burnout (psychology)Burnout (psychology)Burnout is a psychological term for the experience of long-term exhaustion and diminished interest. Research indicates general practitioners have the highest proportion of burnout cases; according to a recent Dutch study in Psychological Reports, no less than 40% of these experienced high levels of...
- Occupational health psychologyOccupational health psychologyOccupational health psychology emerged out of two distinct applied disciplines within psychology, health psychology and industrial/organizational psychology, and occupational health. OHP is concerned with the psychosocial characteristics of workplaces that contribute to the development of...
- Organizational communicationOrganizational communicationOrganizational communication is a subfield of the larger discipline of communication studies. Organizational communication, as a field, is the consideration, analysis, and criticism of the role of communication in organizational contexts....
- Work-life balanceWork-life balanceWork–life balance is a broad concept including proper prioritizing between "work" on the one hand and "life" on the other. Related, though broader, terms include "lifestyle balance" and "life balance".-History:The work-leisure dichotomy was invented in the mid 1800s...
- Perceived organizational support Perceived organizational supportPerceived Organizational Support is the degree to which employees believe that their organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being ....
- Perceived psychological contract violation
Further reading
- Cooper, C. L., & Cartwright, S. (1997). An intervention strategy for workplace stress. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 43, 7–16.
- Clanton, L. D., Rude, S., & Taylor, C. (1992). Learned resourcefulness as a moderator of burnout in a sample of rehabilitation providers. Rehabilitation Psychology, 37, 131–140.