Burnout
Conceptual and Research Overview of Burnout
Burnout among helping professions and professions that involve interactions with people has
been widely studied. More specifically this topic has been of considerable interest among
counsellors and psychologists (Geurts, Schaufeli & Jonge, 1998; Lambie, 2006; Lee, Cho,
Kissinger & Ogle, 2010; Osborn, 2004; Oser, Biebel, Pullen & Harp, 2013; Ross, Altmaier &
Rusell, 1989; Rupert, Stevanovic & Hunley, 2009; Rupert & Morgan, 2005; Vrendenburgh,
Carlozi & Stein, 1999).
Several descriptions and definitions are found in professional literature. Freudenberger (1974) is
credited as the first author to use the term burnout. According to him, burnout was used to
denote a state of physical and emotional depletion arising out of work conditions. Lee, Cho,
Kissinger and Ogle (2010) conceptualised burnout as a combination of multiple physical and
emotional elements manifesting cognitively or within the workplace. They further stated that
burnout could jeopardise the counsellor’s well being and treatment efficacy. Maslach and
Jackson (1981) described burnout as a syndrome of emotional exhaustion and cynicism that
occurs frequently among individuals who do “people work” of some kind. Osborne (2004)
defined burnout “as the process of physical and emotional depletion resulting from conditions at
work or more concisely job stress” (p. 319). All these definitions complement one another, they
point out that burnout is emotional, cognitive and physical, it is depletion and it is work related.
Reported studies on burnout among counsellors have focused on different correlates. Oser et al.
(2013) studied the causes, consequences and prevention of burnout among counsellors. They
reported that counsellors are at high risk of burnout due to various issues like low pay, lack of
prestige in the counselling profession and the types of clients seen in counselling. They
summarised that a number of factors are associated with burnout, namely: “age, educational level
and organisational characteristics” (p.18). They pointed out that counsellors who experience
burnout have more stress-related and mental health issues. In addition, they pointed out that at
the organisational level, counsellors have high rates of absenteeism and turnover due to burnout;
they may have less productivity and more interpersonal conflicts. Furthermore, they concluded
that clients are affected by high rates of counsellor absenteeism and turnover, lack of continuity
in care and reduced client satisfaction. They acknowledged that there is a significant difference
between rural and urban-based counsellors with regard to their levels of burnout. According to
them, rural based counsellors are more stressed than their colleagues in the urban settings (Oser
et al., 2013).
Lee et al. (2010) focused on creating a typology of burnout among counsellors. They used cluster
analysis to identify professional counsellor burnout types. In their study, they were able to
identify and cluster three types of counsellors’ namely well-adjusted counsellors, disconnected
counsellors and persevering counsellors. This typology is discussed in detail below under the
title ‘models of burnout’ (Lee et al., 2010).
Rupert and Morgan (2005) focused on the relationship of burnout and work setting. In their study
a number of conclusions arose; to begin with, many psychologists experience feelings of
exhaustion in relation to their work but do not develop burnout. In addition, psychologists who
were in independent practice had less burnout than their colleagues did in agency settings. They
also found out that women were at greater risk of burnout in agency settings whereas men
appeared to be at greater risk for burnout in group independent practice settings (Rupert &
Morgan, 2005). Bakker, Blance and Schaufeli (2008) investigated whether burnout is contagious
among health workers specifically nurses; they concluded that indeed burnout is contagious
though this primarily influenced by social and organisational settings.
Other reported studies looked at the relationship of other variables with burnout. Rupert,
Stevanovic and Hunley (2009) studied work-family conflict and burnout. In their study, they
concluded that family support was important for well being at work and that conflict between
work and family life was related to burnout. Their study also failed to show any gender
differences and levels of burnout. Skorupa and Agretsi (1993) focused on ethical beliefs about
burnout and continued professional practice. They concluded that psychologists, who feel it is
unethical to practice while experiencing burnout, actually see less clients
compared to those psychologists who do not share this sentiment. It also emerged
that the more concern the psychologist had about burnout, the more
knowledgeable they were about prevention strategies. They also realised that
many psychologists viewed burnout as a form of impairment. They further
concluded that ethical beliefs about burnout relate to measured levels of burnout
(Skorupa & Agretsi, 1993).
More reported studies continued to look at the relationships of burnout with other
variables. Vrendenburgh et al. (1999) focused on characteristics, work
environment and client attributes. They concluded that counselling psychologists
working in private settings reported less burnout than those in hospital settings.
They also found that workload is positively related to feelings of personal
accomplishment.
Jenaro, Flores and Arias (2007) reported that employees with higher sense of
personal accomplishment tended to use problem focused coping strategies and
used less emotion focused coping strategies. They also stated that employees with
high emotional exhaustion tend to use more emotion-focused strategies. Workers
with high depersonalisation refrained from using emotional or problem focused
strategies. Accordingly, problem focused strategies included planning and active
coping, focusing on efforts, having social support, working for personal growth
and engaging in positive reinterpretation. Emotion focused strategies included
religion, acceptance, denial, humour, alcohol and drug intake, disengagement and
focusing on venting of emotions (Jenaro et al. 2007).
Xanthopoulou et al. (2007) focused on how the interactions between job demands
and job resources affect dimensions of burnout. They concluded that job demands
are strongest predictors of burnout.
Ramarajan, Barsade and Burack (2006) studied the influence of organisational
respect on burnout in the human services. They argue that burnout studies need to
be contextualised within the organisations where the employees work. They
reported a significant relationship between respect and burnout.
Lewandowski (2003) studied the relationship between worker frustration and
burnout. She argued that workplace factors could contribute to employees getting
frustrated, which then leads to aspects of burnout like emotional exhaustion
(Lewandowski, 2003).
Vorkapic and Mustapic (2012) reviewed internal and external factors in
professional burnout among substance abuse counsellors. They revealed that many
counsellors reported high emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and lower
personal accomplishment.
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