Examination of Occupational Burnout Levels of School Counsellors According to Some Demographic Variables and Factors

Abstract

Burnout; a loss of energy, idealism, perspective and purpose, and a state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion that causes feelings of constant stress, hopelessness, and helplessness. The concept of burnout is more common in people-centred professions that serve people face-to-face. One of these occupations is school counsellor / psychological counselling. School counsellors are the people most in contact with the administrators, teachers, students and families in the educational institutions. In this study, which is based on the assumption that guide teachers in intensive human relationships are more likely to experience burnout than other individuals, burnout levels and affecting factors of school counsellors working in public schools will be examined according to different variables. The sample of the research consists of 75 school counsellors working in different school levels in the province of Istanbul. The data of the study were obtained from the application of the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the responses from two open-ended questions. SPSS statistical package program was used for the quantitative analysis of the data and content analysis technique was used for the open-ended survey questions. It was found that the school counsellors had low scores in the emotional exhaustion and depersonalization subscales and high scores in the personal accomplishment subscale. In addition, it is observed that the burnout level of the school counsellors affected the physical condition of the school, personal perception of the school counsellors and professional problems.