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Role structure and burnout in the field of human services

Version 2 2024-06-06, 11:10
Version 1 2017-05-03, 14:39
journal contribution
posted on 2024-06-06, 11:10 authored by MP Leiter, KA Meechan
This article discusses a study that investigated burnout as a function of aspects of role structure for people working in the field of human services. The subjects, the staff of a residential rehabilitation and mental health center, completed a six-team questionnaire, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and the Least Preferred Coworker Scale. The relationships of accuracy, concentration of social support network, mutual references, and motivational hierarchy were analyzed in three multiple regressions with emotional exhaustion, personal accomplishment, and depersonalization. Emotional exhaustion was found to have occurred less often when a person's social support network within the setting was not concentrated solely within the formal work subgroup, personal accomplishment was enhanced by an ambiguous role structure, and depersonalization was found to be related primarily to a person's values toward personal relationships and work and to be more prevalent among those with concentrated networks and ambiguously structured roles.

History

Journal

Journal of Applied Behavioral Science

Volume

22

Pagination

47-52

Location

London, Eng.

ISSN

0021-8863

Language

eng

Publication classification

CN.1 Other journal article

Copyright notice

1986, NTL Institute

Issue

1

Publisher

Sage Publications