Burnout and Engagement in Fourth-Year Social Work Students: Why We Should Be Concerned

Abstract

This article focuses on levels of burnout as well as engagement experienced by fourth-year undergraduate social work students attending a South African university. By means of quantitative procedures, data were obtained from 43 final-year social work students who completed a self-administered questionnaire. Respondents presented with above-average levels of exhaustion, professional efficacy, vigour, dedication and absorption, and below average levels of cynicism. Non-parametric procedures revealed significant differences in the levels of burnout related to population group, place of origin and household income status. Recommendations focus on monitoring the wellbeing of students and mobilising support for students who appear more vulnerable to burnout and low academic engagement.

Factors and effects of work-related stress and burnout on the well-being of social workers in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa

“…Social workers who experience secondary traumatic stress following contact sessions with the clients tend to report flashbacks, avoidance and intrusive memories (Piatkowska, 2014). Depersonalisation refers to an experience of psychological distancing from interpersonal relationships, in which social workers show no regard for the clients' human dignity (Le Roux et al 2018). One way to depersonalise themselves from clients could be absenteeism from work without reporting to their supervisors or applying for leave frequently.…”

“…Previous South African quantitative studies on burnout at the workplace seemed to have focused on nurses (Khamisa, Peltzer, Ilic, & Oldenburg, 2017), medical doctors (Rajan & Engelbrecht, 2018) and educators at the boarding schools (Blew, 2018), all in Gauteng province. In a survey conducted among the final year social work students from one university in South Africa, Le Roux, Steyn and Hall (2018) found that a majority of black students displayed low professional efficacy, vulnerability and emotional burnout as compared to their white counterparts. It is against this background that this qualitative study intends to investigate how work-related stress contributes towards impaired well-being among the social workers in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa.…”