Optimism as a Mitigator of Burnout: The Relationship Between Optimism and Burnout Among Selected Teachers

Abstract

Various international and local studies have shown that teacher burnout has risen especially due to the adjustments that had to be made in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study investigated the relationship between optimism and burnout. 31 teachers in Camarines Norte, Philippines volunteered to take part in this study. The Life Orientation Test-Revised, which is a 10-item, 5-point Likert instrument was used to measure the respondents' level of optimism, while the teacher burnout instrument by Campbell, a 20-item, 5-point Likert questionnaire was used to measure their level of burnout. Percentage-wise, it was found that there are more males with high optimism than females. There are more single respondents with high optimism than married respondents. There are more females that exhibit low burnout than males. And there are more married respondents that exhibit low burnout than single respondents. Majority of the respondents exhibit moderate optimism. In addition, an overwhelming majority exhibit low burnout. A significant moderate inverse relationship was found between optimism and burnout scores of the respondents. This implies that for the respondents of this study, developing an optimistic outlook will tend to mitigate the occurrence of burnout.