Preventing burnout: What does the research tell us?

Abstract

Practicing psychologists face many demands that place them at risk for professional burnout. This article provides empirically supported recommendations for reducing or preventing burnout. Drawing from theoretical models of burnout, 4 critical questions are identified: What job demands increase risk for burnout? What job resources decrease risk for burnout? What personal resources decrease risk for burnout? How does home life influence risk for burnout? Findings from empirical studies with psychologists related to each question are summarized and are integrated with conceptual literatures to develop specific recommendations. Consistent with the positive psychology movement and with recent conceptual shifts in the burnout literature, these recommendations encourage a positive, proactive approach that strives to maximize a fit between work demands and personal strengths, to develop resources at work and at home, and to establish a balance between work and personal lives.

“Meeting Someone at the Edge”: Counselors’ Experiences of Interpersonal Stress

“…Occupational stressors refer to “a broad set of occupational and work demands as well as environment stressors [that] trigger the stress response” (Quick & Henderson, 2016, p. 2). Systemic issues such as budget cuts (Luther et al, 2017; Morse, Salyers, Rollins, Monroe‐DeVita, & Pfahler, 2012) and organizational and workplace conditions such as heavy caseloads (Broome, Knight, Edwards, & Flynn, 2009), excessive paperwork (Rupert, Miller, & Dorociak, 2015), and low wages (Luna‐Arocas & Camps, 2008) are examples of the types of stressors that are studied as predictors of counselor stress and burnout. Very few researchers have examined interpersonal stressors, where aspects of interactions with the client are the source of stress, as contributors to counselor stress.…”

Enhancing Wellness and Engagement Among Healthcare Professionals

“…This deliberate focus on resilience in the face of adversity can have a powerful effect on the optimism of both patient and provider. The approach fits well within an existing literature supporting that resilience can be enhanced deliberately through self-care acts like adequate rest and exercise [21] and through social support and use of cognitive coping skills [1].…”

“…The authors acknowledge that while emotional distress is likely endemic in the practice of medicine and psychiatry, organizational level interventions can be made to reduce overload and enhance autonomy and social support. Hours worked and administrative paperwork seem greater contributors to burnout than number of patients [1], suggesting that system-level supports could be quite effective without reducing capacity for care. Underappreciation, which is a major contributor to burnout, can also be targeted by healthcare systems [1], as also suggested in Chabra's letter to the editor [27] discussing resiliency training by chief wellbeing officers.…”

“…Insights from the discipline of organizational psychology are now helping to frame system-level solutions for enhancing workforce engagement. While high job demands and low resources are typically associated with provider burnout, recent models have also emphasized the resources that can be enhanced to reduce burnout (e.g., opportunities for professional development, supervision, feedback [1]). …”

“…Similarly, the psychological literature has clearly framed burnout and its prevention as an ethical imperative related to competence [1,5], given that psychologists must "engage in ongoing efforts to develop and maintain competence" and "be aware of personal problems that may negatively impact competence and take appropriate action" [6].…”