Using Music Therapy Techniques to Treat Teacher Burnout

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of music therapy techniques as an intervention for teacher burnout. Of the 51 elementary school teachers who participated in the study, 25 were from a school undergoing comprehensive reform, and 26 were from a school employing traditional grade-level classrooms and teaching strategies. Each participant completed pretest and posttest instruments. In addition, there were two treatment groups, either cognitive behavioral/music therapy or cognitive behavioral therapy. Results of the study indicated that teachers who participated in school-based counseling groups, using music therapy techniques in conjunction with cognitive behavioral interventions, reported lower levels of burnout symptoms than teachers in school-based counseling groups using cognitive behavioral interventions only. Implications for mental health counseling are discussed.

Burnout and the College Music Education Major

“…Established measures such as The Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach, Jackson, & Schwab, 1996) and College Student Survey (Gold, Bachelor, & Michael, 1989) may be useful in assessing initial levels of burnout among music education majors. Regarding prevention and treatment of burnout, evidence exists to suggest that mind and body relaxation exercises (Deckro et al, 2002), guided imagery and tai chi chuan (Cai, 2000), as well as music therapy (Cheek et al, 2003), may be helpful in reducing and controlling stress.…”

“…Based on comparisons between pre-and post-intervention measures, Deckro et al found that experimental-group subjects reported lower levels of burnout than control-group subjects. Cheek, Bradley, Parr, and Lan (2003) examined the effects of music therapy techniques as an intervention for teacher burnout. Fifty-one elementary school teachers were divided randomly into experimental and control groups, after which they participated in a pretest, six weekly onehour-and-15-minute instructional sessions, and a posttest.…”

Mokytojų perdegimas darbe ir perfekcionizmas

“…Tyrime buvo atskleisti ir pagrindiniai perdegimo darbe šaltiniai: per didelis darbo krūvis; per daug darbo reikalavimų, įskaitant rūpinimąsi sveikata, mokymą ir administravimą; riboti personalo ir finansiniai ištekliai tinkamai priežiūrai suteikti; emocinis kitų asmenų (trenerių, sportininkų šeimų atstovų) spaudimas; konfliktai su kolegomis ar administracija. Perdegimas darbe gali pagilėti, jei sporto treneris nejaučia, kad jo darbo pastangos yra pripažintos, įvertintos ar nesulaukia tinkamo atlygio už jas (Cheek et al, 2003;Malinauskas, 2008). Patyrę perdegimą darbe sporto pedagogai pradeda klysti, užmiršti pačių sutartus susitikimus, jiems sunku atsipalaiduoti, todėl tam, kad išsivaduotų iš streso, gali pradėti vartoti alkoholį ar narkotikus (Cheek et al, 2003).…”

“…Perdegimas darbe gali pagilėti, jei sporto treneris nejaučia, kad jo darbo pastangos yra pripažintos, įvertintos ar nesulaukia tinkamo atlygio už jas (Cheek et al, 2003;Malinauskas, 2008). Patyrę perdegimą darbe sporto pedagogai pradeda klysti, užmiršti pačių sutartus susitikimus, jiems sunku atsipalaiduoti, todėl tam, kad išsivaduotų iš streso, gali pradėti vartoti alkoholį ar narkotikus (Cheek et al, 2003).…”

The Organizational Health of Urban Elementary Schools: School Health and Teacher Functioning

“…The primary interventions addressing teacher stress have focused on individual coping skills, such as music therapy and supporting individual help-seeking behaviors (Cheek, Bradley, Parr, & Lan, 2003; Kyriacou, 2001; Tatar, 2009). However, in a qualitative study of fourteen teachers in high-poverty, urban schools the main areas identified as impacting teacher stress were organizational level factors: bureaucracy, economic constraints, and poor administrative support (Shernoff et al, 2011).…”