Burnout Critical Review

Burnout, as a phenomenon experienced in helping professions, has largely been documented. Maslach and Leiter (2008) detail predictors of job burnout in their longitudinal study. Four hundred and sixty-six organizational employees completed measures that evaluated work-life and burnout twice across a one-year period. Of the participants, 186 were female and 255 were male, and ages ranged from 18 to 60 years old. The authors found that 8 themes appeared to influence movement on a burnout-engagement continuum. These 8 themes included: workload, control, reward, community, fairness, and values. Individuals who had inconsistent scores from time one to time two were likely to experience burnout. Specifically, those that reported burnout were found to report exhaustion and cynicism in the measures. The authors suggest individualized interventions like

counselling and training are beneficial measures to mitigate burnout. This study provides a useful baseline for understanding themes that emerge among individuals in supporting roles who experience burnout.
Gazzola and Theriault (2009) investigated feelings of incompetence among novice therapists.

Specifically, the authors paid close attention to coping measures utilized by this population and correctives. Ten novice therapists discussed their feelings of incompetence in 45-90 minute semi-structured interviews. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded for salient themes. The authors found that feelings of incompetence had both positive and negative impacts on novice therapists. Central to our study, the authors offer 5 themes regarding coping mechanisms: shifting attributions/expectations, reliance on therapeutic parameters, making choices, trusting the process, and self care. The authors additionally offer anecdotal evidence that regardless of experience and training, feelings of self-doubt are prevalent throughout mental health professionals at varying levels. Similar to Maslach and Leiter (2008), this study provides a thematic overview on the coping mechanisms used by novice support providers. The results of this study offer a unique perspective on thematic trends on coping that can be mapped onto our

data.
Finally, Truneckova et al. (2010) offer a review of methods that mental health professionals can engage with to avoid burnout. Specifically, the authors review peer consultation as an effective measure to mitigate the experiences of burnout among professionals. Peer consultation refers to professionals of the same level engaging in professional and emotional support. The authors offer personal construct peer consultation as a model from which professionals can nurture their psychological well being in groups. The authors emphasize that isolation is a central tenant of burnout and that combatting this problematic occupational hazard comes from reducing isolation. The authors suggest that personal construct peer consultation results in both the professional and client benefiting from its use. This model suggests that the Residence Life field might benefit from implementing peer supervision models that allow staff to lean on each other for support without the pressure of supervisory power dynamics.