BURNOUT AMONGST SCHOOL COUNSELORS

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Table of Contents

CHAPTER 5: RESULTS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS1

Introduction1

Recent Studies2

Coping Theories2

Demand-Control-Support4

Coping Self-Efficacy Scale5

Theories of Self-Efficacy6

Rotter's Theory of Self-Efficacy7

Bandura's Theory of Self-Efficacy7

Etiology Counselors Stress8

Student Behaviors10

Classroom Management10

Work Overload11

Administrative Support11

Cynicism13

Inefficacy13

Counselors Burnout14

Recommendations16

Limitations of Study18

REFERENCES20

CHAPTER 5: RESULTS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Recent Studies

Coping Theories

Teacher burnout is known to be an impetus for many serious issues within the teaching profession, including high absenteeism and attrition. Social comparisons were defined as counselor's perception of his or her life situation compared to the life situation of peers. In other words, the perception of whether he/she is “better off” or worse off than his or her fellow professionals. However, in the light of the study conducted by Hagger (2009) different comparisons tends to serve this purpose. As Upward comparisons (better off) are made with people who are doing better than the counselors and downward comparisons (worse oft) are made with people who are not doing as well as the counselors. Direct (positive, engaging) and indirect (negative, palliative) coping styles would determine the ability to cope with social comparisons. The type of coping style employed would correlate to the degree of burnout.

Hagger (2009) concluded that research has shown personality factors to be related to diverse outcomes such as subjective well-being, health behavior, chronic disease, asthma, mental health, coping with stress, and work related outcomes like performance motivation, job satisfaction, and absenteeism. Personality trait research lays the foundation for research into how traits will affect actions and cognitive processes which ultimately determine behavior. Hagger (2009) concluded that in addressing the needs of certain people grouped together by similar personality traits and may provide for better intervention techniques in order to more accurately improve coping strategies. When assessing personality traits across entire populations, it is more effective to group traits into a few very distinct categories (e.g. big five personality traits) in order to create certain profiles in which all members of the population could be assigned into. Theses profiles are most important when "determining the dispositional biases on behavior and outcomes in the domain of stress and health. Hagger (2009) found that self-regulatory theories of coping and stress highlight the importance of coping styles and stress appraisals as means to deal with stress and anxiety evoked by health-threatening events. Choice of coping style can affect how he/she perceives a person own health and well-being. Hagger (2009) notes that the importance of tailoring interventions toward certain specific personality trait groups has been a recent trend in the field, but more research is needed to fully explore the idea and to move away from the "one size fits all" approach. Individuals do not process stress generically, so the treatment of individuals should reflect the way stress is processed and appraises according to the specific individual (Haggar, 2009).

They determined that an increase in career and life stress among college students created negative feelings towards career planning which was caused by lack of decidedness and low levels of career satisfaction. Cognitive information processing (CIP), as career decision making is concerned, is highly influenced by ...