ProblemPaperBurnout

A d d r e s s i n g B u r n o u t i n S o c i a l W o r k | 1
Addressing Utilization and Effectiveness of Burnout Strategic Plans in Social Work Occupations
Laura Casey
Tennessee Tech University

Introduction
Burnout is a worker’s negative experience of exhaustion of physical or emotional
energies as a reaction to work related stressors that are being handled in a maladaptive manner.
(Acker, 2010l; Felton, 1998) This is a major problem in social work occupations and can be
costly to the employee, employer, and clients by decreasing employee esteem and job
satisfaction, increasing employee depression rates, and increasing the rate of employee turnover.
With the employee-client relationship being a crucial factor in the field of social work, employee
depression and turnover directly negatively impacts clients. Depression decreases employee
productivity by offering the clients subpar services, and clients receiving services from multiple
professionals due to employee instead of from one professional with whom they can build a
trusting working relationship are not receiving the seamless structured services to which they are
entitled.
Communities as a whole are impacted negatively by the increase in employee burnout
because the increase in burnout in causing a decrease in social workers. With this absence of
helpers and incongruence between those needing help and those available to provide it, families
are experiencing higher rates of parental incarceration, child abuse, child neglect, elderly neglect
and numerous other detrimental factors. When individuals suffer the family suffers, and when
families suffer the community is weakened. Our social workers are needing assistance in the
area of burnout to keep them employed, happy and productive so to improve and empower our
communities.
Employers are also negatively impacted by the financial burden placed on them to hire
and train new employees hired to replace those that quit due to employee burnout. Employers

also suffer when clients leave to seek services from other companies who have less employee
turnover.
The United States offers few resources for social workers experiencing burnout, and it is
proposed that an increase in resources could lead to lowered turnover rates and greater
effectiveness in the field. (Daley, 1979; Lloyd, 2002; Adams, 2006) Although burnout has many
well documented, predictors and its dangers are known, the issue shows an increase over the last
two decades and many employers handle the issue retroactively focusing on damage control
rather than a proactive stance. (Jenaro,2007; Lloyd, 2002)
This phenomenon is experienced especially highly in the field of social work and mental
health work and even more so in positions dealing with severe mental illness. (Felton, 1998) A
study by Acker (1999) shows a positive correlation between workers who help severely mental
ill (SMI) clients and occupational exhaustion. Social workers providing services primarily to
adults experience greater depersonalization and burnout as compared to their colleagues who
have a mixed caseload of adults and children (Acker,1999). Burnout can have both mental and
physical symptoms such as recurrent illness, poor attendance, headaches, fatigue, lower self-
esteem, substance abuse, depression, countertransference towards clients, relationship problems
and more. (Acker, 1999; Schaufeli, 2004) While burnout can occur at any point in one’s career,
younger social workers in the beginning stages of their career are more susceptible. (Acker,
1999; Acker, 2010; Maslach, 1981)
This paper serves to research the issue of professional burnout and use the collaborated
findings in conjunction with innovative ideas to produce a potential solution and a detailed
description of how this solution may be successfully executed.

Literature Review
Burnout is a worker’s negative experience of exhaustion of physical or emotional
energies as a reaction to work related stressors that are being handled in a maladaptive manner.
(Acker, 2010l; Felton, 1998) Concepts to be addressed in this review of literature include
associated factors of professional burnout, intervention and prevention measures, stages of
burnout, and critiques of current employee assistance programs.
Factors Associated with Professional Burnout
Factors that can lead to professional burnout in social work include administrative and
organizational shortcomings, poor job training, fewer year of experience, lack of social support,
rigidity in work schedule, poorly identified role requirements of employees, and an increase in
legislation and administrative control limiting employee autonomy. (Felton, 1998; Lloyd, 2002).
Lloyd (2002) found that major proposed factors contributing to burnout include low work
autonomy, role ambiguity, difficulties in providing services to clients, low professional self-
esteem, and poor supervisory support. A study by Acker in 2009 set out to examine a correlation
between workers who interface with managed care organizations and burnout rates. The study
used questionnaires from 591 social workers practicing in New York State to assess potential
correlates to occupational burnout. Acker’s findings propose that higher levels of perceived
competence in one’s field of managed care correlated with lower levels of burnout. She also
notes that employees that interface with severely mental ill (SMI) patients are at risk for higher
rates of burnout during their career as well as younger, less experienced social workers. Her
findings on younger workers having a higher propensity toward burnout are consistent with her

findings in the literature. Ackler suggests that another study be done to focus on the younger
population of social workers and to include greater ethnic and racial diversity.
Another factor contributing to employee burnout was found by Acker (1999) in regards
to caseload structure. Questionnaires were administered which included three scales: an
involvement scale, a job satisfaction scale, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Acker’s
finding showed a high correlation between interfacing with clients with severe mental illness and
burnout rate. Also the findings show that a caseload consisting of only adults correlated with
higher levels of burnout as compared to mixed caseloads which include adults and children. Like
other research findings, this study shows evidence that younger practitioners are at greater risk
for exhaustion and burnout as compared to more veteran practitioners.
The Maslach Burnout Inventory mentioned above was created by Christina Maslach in
the 1980’s and remains one of the most commonly used inventories to assess occupational
burnout in social work. This inventory addresses a range of factors that may increase or decrease
a practitioner’s propensity toward burnout such as age, sex, marital status, education and more.
Adams, Boscarino, and Figley (2006) executed a study to examine compassion fatigue
and burnout in professionals working with traumatized clients in the mental health setting.
Adams and his colleagues used a 30-item Compassion Fatigue scale and a 12-item General
Health Questionnaire to assess compassion fatigue and psychological distress. Their results from
the survey and questionnaire responses indicated that work burnout, secondary trauma to
professionals and compassion fatigue are negatively correlated with social support.
The research by Boyle, Schaufeli, Jenaro and Felton supports common factors, predictors
and proposed strategies to combat occupational burnout. Factors and predictors for burnout in

the field of mental health and social work include: limited professional resources, emotional
exhaustion from interfacing with the mentally ill population, misunderstanding role
requirements, lack of autonomy in the workplace, schedule rigidity, work requirement overload,
high emotional demands, higher burnout and turnover rates in younger practitioners, poor job
training and lack of administrative support and organization.
To summarize, there are numerous factors to be found in the literature regarding
employee burnout. The main factors include: low work autonomy, misunderstood job
descriptions and role ambiguity, low professional self-esteem, poor supervisory support, low
social support, work requirement overload, poor caseload structure, facetime with severely
mentally ill clients, age of practitioner with the emphasis placed on issues of burnout among
young workers, and limited professional resources.
Preventative Measures
Preventative measures exist to combat occupational burnout which include, but are not
limited to: offering employees flexible work schedules, increasing social support and team
building within the company, cognitive-behavioral stress management, comprehensive job
training, ongoing communication between employees and administrative staff, periodic
employee review, regular group critical case review meetings, Critical Incident Stress
Debriefings (CISD), and the use of Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs). (Felton, 2002;
Schaufeli, 2004; Jenaro, 2007; Boyle, 1991) Employee Assistance Programs are among the most
commonly adopted resource for employees but it is underutilized and its availability and benefits
are unknown to many employees. These programs can offer a range of services such as

addictions treatment, counseling services, elder and childcare and legal services. (Felton, 2002;
Hartwell, 1996)
Schaufeli’s research emphasizes a unique approach using positive psychology to assess
and address burnout in social work settings. She proposes the use of stress management
programs as well as preventative measures such as job redesign, flexibility in work schedules,
and goal setting as possible aids in overcoming professional burnout. She emphasizes that the
positive psychology contrast to burnout is engagement and she focuses her research around
increasing these positive contrasting factors in the workplace. Jenaro (2007) also researches a
positive psychology factor called positive reinterpretation. This factor showed significant
correlations with lowered burnout and stress. The use of positive coping skills, acceptance and
employee’s personal religion or spiritual practice highly correlated with lower occupational
stress. In Felton’s research, he emphasizes group and staff discussion, Critical Incident Stress
Debriefing (CISD), employee autonomy and the utilization of Employee Assistance Programs as
main preventative and therapeutic factors to assist professionals experiencing burnout.
Stages of Burnout
Daley (1979) as well as Costello and Zalkind (1963) propose three stages of burnout: the
alarm state, the resistance state, and finally the exhaustion state. The alarm state may consist of a
professional attempting to cope with perceiving inadequacies, striving to maintain levels of
professional aspiration despite failures or stress, and a host of other internal conflicts. The
resistance stage is marked by the employee using his energy almost entirely to manage stress.
This gives way to exhaustion which is otherwise called “burnout”. Daley proposes that

preventative measures should be implemented in the workplace so that an employee does not
reach the resistance or exhaustion state.
Critiques of Current Employee Assistance Strategies
Hartwell (1996) and her colleagues discuss the benefits of employee resources but
criticize the availability and employee awareness of such resources. They propose that
Employee Assistance Programs are paramount in providing help to employees experiencing
hardship or burnout, yet employees are rarely made aware of the benefits to which they are
entitled. Benefits include addictions treatment, counseling, financial assistance, and more. Low
awareness and poor utilization of resources are main issues in solving the problem of
occupational burnout in social work. Hartwell proposes that an increase in awareness of these
resources is crucial in combatting employee burnout.
Strategy Review
Numerous interventions were found in the literature and these include workshops, peer
collaborated events, educational programs, and mindfulness trainings. For the purposes of this
paper, two intervention studies will be addressed including their purpose, research methodology,
results, and connection to professional burnout.
Cooley and Yovanoff (1996): Stress Management Workshop and Peer-Collaboration
The first study was conducted by Cooley and Yovanoff (1996), whose research examined
the effects of two interventions: a stress management workshop series and a peer-collaboration
program. There were 92 participants who were special education teachers and related staff. Of

these 92 participants, 66% were in their first five years of practice and the age range was 25-63
years.
The stress management workshop: this was a weekly two hour workshop held over a five
week period. It included small group discussions, real world applications, and practicing skills
between these weekly sessions and reporting on outcomes. Three main areas were the focus of
reducing stress and increasing employee empowerment:
1. Skills for changing the situation itself (generating positive coping skills)
2. Skills for changing one’s physical response to the situation (generating positive
psychological coping skills)
3. Skills for changing one’s thoughts about the situation (generating positive cognitive
coping skills)
Participants were also given homework to use in their work and were to report back with
completed assignments each week.
The peer-collaboration activity: This activity paired up participants and each pair took
turns with one being the initiator (one presenting a client related problem) and the other being the
facilitator (one who assists working initiator through the problem). They were guided through a
four step process which is listed below:
1. Clarifying: during this process (the most time consuming of the four stages), the
initiator presents the problem and answers all clarifying questions asked by the
facilitator. These are not just factual questions to gain knowledge, but include
presenting different ways of viewing the issue. Once the facilitator helps the initiator

to clarify the issue as well as other potential surrounding issues and alternative
viewpoints, the pair moves on to step two, summarizing.
2. Summarizing: in this stage the initiator frames the issue into three categories:
a. The problematic patterns of behavior present
b. The initiator’s typical responses to the issue
c. Specific aspects of the issue that fall under the initiator’s control
This stage is to reframe the issue in a more concrete way and address problematic
patterns of response on the initiator’s side and to determine what exactly is under his
or her control.
3. Intervention and Prediction: three possible action plans are created in this step and
positive and negative outcomes are predicted for each option. The initiator then
selects which option he or she believes to be best.
4. Evaluation: here a two part plan is created:
a. “Did I do it?” (was the plan executed)
b. “Did it work?” (what were the outcomes and were they expected)
Participants were encouraged to use these steps once returning to work and being confronted
with problems. Pairs continued to meet for a two hour session each week for four weeks
following the session.
The study evaluated outcome variables of burnout, job satisfaction, and organizational
commitment which were taken as pre/post measures as well as measurements throughout the
process. The researchers conducted follow up evaluations at the six month and one year points.

There was a significant difference found between those who received the interventions
and those who did not. These results indicate a positive option for employers looking to assist
employees experiencing job burnout and low job satisfaction. The literature appears to have a
theme of successful interventions that include workshops and peer collaboration activities.
Russell (1987): Rational-Emotive Education Program
The second study to be critiqued was by Russell (1987) at the University of Oregon. He
tested the effectiveness of a rational-emotive education program on teacher burnout by taking a
sample of 42 public-school teachers from grade levels kindergarten through high school. These
participants were divided into two treatment groups and those receiving the rational-emotive
education program partook in: emotion guessing exercises, role playing real world problems
from a negative emotion standpoint coupled with real-world problem role playing from a
positive emotional standpoint, class discussions on positive emotions and their impacts, as well
as exercises on how to self-check for negative patterns of thought and changing those thought
patterns.
Measurements were taken for pretesting, post-testing, and follow-up testing and the
instruments used were the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the Irrational Beliefs Test, and the
Teaching Events Stress Inventory.
Results showed that participants in the treatment group maintained lower levels of
burnout at the five week post-testing period than those in the control group. Analysis also shows
a correlation between teacher burnout and stressful teaching events but no correlation existed
between teacher burnout and irrational thinking.

This study informs the research topic of professional burnout by empirically researching
factors correlated to professional burnout. Limitations of this study would be small sample size
and an unbalanced gender proportion among participants. However, this study shows that
rational-emotive education has a positive impact of teachers experiencing professional burnout.
Solution
Professional burnout is an increasingly problematic issue in the field of social work.
Burnout can cause high rates of turnover, understaffed agencies, poor employee performance and
lowered job satisfaction. After assessing the research, the most beneficial solution would be a
combination of workshops, peer activities, and enhanced communication between employers and
employees which would combine to create a comprehensive program to prevent employee
burnout as well as offer assistance to those currently experiencing burnout.
The goals of this proposed project are:
1. Increase awareness of employee burnout.
2. Increase employee knowledge of intervention and prevention resources
3. Increase opportunities for employees to gain and practice intervention and prevention
skills on a regular basis
The project will contain the following elements:
- Semiannual workshops addressing burnout
- Quarterly peer-collaborated activity sessions
- On-site volunteer representatives
- On-site aid stations

- Web based aid station
Materials
Materials needed for this project to be successful include time, volunteers, money, and
technology as well as physical materials to crease the on-site aid stations which could include:
table: bulletin board, flyers, business cards, and positive reinforcement such as candy, flowers, or
other desired goods as indicated by the specific site’s employees.
Semi-Annual Workshops
Semi-annual workshops would be held by the company and could be administered by
supervisors and/or a hired workshop professional with experience in addressing employees on
the subject of burnout, motivation, job satisfaction, and communication. It would also be
appropriate to include rational-emotive education in these workshops as discussed in the strategy
review section.
Daley (1979) as well as Costello and Zalkind (1963) discuss recognizing the stages of
burnout and using this recognition to get early help. These workshops will include information
from these studies to help assess employees for burnout as well as teach self-assessment and the
process of seeking early preventative help.
This project element correlates with goals 1, 2, and 3. These workshops are designed to
get employees involved in learning about the factors of burnout and to assess their own personal
connection with it (goal 1) as well as teaching professionals about intervention and prevention
resources (goal 2) with the long-term goal of decreasing employee burnout rates. This strategy

does this by offering semi-annual opportunities to learn and practice skills to combat burnout
(goal 3).
Quarterly Peer-Collaborated Activity Sessions
These activity sessions would be designed and administered by volunteer employees in
collaboration with the on-site project representative. These sessions will include experiential
discussions such as role-play and case-review to include employees’ subjective personal
experiences. This sharing of information created and led by the employees is meant to foster
community and communication within the company as well as surface any possible or definite
indicators of employee burnout. These sessions should closely model the study done by
Cooley and Yovanoff (1996) to include their stress reduction activities as well as the peer
collaboration practices and four-step model.
Adams, Boscarino, and Figley (2006) found a correlation between employee burnout and
lack of social support. These findings informed the creation of these activity sessions, which are
designed specifically to increase awareness of burnout, resources available, and the social
supports that are in place for employees.
These sessions will address goals 1, 2, and 3 by increasing communication and awareness
of burnout (goal 1), promoting employee resources (goal 2), and offering regularly scheduled
opportunities for peers to learn and practice their skills (goal 3) which will assist in decreasing
overall employee burnout rates.
On-site Representatives

On-site representatives would be selected on a self-volunteering basis. Monetary benefits
may be possible depending upon the individual company’s financial flexibility, but it is preferred
that this job be on a volunteer basis preferably led by employees with a special interest in
preventing employee burnout. These representatives will liaise with supervisors and company
administrators while also coordinating workshops, peer collaborated activities, and tending to aid
stations as needed. A site may have one or multiple representatives, but at least one must have
technological knowledge of creating and maintaining a website for the web-based aid station. If
none are available with those skills, the company will need to offer a brief but comprehensive
training.
The representatives role will aid in fulfilling goals 1 and 2 by increasing employee
knowledge of burnout through promotion of awareness (goal 1) and by increasing awareness of
specific intervention and prevention resources by word-of-mouth as well as the promotion of the
on-site and web-based aid stations (goal 2). Representatives will have an active part in all
project elements, but they will be most useful in connecting employees with available resources.
Aid Stations
Aid stations will be both on-site and web based so that employees may have access to
information and support 24/7. The on-site station will include flyers with Employee Assistant
Program and employee benefits information, current reviews of research on burnout, positive
psychology tidbits, contact information for employee burnout support staff, positive
reinforcements such as candy, fresh flowers or other incentives preferred by the site’s staff.
The web based aid-station website will include all the information that the on-site station
has, but will include hyperlinks to websites, quizzes on burnout and employee satisfaction, as

well as positive motivational information such as quotes, pictures, hyperlinks to relevant positive
psychology websites and other resources. The on-site stations will also have cards with the web
based station’s website URL and the contact information for the website’s maintenance
representative.
The rationale for including positive psychology elements such as quotes, candy, flowers
and other positive implementations comes from Schaufeli (2004) and Jenaro (2007), whose work
indicates how impactful positive psychology is on decreasing employee burnout levels as well as
increasing positive employee traits such as higher self-esteem.
Aid stations are the tools used by the representatives. These stations will provide
tangible support to assist representatives in providing resources to employees. These on-site and
online stations will impact all three stated goals, but most directly correlate with goals 1 and two
by providing information on employee burnout (goal 1) as well as promoting intervention and
prevention resources (goal 2). They will fulfill goal 3 by promoting quarterly and semi-annual
opportunities for employees to learn and practice coping skills and strategies.
Pilot Program
A potential pilot program site for this project would be at Lifecare Family Services in
Cookeville, Tennessee under the approval and advisement of Omni Community Health. This is a
relatively small site with an established Employee Assistance Program and high levels of
employee/employer communication. This would be a prime location to test the Employee
Burnout Project and address problematic areas as needed.
If all elements of this solution are put into practice, then the stated goals for decreasing
employee burnout will be achieved. This means that there will be an increased awareness of

what employee burnout is, intervention and prevention strategies will be made known, and there
will be numerous regularly scheduled opportunities for employees to learn and practice coping
skills and strategies which they can incorporate into their fieldwork. When these goals are
achieved, there will be a decrease in employee burnout as well as a decrease in employee
turnover, lower rates of employee depression, lower costs to employers, higher job satisfaction
rates for professionals and greater work efficiency. Other benefits include an increase in client
satisfaction, greater client success in treatment goals, decreased amounts of client and parent
incarceration, lowered rates of incarcerations and probation violations, less cases of substance
use and abuse for both client and employee, and increased standards of living for all parties
involved.
Overall, the utilization and success of this solution strategy will create stronger
individuals, families and communities, which is cornerstone of the helping professions.

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