Best Practices in Preventing and

Managing Stress and Burnout

12
OVERVIEW
The purpose of this chapter is to discuss sources and
management of occupational stress among school
psychologists. First, the nature and correlates of
school psychologists stress and burnout reactions are
delineated. Both individual and organizational fac-
tors are addressed. Second, strategies to prevent job
stress and promote emotional resilience are provided.
Although a model of well-being is presented that
incorporates environmental as well as personal vari-
ables, the authors believe that school psychologists
can exert inuence over their professional destinies,
provided that they proactively attend to their own
needs as well as those of their clients.
For many years, studies of occupational stress and
burnout have been prominent in the organizational
psychology literature. Nevertheless, only a handful of
studies of stress and burnout has been reported in the
school psychology literature. Given that many school
psychologists are interested in expanding their direct
and indirect intervention-related service activities, it
is surprising that school psychology researchers and
practitioners have shown little attention to the affec-
tive reactions of the service deliverer (i.e., the school
psychologist). Knowledge of counselors affective
states has long been considered central to a complete
understanding of counseling processes and outcomes
(Corey, 1996). The emotional well-being of coun-
selors and other related professionals, such as school
psychologists, may facilitate or impede effective ser-
vice delivery. For example, an optimistic, emotionally
resilient school psychologist may interact very differ-
ently with clients than a pessimistic, emotionally
stressed school psychologist.
School psychologists have undertaken extensive
explorations of numerous aspects of intervention-
related services, such as consultation with teachers
and parents. Although studies have investigated a
variety of parameters of the consulting relationship
(e.g., consultee characteristics, consultation process
variables, intervention integrity), few studies have
directly explored the affective and motivational char-
acteristics of the consultant. Such neglect could
undermine school psychologists efforts to imple-
ment, evaluate, and understand the effectiveness of
their services. Similarly, such neglect could also
impede their efforts to develop systematic change
strategies to promote emotional resilience and/or
improve their work environments.
Occupational stress and well-being have been rec-
ognized by some authors as important areas of con-
cern among people-oriented service professionals,
including school psychologists (e.g., Huebner, 1992;
Wise, 1985). Among psychologists, occupational
stress has been operationalized and studied mostly
through the use of occupational burnout measures.
Initially dened in relation to crisis workers
(Freudenberger, 1974), the burnout concept as been
elaborated upon by various researchers, most notably
by Christina Maslach and her colleagues (e.g.,
E. Scott Huebner
University of South Carolina
Tammy Dew Gilligan and Harriet Cobb
James Madison University
173
Best Practices in School Psychology IV
174
Maslach & Goldberg, 1998). In its broadest terms,
the concept relates to affective responses by profes-
sionals to the chronic stresses of working in a profes-
sional relationship with others in need. More
specically, Maslach argues that burnout is multidi-
mensional, composed of three related, but differen-
tiable, constructs: emotional exhaustion, deper-
sonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment.
Emotional exhaustion relates to feelings of being
emotionally overwhelmed by the demands of the job.
Individuals experiencing emotional exhaustion feel
emotionally depleted and often reduce their involve-
ment with others, including clients and co-workers.
Depersonalization is experienced through negative,
detached responses to clients. For example, school
psychologists may develop cynical attitudes toward
some consultees and/or clients and blame the vic-
tims for their difculties. Reduced personal accom-
plishment refers to feelings of decreased professional
competence. For example, school psychologists may
develop feelings of helplessness with respect to their
ability to make a difference and to assist those in
need. Current research suggests a developmental
model of burnout, in which emotional exhaustion
occurs initially, followed by depersonalization
responses, while reduced professional efcacy occurs
separately (Maslach & Goldberg, 1998). Taken
together, these burnout dimensions reect a develop-
mental transition from a positive problem-solving
approach toward job responsibilities to a negative,
avoidant approach. Such a transition is consistent
with Freudenbergers (1974) notion that burnout-
prone individuals begin their careers as highly moti-
vated, idealistic, and caring.
The consequences of burnout can be varied.
Burnout reactions have been related to physical prob-
lems, psychological disorders, drug and alcohol
abuse, and interpersonal difculties, at home and on
the job (Maslach & Goldberg, 1998). Furthermore,
burnout has been shown to predict the experience of
subsequent occupational stressors (Mills & Huebner,
1998). Although some psychologists may leave the
profession, others may remain, but operate at a level
of reduced productivity. Such outcomes are particu-
larly tragic for professionals who begin their careers
with high levels of motivation, skill, and enthusiasm.
Whatever the case, such outcomes negatively impact
the many consumers of school psychological services,
which include individuals (e.g., child, teacher),
groups (e.g., parent groups), and organizations (e.g.,
school districts, community agencies).
A few studies of the prevalence of burnout among
school psychologists have been conducted. In the
most recently reported national (U.S.) survey of prac-
ticing school psychologists, Huebner (1993) found
that more than 25% of the respondents reported high
emotional exhaustion, 3% reported high depersonal-
ization, and 12% reported a reduced perception of
professional accomplishment. A total of 35% of the
sample reported some level of desire to leave the pro-
fession within the next 5 years. Compared to a sam-
ple of consulting psychologists, school psychologists
reported higher levels of emotional exhaustion and
depersonalization as well as lower levels of profes-
sional accomplishment. Compared to a sample of
clinical/counseling psychologists, the school psychol-
ogists reported equivalent emotional exhaustion,
lower levels of depersonalization, and lower levels of
personal accomplishment. Thus, school psycholo-
gists may be at greater risk for various forms of
burnout than other psychological service providers.
BASIC CONSIDERATIONS
Recent models of burnout incorporate personal and
contextual variables. In these models, stress and
burnout reactions develop as the result of the inter-
actions between individual difference variables (e.g.,
demographic characteristics, personality factors,
skills and training differences) and environmental
variables (e.g., organizational and interpersonal vari-
ables). In other words, burnout is conceptualized as
a mismatch between the person-job t. In these mod-
els, attention is thus directed toward both personal
and situational sources of stress and burnout. In our
model, burnout is conceptualized as a function of
risk/resiliency factors. Borrowing from the current
paradigm in developmental psychopathology, risk
factors for problems interact with individual
strengths and vulnerabilities to predict the degree of
resilience an individual possesses (Cicchetti &
Garmezy, 1993). Protective mechanisms in the envi-
ronment may serve to mediate risks and vulnerabili-
ties to produce wellness and some immunity to
burnout. For school psychologists, an analysis of the
risk factors, personal strengths and vulnerabilities,
and protective mechanisms may help in the under-
standing and prevention of the process of burnout.
Preventing and Managing Stress and Burnout
175
Personal Risk/Resiliency Factors
Personal risk factors include demographic variables
and personality characteristics (both strengths and
vulnerabilities). The variables of school psycholo-
gists age and years of experience have been the only
demographic variables to demonstrate robust rela-
tionships with burnout. Younger, less experienced
school psychologists are more likely to report emo-
tional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced
professional accomplishment (Huebner, 1993).
School psychologists age level has also been linked
with the experience of job-related stressors, such as
interpersonal conict and time management dif-
culties (Huebner & Mills, 1997), again with
younger school psychologists more likely to experi-
ence stressors.
Personality factors have also been associated with
burnout reactions. Introversion and disagreeableness
both relate to feelings of emotional exhaustion. In
addition, introversion relates to reduced professional
efcacy, and disagreeableness relates to depersonal-
ization (Mills & Huebner, 1998). Sandoval (1993)
found that persons who reported overall low self-
esteem, narrow interests, and difculty coping with
ambiguity were more likely to report burnout reac-
tions. Conversely, extraversion, exibility, and opti-
mism were personal characteristics associated with
strength and resilience.
Organizational Risk Factors
The school psychology literature has identied orga-
nizational factors, specically job stressors, that are
quite deleterious. Wise (1985) reported the following
nine stressful factors:
1. Interpersonal conict (interactions with resistant
teachers or uncooperative administrators)
2. High risk to self and others (dangerous or crisis sit-
uations, due process hearings, child abuse cases,
teachers strikes)
3. Obstacles to efcient job performance (inexible
and/or incompetent supervisors, inadequate secre-
tarial help, feeling caught between the childs needs
and administrative constraints, lack of contact
with professional colleagues)
4. Public speaking (inservice workshops, public speak-
ing engagements, parent groups)
5. Time management (backlog of reports or referrals,
feeling behind)
6. Legal mandates (due process, compliance with reg-
ulation issues)
7. Hassles (carrying materials between schools in bad
weather, driving)
8. Professional enrichment (difculty keeping up
with the literature in the eld)
9. Insufcient recognition of work (not enough
strokes)
Additionally, other organizational factors are
risks. They include:
1. Role conict
2. Role ambiguity
3. Role overload
4. The t between the person and the job
Role conict is a crucial organizational variable in
burnout reactions (Pierson-Hubeny & Archambault,
1987; Wright & Thomas, 1982). Role conict occurs
when two or more conicting job demands impinge
on school psychologists in their delivery of psycho-
logical services. For example, role conict may occur
when school psychologists advocate for particular
services for a child with special needs (e.g., inclusion)
in the face of opposition from others, such as a prin-
cipal who wants a child excluded from the regular
classroom environment.
Role ambiguity is also a crucial variable in the
development of burnout (Huberty & Huebner,
1988). Role ambiguity refers to a lack of clarity con-
cerning the school psychologists roles and responsi-
bilities, privileges, status, objectives, etc. For
example, school psychologists continue to debate
their most important roles and functionsnow and
for the futurein the face of severe short- and long-
term shortages of practitioners and trainers. This lack
of agreed upon identity may be confusing to con-
sumers, thus serving as a continuing source of frus-
tration for school psychologists who seek to increase
the perceived value of their services.
Role overload has also been implicated in burnout
(Huberty & Huebner, 1988). Role overload can relate
to quantitative or qualitative overload. Quantitative
overload is dened as too many job demands relative
to the amount of time available to meet them. Quali-
tative overload involves task complexity; that is, tasks
that are difcult to complete effectively. Both quanti-
tative and qualitative overload are interrelated with
the quality and quantity of organizational resources
available to school psychologists (Huebner, 1993).
Examples of stressors related to qualitative overload
among school psychologists include dealing with child
abuse cases, suicide cases, working with difcult par-
ents or teachers, and a lack of appropriate services for
children (Huebner & Mills, 1997). Examples of quan-
titative overload for school psychologists include high
student-to-school psychologist ratios (Huebner &
Mills, 1994), heavy report writing responsibilities,
pressure to complete a prescribed number of cases,
and keeping up with the professional literature (Hueb-
ner & Mills, 1997; Wise, 1985).
Interestingly, in one study of quantitative over-
load, school psychologists actual caseloads did not
predict burnout responses whereas the discrepancy
between their actual and ideal caseloads did predict
burnout (Huebner & Mills, 1994). Such a nding
underscores the notion that although contextual fac-
tors are important in occupational adaptation, it is
the t between the person and the job that must be
understood.
Roles and Functions
Studies of the relationships among the frequency lev-
els of various job functions and burnout have also
supported the role of organizational factors. In one
study, the number of hours spent in assessment-
related activities correlated negatively with a sense of
professional accomplishment, whereas the number of
hours spent in intervention-related activities corre-
lated positively with a sense of professional accom-
plishment (Huberty & Huebner, 1988). In another
study, the perceived importance of consultation and
counseling activities, but not assessment activities,
correlated signicantly with professional accom-
plishment. Nevertheless, the perceived importance of
assessment activities was related signicantly to emo-
tional exhaustion and depersonalization reactions
(Huebner, 1993). The latter ndings suggest that
changes in roles and functions must be considered
carefully because they relate differentially to burnout
dimensions. For some school psychologists, it is thus
possible that increases in intervention activities along
with a concomitant decrease in assessment activities
could increase self-perceived professional accom-
plishment while also increasing the potential for emo-
tional exhaustion or depersonalization reactions. For
other school psychologists, increases in assessment-
related activities could lead to decreases in emotional
exhaustion along with increases in boredom or frus-
tration. Such reactions may be associated with the rel-
ative frequency with which school psychologists
encounter occupational ow states (Csikszentmi-
halyi, 1990) in which the level of job difculty is opti-
mally matched to their skills, with tasks being neither
too easy (leading to boredom) nor too difcult (lead-
ing to anxiety and frustration).
Analysis of these multiple factors that relate to
school psychologists well-being can help elucidate
individuals risk of burnout. Consider three individ-
ual school psychologists with differing risks,
strengths and vulnerabilities, and protective mecha-
nisms (see Figure 1). Alice is a generally optimistic
person (strength) who has a tendency to be somewhat
anxious (vulnerability). Job expectations have felt
overwhelming at times, and indeed her testing load
for special education eligibility is excessive (organi-
zational risk factor). However, she has a supportive
supervisor who serves as a buffer between Alice and
some inexible administrators (organizational pro-
tective mechanism). When Alice initiated a focused
discussion with her supervisor about role overload,
she received emotional support and suggestions for
renegotiating her caseload with one particular prin-
cipal. Generally, aside from some anxiety during the
last 2 months of the school year, Alices overall sense
of well-being is strong. She is at low risk for burnout.
Mark, on the other hand, has two organizational
risk factors: an excessive workload and an ineffective
supervisor. Furthermore, while his organizational
and time management skills are good (strength), he is
somewhat pessimistic (vulnerability). His family is
emotionally supportive (organizational protective
mechanism), however, and after participating in indi-
Best Practices in School Psychology IV
176
Preventing and Managing Stress and Burnout
177
vidual therapy (protective mechanism), Mark moved
from being at high risk to only mild risk for burnout.
Susan is at great risk for burnout. Not only does
she have role overload and an ineffective supervisor
(organizational risk factors), she is caring for an aging
parent (personal risk factor). While she characterizes
herself as an extravert (strength), she has only been a
school psychologist for 2 years (vulnerability), and is
experiencing isolation both on the job and at home
(risk factor). Without signicant intervention, she is
at risk for depression and burnout. Intervention may
need to include personal counseling as well as a major
job change.
BEST PRACTICES
Preventing or mediating stress and burnout among
school psychologists may be considered a dynamic
process, with strategies in place to promote protec-
tive mechanisms at the intrapersonal, interpersonal,
and organizational levels within both pre-service and
inservice environments. The common goal of these
strategies is to increase resiliency in school psycholo-
gists at the individual and systemic level. The follow-
ing approaches should be considered as trainers,
supervisors, and practicing school psychologists
strive for optimal well-being and functioning on the
continuum of professional burnout.
Pre-service Environment
Strategies for preventing and mediating stress and
burnout at the pre-service training level include both
student and training program responsibilities. A com-
bination of these approaches can effectively serve as
protective mechanisms and thus increase student
resiliency at an early stage of their professional devel-
opment.
PROTECTIVE MECHANISMS OF EFFECTIVE TRAINING
PROGRAMS
Effective job skills mitigate job stress. Inadequate pre-
service training in technical skills or social-emotional
competencies can be risk factors for burnout. For
example, school psychologists ratings of their self-
perceived competence in providing consultation ser-
vices have been related signicantly to all three
burnout dimensions (Huebner, 1993). As school psy-
chologists move to more diversied roles (e.g., crisis
counseling, mental health consultant), appropriate-
ness of pre-service preparation will likely become
increasingly related to school psychologists experi-
ence of stress.
Training programs should strive to provide a
milieu that emphasizes academic/skills training and
interpersonal and intrapersonal growth. This empha-
sis can begin with a program philosophy that recog-
nizes the value in personal growth. Programs also
should attempt to establish screening procedures of
student applicants that consider intrapersonal and
interpersonal characteristics to ensure a goodness of
t between the student, program, and profession.
One such procedure is the use of group interaction
interviews. This type of screening procedure allows
for an on the spot picture of an applicants exibility,
tolerance for ambiguity, and agreeableness. As was
mentioned previously, research indicates that specic
personality factors are associated with burnout reac-
Figure 1. Resiliency/Burnout Model for School Psychologists
Risk Personal characteristics Protective
factors (Strengths/vulnerabilities) mechanisms Risk for burnout
(Alice) Optimistic Predisposition to Good supervisor Low
Role overload tendencies anxiety
(Mark) Good Pessimistic Personal Mild to moderate
Role overload organizational tendencies counseling and
and ineffective and time supportive
supervisor management skills family
(Susan) Extraversion Limited experience None High
Role overload as a school
and ineffective psychologist
supervisor and
divorce
Best Practices in School Psychology IV
178
tions. Training programs consideration of potential
students extraversion/introversion, disagreeable-
ness, self-esteem, range of interests, and coping
strengths (optimism and tolerance for ambiguity)
could increase the likelihood that future school psy-
chologists will be less vulnerable to stress and
burnout.
Faculty members play a crucial role in establishing
a pre-service environment that prepares students to
mitigate job stress and professional burnout. Faculty
modeling of self-care, well-functioning, stress man-
agement, and personal growth is a necessary compo-
nent of student well-being and preparation. Faculty
can also assist by embedding learning activities within
the curriculum that promote intrapersonal and inter-
personal development. These might include reective
writing, experiential activities, opportunities for
teamwork, and frequent self-assessments. Training
programs should consider stress management and
stress inoculation seminars or workshops as a regular
aspect of their program. Programs can reduce the like-
lihood of stress overload by fostering an atmosphere
of cooperation rather than competition among stu-
dents. A clear emphasis in the training milieu and cur-
riculum on personal growth leads to frequent faculty
evaluation of students progress and areas of strengths
and weaknesses. Thus, faculty should be prepared and
willing to make developmental or preventative rec-
ommendations (e.g., participation in group or per-
sonal therapy) as well as remedial intervention
suggestions. Faculty should also require students to
join professional associations and attend professional
conferences early in their training. This emphasis on
professional networking and continuing education
hopefully initiates an unswerving appreciation for
peer support and life-long learning.
What follows provides a summary of protective
components of effective training programs:
1. Up-to-date training
2. Program philosophy that emphasizes personal
growth
3. Effective screening procedures to ensure goodness
of t with training program
4. Faculty modeling of self-care, well functioning,
and stress management
5. Curriculum that promotes intrapersonal and inter-
personal development
6. Provision of remedial interventions for students
having difculty
7. Atmosphere of cooperation and support
8. Requirements for student involvement in profes-
sional associations
RESPONSIBILITIES OF STUDENTS
Students also assume responsibility in the pre-service
environment for the development of effective stress
management strategies and the prevention or media-
tion of burnout. Most important, school psychology
students should possess a general openness, exibility,
and willingness to explore and develop intrapersonal
and interpersonal characteristics. Students must be
active participants in program components such as:
1. Peer mentoring
2. Stress management training
3. Conict management training
4. Professional process groups
5. Other self-awareness activities
Students must be willing to hear, accept, and fol-
low feedback and recommendations for personal
development including developmental or remedial
intervention suggestions for personal or group ther-
apy. One example of the importance of the students
role in mediating stress involved a second-year school
psychology practicum student. This student felt that
a faculty member did not fully appreciate her per-
sonal circumstances that were interfering with the
completion of practicum assignments. Although the
student became increasingly upset and withdrawn
from the faculty member, she did discuss her concerns
during a regularly scheduled process group meeting.
As a result of feedback and encouragement from the
process group, the student came forward to the fac-
ulty member in an emotionally mature manner to dis-
cuss her concerns. This led to mutual understanding
and a successful resolution of the problem.
Inservice Environment
As with the pre-service environment, approaches to
preventing and mediating stress and burnout are the
responsibility of both the individual school psychol-
ogist and the system or organization. Combinations
of protective mechanisms provided by the individual
and the systems infrastructure can enhance resiliency
of the professional school psychologist.
PROTECTIVE COMPONENTS OF EFFECTIVE
ORGANIZATIONS
Continuing professional development is essential for
the well-being of school psychologists. As Brown
(this volume) states, new technologies, new informa-
tion, and changing expectations mandate school psy-
chologists life-long learning activities. Participating
in NASPs CPD programs should contribute to a
sense of competency and satisfaction on the job.
Practicing school psychologists benet from super-
vision and formalized peer support. Social support,
especially from supervisors, is inversely related to
depersonalization reactions of school psychologists
(Huebner, 1994). Effective supervision can provide
technical guidance, organizational integration, and
nurturance (Russell et al., 1987). Supervision should
involve a balance of task-oriented problem solving
within the context of a positive work relationship.
Recognition of the importance of supervisory sup-
port, particularly from supervisors who have been
psychologists themselves, is crucial given the docu-
mented inadequacies of supervision experiences in
school psychology (Zins, Murphy, & Wess, 1989).
Such issues may be particularly important for practi-
tioners in rural settings, many of whom report the
lack of appropriate supervision services (Jacob-
Timm, 1995).
Support from peers and other related profession-
als also helps to prevent burnout. Isolation from col-
leagues reduces opportunities for various types of
support (Last & Silberman, 1989), which can be only
partially provided by supervisors who are in a posi-
tion of formal authority. For example, formal and
informal interactions with peers can involve support-
ive functions, such as receptive listening, afrmation
of competencies, technical information, emotional
support, psychological insight, and social reality
sharing (Pines, 1982). Professional peer support
groups, such as those described by Zins et al. (1989)
are particularly important given psychologists reluc-
tance to seek professional treatment for themselves
since helpers should need no help (Millon, Millon,
& Antoni, 1986). Systematic, individualized mentor-
ing programs, in which new professionals are teamed
with seasoned veterans, are also likely to be bene-
cial. The organizational infrastructure must encour-
age effective supervisory and collegial interactions to
prevent and/or manage burnout.
As was previously discussed, burnout reactions
have been connected to role conict (i.e., two or more
conicting job demands impinge on service delivery),
role ambiguity (i.e., lack of clarity concerning roles
and responsibilities), and role overload (i.e., quanti-
tative or qualitative complexity and demand). Orga-
nizations employing school psychologists should
work toward reduction or elimination of these fac-
tors. Psychologists themselves can play an important
role in facilitating a positive organizational structure
for psychological services delivery. For lone school
psychologists, good negotiating skills are essential.
In summary, organizational approaches that
enhance the professionals resiliency to stress and
burnout include the following:
1. Good supervision opportunities
2. Formalized peer support groups
3. Minimal role conict
4. Clear delineation of roles and responsibilities
5. Avoidance of role overload
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL
PSYCHOLOGIST
The practicing school psychologist also assumes per-
sonal responsibility for preventing and mediating
burnout. As with students in training, the profes-
sional school psychologist should possess a general
openness and willingness to evaluate levels of stress
and burnout and explore intrapersonal and interper-
sonal characteristics that may contribute to this
process. An initial step is to conduct a personal assess-
ment of stress and burnout and develop an individu-
alized stress intervention plan (Huebner, 1993) or an
individualized effectiveness plan (Thomas, 1995).
School psychologists must take the reective time
Preventing and Managing Stress and Burnout
179
necessary, however, to envision an individualized
stress management plan. This may mean visiting a
favorite quiet spot and contemplating what strategies
or changes must occur or lunching with a colleague
to provide mutual support for this activity.
One organizational professional approach is for
school psychologists to seek out and fully participate
in supervision opportunities and peer-support
groups. School psychologists should also maintain
their membership and participation in professional
associations because these provide valuable protec-
tive networking opportunities and support of the
professional identity. In a similar fashion, school
psychologists should engage in meaningful profes-
sional development activities throughout their
career.
Studies of relationships among the frequency lev-
els of various job functions and burnout have also
supported the role of organizational factors. Thus, it
may be necessary for school psychologists to modify
or change their daily work schedules to allow for
breaks and spacing of desirable versus less desirable
professional activities
The professional school psychologist should also
attempt to maintain a personal physical and mental
health self-care plan. An appropriate balance of exer-
cise, proper nutrition, and regular medical examina-
tions is critical to this self-care plan. Individuals must
also be willing to seek out appropriate physical and
mental health interventions as needed.
The ability to maintain a high level of wellness over
the course of a career was reected upon by experi-
enced school psychologists in a recent study by Guest
(2000). A number of school-based practitioners in
her study reported enhanced awareness and skills in
self-care through a greater separation of their per-
sonal and professional lives. Such experiences
included an increased ability to set boundaries on
how much they could do, greater ability to say no,
and increased ability to set priorities that reected
what they could realistically accomplish (Guest,
2000, p. 250).
Other individual responsibilities for preventing
and mediating stress and burnout include the use of
cognitive reframing and maintaining a sense of
humor and perspective throughout the work day
(Thomas, 1995). School psychologists must remem-
ber the important role of optimism in contributing to
an overall sense of well-being. If optimism is elusive,
then help or change is needed. Optimism can be
learned at any point in time, as was noted in the pos-
itive psychology movement (Seligman & Csikszent-
mihalyi, 2000).
The professionals responsibilities for tasks to
mediating stress and burnout are summarized below:
1. Openness and willingness to self-evaluate current
levels of stress and burnout
2. Commitment to design a personalized stress man-
agement plan
3. Participation in supervision and peer-support groups
4. Participation in professional associations and pro-
fessional development
5. Changing the daily rut of job functions and roles
6. Partnering with other school personnel to try new
activities
7. Maintaining a personal and mental health self-care
plan
8. Maintaining a sense of optimism and humor
SUMMARY
Burnout refers to the negative consequences of
chronic job stress. It is composed of the affective
experiences of emotional exhaustion, depersonaliza-
tion, and a reduced sense of personal accomplish-
ment. School psychologists are vulnerable to
professional burnout and, according to research,
may be at greater risk than other helping profes-
sionals. Risk factors for burnout (e.g., role overload)
interact with individual strengths (e.g., optimism)
and vulnerabilities (e.g., introversion) to predict the
degree of resilience an individual possesses. Protec-
tive mechanisms in the environment, such as appro-
priate supervision and peer support, may mediate
these risks.
Training programs have an obligation to select
applicants who possess characteristics that are asso-
ciated with the development of resilience. Training
programs must then foster resiliency through a phi-
losophy that promotes self-awareness, personal
Best Practices in School Psychology IV
180
growth, and skill development. Graduates from
resiliency-building programs have a responsibility
to choose positions that offer a reasonable probabil-
ity of job satisfaction (e.g., quality supervision,
atmosphere of support, realistic role expectations,
and continuing professional development). Further-
more, it behooves school psychologists to continue
throughout their careers to develop personal
resiliency and to advocate for protective mechanisms
within their organizations. Maslach and Leiter
(1997) articulate an excellent model to guide profes-
sionals, such as school psychologists, in the imple-
mentation of organizational change efforts to
promote enhanced person-job t.
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ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cherniss, C. (1995). Beyond burnout: Helping teachers,
nurses, therapists, and lawyers recover from stress and
disillusionment. New York: Routledge.
In contrast to the more typical stress-related models of
burnout, Cherniss discusses burnout from the perspective of
a professionals varying nature and level of ideological com-
mitment and moral purpose related to her or his career. This
book is of particular relevance to school psychologists and
includes an informative case study of one school psycholo-
gists successful efforts at changing his role and function.
Maslach, C. (1982). Burnout: The cost of caring. Engle-
wood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
The reader should not be misled by the date of this text. It
is one of the classics in the eld. Maslachs book remains full
of useful individual, group, and organizational change ideas
to assist human services professionals in the prevention
and/or management of occupational stress and burnout.
Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. (1997). The truth about burnout.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
This book is authored by two of the foremost researchers
in the area of burnout and provides an excellent discus-
sion of two problem-solving approaches (individual and
organizational) to modifying person-job linkages to pre-
vent job burnout and promote job engagement. Realistic
case studies are included to illustrate the change process.
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