Abstract
Burnout can be defined as an occupational syndrome resulting from poorly managed chronic workplace stress. It is characterized by three dimensions: feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; increased mental distance from one's job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one's job; and reduced professional efficacy. Teachers are among the human service professionals particularly vulnerable to occupational burnout. Teaching is a highly demanding and challenging task, in that requires constant confrontation with different stakeholders (students and their parents, administrators). Among teachers, physical education teachers have been particularly understudied even though a recently published systematic review has found that they are exposed to high levels of stress. To better explore burnout syndrome among physical education teachers, the present systematic review was undertaken, searching up to six languages. Fifty-six studies were included in the present review. The reported rate of high emotional exhaustion ranged from 11.52 to 60.6%, according to the single study. Pooling together 12 studies and totaling 2,153 physical education teachers, the prevalence rate of high emotional exhaustion was computed to be 28.6 [95% CI 21.9–35.8]. The reported rate of high depersonalization ranged from 3.6 to 45.2%, according to the single study. Pooling together 11 studies and totaling 2,113 physical education teachers, the prevalence rate of high depersonalization was computed to be 14.5% [95% CI 8.0–22.4]. The reported rate of low personal accomplishment ranged from 13.63 to 55.6%, according to the single study. Pooling together 12 studies and totaling 2,153 physical education teachers, the prevalence rate of low personal accomplishment was computed to be 29.5% [95% CI 23.8–35.4]. The reported rate of overall burnout ranged from 10.0 to 51.6%, according to the single study. Pooling together 7 studies and totaling 1,101 physical education teachers, the prevalence rate of overall burnout was computed to be 23.9% [95% CI 13.6–36.0]. No evidence of publication bias could be found, both visually inspecting the funnel plot and conducting the Egger's linear regression test. Burnout imposes a significant burden among physical education teachers. Based on the information contained in the present systematic review and meta-analysis, tailored interventions could be designed to mitigate such a burden. However, due to the limitations of the studies included in the present systematic review and meta-analysis, further research in the field is urgently warranted.Systematic Review Registration: https://osf.io/69ryu/, identifier: 10.17605/OSF.IO/69RYU.
Highlights
Burnout has been defined in the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) as an occupational syndrome resulting from poorly managed chronic workplace stress, which is characterized by three dimensions: feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and reduced professional efficacy (WHO, 2020).Teacher burnout has been identified as a worldwide problem (Tsouloupas et al, 2010; Dicke et al, 2015)
Pooling together 11 studies and totaling 2,113 physical education teachers, the prevalence rate of high depersonalization was computed to be 14.5% [95% CI 8.0–22.4]
Burnout imposes a significant burden among physical education teachers
Summary
Burnout has been defined in the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) as an occupational syndrome resulting from poorly managed chronic workplace stress, which is characterized by three dimensions: feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and reduced professional efficacy (WHO, 2020). High job demands and low resources can activate the “energetic process” that can lead to BOS Some work demands such as workload, time pressure, long working hours, and interpersonal conflicts have been found to increase teachers’ burnout (Pietarinen et al, 2013). The Job Demand Resources (JDR) was tested in Finnish teachers, showing that teachers’ job demands like pupil misbehavior, workload, and physical work environment can predict BOS, whereas teachers’ job resources like job control, supervisory support, information, social climate, and innovativeness, predict positive outcomes such as work engagement and organizational commitment (Hakanen et al, 2006) In another recent research, based on the JDR model, teachers with a higher workload who reported increase in class sizes due to economic circumstances were more likely to belong to engaged-burnout group, whereas teachers who experienced more control over their work and reported higher resilience were more likely to be assigned to engaged group (Salmela-Aro et al, 2019). The present study was undertaken in order to fill in this gap of knowledge by providing relevant findings from an extensive investigation in several countries that involves teachers in terms of the prevalence of burnout and its consequences
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