PROFESSIONAL BURNOUT OF PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGISTS WORKING ONLINE- THE STATE OF THE PROBLEM, CAUSES AND PSYCHOLOGICAL PROPHYLAXIS

Abstract

The article discusses approaches to the study of the “emotional burnout syndrome” in national and foreign literature and the specifics of current studies. The concept of “professional burnout of psychologists working online” has been clarified. The relevance and necessity of the proposed research because of transition of psychologists’ professional activities to the online space are determined. The article purpose is to empirically investigate the state of the problem, to determine the causes of its occurrence and possible resources for the psychological prophylaxis of professional burnout for psychologists working online. To determine the deepness of psychologists’ professional burnout, the method diagnosing a burnout syndrome in “person-to-person” professions and the author’s questionnaire were used. The experiment involved psychologists engaged in online professional activities (n = 72) with various experience of online working (from 1 to 10 years). The empirical data showed that 17% of psychologists use rarely the Internet for their professional activities, 22% use it at an average level, and 61% use it often. 33% of the surveyed psychologists confirmed that they experience professional exhaustion from activities in the Internet. It was found that 11% of psychologists showed high emotional exhaustion, 67% did an average exhaustion and 22% had low one. 6% of the specialists showed high depersonalization, 61% did average one and 23% showed low depersonalization. 1% of the psychologists showed strong reduction of professional achievements, 78% did average reduction and 6% showed low reduction. The causes of burnout occurrence and the ways for it prevention were determined, and guidelines were developed for the psychological prophylaxis of professional burnout for psychologists working online. Prospects for further work are envisaged in the study of psychological factors developing communicative media competence of future psychologists.