Relationships between work conditions, job satisfaction and burnout in Israeli Ministry of Education art therapists

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: Art therapists in the education system work within a framework that is not therapeutic in orientation, a fact which has implications for their work environment. Aims: This study examined the relationships between working conditions and between job satisfaction and burnout of art therapists employed by the education system in Israel. Method: Forty-nine therapists completed a set of self-report questionnaires at the beginning, middle and end of the academic year. Results: Several significant correlations between the therapists' perceptions of their working conditions and between burnout and job satisfaction were found. The better the therapists' perception of inter-professional team collaboration, the greater their sense of professional efficacy. More satisfactory perceptions of the working conditions in the therapy room were associated with a lesser sense of exhaustion. Most of the correlations between the variables emerged at Time 2, midyear. Conclusions: Midyear is characterized by more consecutive workdays, which allows for more staff meetings than in the first and last trimesters of the school year and is considered the main period for therapeutic work to take place. The findings, which partially support the hypotheses, also illustrate the moderating role of inter-professional team collaboration on the relationship between the number of clients and the exhaustion dimension of burnout. Plain-language summary Art therapists in the education system work within a framework that is not therapeutic in orientation and has highly specific working conditions. This study examined whether there is a relationship between working conditions; the suitability of the therapy room, the quality of the interprofessional team collaboration, and the number of clients, and between job satisfaction and burnout in 49 art therapists employed by the education system in Israel. The therapists were sent an online link from the researchers to complete self-report questionnaires at the beginning, middle and end of the academic year. We found several significant correlations between the therapists’ perceptions of their working conditions and between burnout and job satisfaction. The better the perception of inter-professional team collaboration, the more job satisfaction was reported at Time 2. The better the therapists’ perception of inter-professional team collaboration in the school system, the greater their sense of professional efficacy at Times 1 and 2 and the less their sense of exhaustion at Time 2. More satisfactory perceptions of the working conditions in the therapy room were associated with a lesser sense of exhaustion at Times 1 and 2. Most of the correlations between the variables emerged at Time 2, midyear. This period is characterised by more consecutive work days, which allows for more staff meetings than in the first and last trimesters of the school year, and is considered the main period for therapeutic work to take place. The findings also show that inter-professional team collaboration affects the relationship between the number of clients and burnout from exhaustion.