Relationships between work-related hazards and occupational burnout among academics: are active coping strategies important

Abstract

The objectives of the study included the analysis of the relationship between work-related risks and occupational burnout as well as answering the question whether active coping strategies can alleviate the negative effects of such risks. The hypotheses were verified based on the survey conducted among a sample of 340 academic staff. The Psychosocial Risk Scale and the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory were used in the survey. All three groups of hazards (job content, job context, pathology) correlate significantly with both the overall measure of burnout and its components. For both of these (exhaustion and disengagement) the burnout shows the strongest correlation to job context related risks. However, less clear conclusions can be drawn from the analysis of the role played by active stress management strategies in this process. Only within the relationship between job content hazards and exhaustion, those reaching for active strategies were affected by negative consequences less frequently.