Special educators’ mental health and burnout: A comparison of general and teacher specific risk factors

Abstract

The cross-sectional study ascertained prevalence rates of stress-related outcomes of 490 special educators (i.e., major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder) and examined the relative importance of variables hypothesized as predictive of stress outcomes (i.e., psychosocial model of stress, school/teacher variables). Over 60% scored at the dangerous level in emotional exhaustion (i.e., burnout). Nearly 40% met criteria for one or both mental illness diagnoses with rates 5 to 12 times higher than a normative adult sample. Psychosocial variables were the best predictors of mental illness outcomes. Occupational and school variables were better predictors of burnout, although psychosocial variables added valuable explanatory variance.