Abstract
Burnout is a well-known phenomenon with significant social, biological and economic costs. In particular, teacher burnout is associated with unfavorable mental health outcomes and economic costs due to reduced hours and teacher turnover. This study investigated the effect of an Inquiry-Based Stress Reduction (IBSR) cognitive-reframing program on teacher burnout using a quasi-experimental design. Fifty-three teachers participated in a prospective intervention with a passive control group. The intervention group completed a 12-week IBSR program with 4.5 h of weekly engagement. Relative to control, teachers in the intervention group showed greater improvements in emotional exhaustion (18.8 ± 5.2 to 15.9 ± 5.7 vs. 16.0 ± 4.8 to 17.4 ± 4.8; p = 0.01) and personal accomplishment (21.8 ± 5.0 to 24.6 ± 4.3 vs. 21.9 ± 4.5 to 22.8 ± 4.3; p = 0.04). Significant correlations were found between change in emotional exhaustion and negative affect (positive correlation; r = 0.32; p = 0.034) and between personal accomplishment and perceived stress (negative correlation; r = −0.451; p = 0.002). This study demonstrates the potential of IBSR to improve teacher well-being. Future randomized studies are needed to evaluate the causality of IBSR in reducing burnout among teachers and other high-stress workplaces.
Highlights
Studies have demonstrated that one third of all new teachers experience high levels of burnout and leave their profession during the first three to five years [1]
The results of the current study demonstrate that burnout parameters of emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment improved significantly in the intervention group, compared with the control group, suggesting that Inquiry Based Stress Reduction (IBSR) may be a viable approach to reducing teacher burnout (Figure 2)
Further studies with greater power are needed to resolve whether improvements in perceived stress and positive and negative affect may contribute to improvements in personal accomplishment and emotional exhaustion or vice versa
Summary
Studies have demonstrated that one third of all new teachers experience high levels of burnout and leave their profession during the first three to five years [1]. This creates a shortage of teachers which leads to reductions in teaching quality and low educational standards [1,2]. The concept of burnout has been defined as a response to persistent emotional stress leading to reduced coping resources of an individual. According to [3] the three components of burnout are emotional exhaustion, reduced personal accomplishment and depersonalization. Emotional exhaustion is the main component and it represents a lack of mental resources due to emotional overload.
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