The relationship between burn-out and psychological resiliency levels of special education teachers in a developing economy

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between burn-out and psychological resiliency levels of special education teachers based on some demographic variables. 70 special education teachers working at 7 special education schools affiliated to North Cyprus Ministry of Education Primary Education Management Office and 21 schools which has special education mainstreaming room participated in this research. The Maslach Burn-Out Scale was used in this study to determine burn-out levels of special education teachers while the Psychological Resiliency Scale for Adults was used to determine their psychological resiliency levels. The study revealed a negative relationship between family cohesion (a sub-dimension of psychological resiliency) and emotional burn-out and desensitization (the sub-dimensions of burn-out), and it found no significant difference for gender in terms of both variables. The emotional burn-out score (a sub-dimension of burn-out scale) differed significantly based on the daily working hours of teachers. There is however a significant difference between “structural style” scores (the sub-dimension of psychological resiliency) based on educational status, as well as between desensitization scores of special education teachers and age.