Two step cluster analysis of burnout among preschool teachers

Abstract

Abstract Background The burnout is influenced by a variety of personal, work-related and client-related factors, which are included in different domains of Copenhagen burnout inventory (CBI). The aim of this study was to examine if there are different groups of preschool teachers which differ in scores on different domains of CBI. Methods This was the analysis of the data from the survey on burnout on a National representative sample of 456 preschool teachers in Serbia. The study was conducted between October of 2018 and January 2019. The study instrument contained questions on socio-demographic characteristics, workplace environment characteristics, and Copenhagen burnout inventory. We used two-step cluster analysis in SPSS to segment the participants based on age and average scores on personal, work-related and client related domains of CBI. Results Our participants clustered in three distinguished groups: participants aged 35.31 years, who worked in shifts, with personal burnout average of 29.46, work-related burnout average of 24.06 and client related burnout average of 19.46; participants aged 44.09 years, who worked in shifts, personal domain scores of 55.24, work-related burnout scores of 51.72, and client-related burnout scores of 51.13; and participants aged 43.01 years, who did not work in shifts, with personal burnout scores of 36.47, work-related burnout scores of 31.95, and client-related burnout scores of 32.08. Conclusions Participants clustered in three different groups, and the group with the highest average age and with the shift work had higher scores on all three domains compared to other groups. Key messages Preschool teachers clustered in three groups with different scores on domains on burnout. The group with the highest average age had the highest scores on all three domains of burnout.