Burnout syndrome among teachers of students with severe and profound mental disabilities in Slovakia

Burnout syndrome in teachers of pupils with severe and profound intellectual and developmental disabilities in Slovakia

Theoretical starting points

The purpose of the contribution is to determine the degree of burnout syndrome and analyze the factors of its occurrence in teachers of students with severe and profound mental disabilities. Burnout syndrome is defined as a subjectively experienced state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion, which is caused by long-term dealing with situations that are emotionally demanding. These emotional demands are most often caused by a combination of high expectations and chronic situational stress (Pines, Aronson In Křivohlavý, 1998). Education is considered an area with an extraordinary occurrence of burnout syndrome. According to data from Hennig and Keller (1996), the share of teachers with a high degree of burnout is 15-20%. Kallwass (2007) indicates the occurrence of significant physical and psychological difficulties in Germany for every second teacher. Every third teacher suffers from burnout syndrome.

The symptoms of burnout can be observed on a psychological, physical and social level. On the psychological level, the most frequently described feelings of exhaustion, suppression of creativity, fatigue, feelings of worthlessness, failure and failure, loss of meaningfulness of work, but also hostile feelings towards colleagues, students, increased aggressiveness, loss of objectivity, etc. The most common symptoms on a physical level are headaches, indigestion, increased blood pressure, changes in weight and rapid fatigue. On the social level, it is mainly a lack of interest in one's work, dislike of social contacts, monothematicity, low ability to understand and empathize with other people's problems (Křivohlavý, 1998; Kebza, Šolcová, 2003; Kačáni, Višňovský, 2005).

The personality of the individual is considered to be the main internal factor that influences a person's resistance to the negative effects of stress. The key external factor is the so-called social support, i.e. j. the system of social relations and ties that a person produces in relation to the social environment and that he receives from this social environment (Kebza, Šolcová, 2003; Žolnová, 2007).

Křivohlavý (1998) considers teachers working with children with disabilities to be a group with a high risk of burnout. Their work is mentally and physically very demanding, and they have to put in a lot of effort to achieve minimal success.

Within this group, there is a specific category of teachers of pupils with severe or profound mental disabilities, whose education is significantly different from that of pupils with a mild or moderate degree of mental disability. Pupils with a severe and profound degree of mental disability require increased special pedagogical care, different methods and strategies of education. Alternative and highly individualized approaches to individual students increase the personal, didactic and methodical demands on the teacher. The results are often minimal with maximum effort and arrive only after a very long time, or not at all.

The aim of the research was to determine the degree of burnout of teachers of special elementary schools educating students with severe and profound mental disabilities and to compare the degree of burnout with the age and length of experience of the teachers.

Research Hypotheses

Hypothesis 1: The degree of burnout will be positively correlated with the age of the respondents. Hypothesis 2: The degree of burnout will differ significantly in terms of length of experience in the groups of respondents with up to 5 years of experience, from 5 to 9 years of experience and with 10 or more years of experience.

Research methodology

The questionnaire technique was used in the research. We used the Czech version of the BM (BurnoutMeasure) questionnaire by Pinesová and Aronson (1988), which shows very good internal consistency. The questionnaire consisted of 21 items with statements rated on a scale from 1 (never) to 7 (always). The statements take into account all three aspects of the burnout syndrome (physical - feelings of fatigue, general weakness, weakness; emotional - feelings of anxiety, hopelessness, disappointment, disillusionment and psychological exhaustion - feelings of complete worthlessness, loss of illusions, etc.). A higher score corresponds to a more severe condition of the burnout syndrome (Křivohlavý, 1998). After translating it from Czech to Slovak, we verified it on a set of elementary school teachers and after minimal stylistic adjustments, we distributed it to the respondents. We supplemented the questionnaire with anamnestic items that ascertain age, gender, length of teaching experience, number of students in the class, number of students with multiple disabilities and the presence of a teacher's assistant in the class.

The questionnaire was sent to 70 special primary schools (out of a total of 135) throughout Slovakia, which, according to the Institute and education forecast information, had at least one class with educational variant C. In the Bratislava Region, we addressed 7 schools, in the Trnava Region, 9 schools, in the Trenčín Region, 9 schools, in the Nitra Region, 3 schools, in the Žilina Region, 7 schools, in the Bansko Bystrica Region, 8 schools. schools, 16 schools in the Prešov region and 11 schools in the Košice region. Completed questionnaires were returned to us from 54 special elementary schools, i.e. j. the return was 74%, in the number of 76.

The sample consisted of 76 teachers (95% women and 5% men) aged from 24 to 64 (average age was 41.5 years), with a length of experience from 1 to 44 years of experience (average length of experience 17.22 years). Up to 83% of teachers educated students with multiple disabilities. We used the SPSS 20.0 program to analyze the research results. The independent variables were the teacher's age and length of experience. The results were processed using t-tests and Pearson's correlation coefficient.

Research Results

By evaluating the data from the questionnaire (tab. 1), we found that the average overall rate of psychological burnout in the group of respondents was 2.5, i.e. j. in the "satisfactory condition" interval. The presence of psychological burnout (BM in the interval 4-5) was found in only two respondents (3%). For one respondent (1%), the burnout rate reached the highest value of BM = 5.76, which is already considered an alarming signal requiring professional help.

Tab. 1: Incidence of psychological burnout among respondents

BM n = 76 | % | |

| < 2 | 22 | 29 | | 2 - 3 | 38 | 50 | | 3 - 4 | 13 | 17 | | 4 - 5 | 2 | 3 | | > 5 | 1 | 1 |

Legend: BM – degree of burnout, < 2 – good result, 2 – 3 – satisfactory result, 3 – 4 – critical condition, 4 – 5 – presence of burnout, > 5 – alarming state of burnout

When formulating the first hypothesis, age as a variable related to length, experience was considered a factor significantly correlated with the overall state of burnout. Based on the correlations, however, this connection was not confirmed (tab. 2). A significant positive correlation at the p = 0.05 significance level appeared in the relationship between length of practice and age. This is a natural correlation considering that these are two periods of time that are related to each other. We found a negative correlation between length of practice and burnout syndrome, which can be interpreted as people with longer practice show lower BM values. This correlation, despite the fact that it did not reach the level of statistical significance, corresponds to the results of the analyzes under hypothesis 2. Based on the results, hypothesis 1 was not confirmed.

Tab. 2: Table of correlations between the variables age, length of practice in the C variant and the burnout index

| Age | Length of practice in C variant | BM |

| Age | 1 | - | - | | Length of practice in C variant | 0.28* | 1 | - | | BM | 0.11 | - 0.026 | 1 |

Legend: BM – *correlation significant at the 0.05 significance level

The second hypothesis was based on the theoretical model of the development of burnout according to Hennig and Keller (1996). The highest burnout score is achieved by teachers between 5 and 10 years of experience due to gradual disillusionment, loss of illusions, and frustration with work. In the first three years, the teacher is full of enthusiasm, optimism, enthusiasm for work, and is in good health. After a period of ten years, the teacher reaches a state of resignation, apathy, or will leave the teaching profession.

When investigating the influence of the length of pedagogical practice with the education of students with severe and profound mental disabilities on the incidence of psychological burnout, we divided the respondents into three groups. The first group consisted of respondents (n = 44) with up to 4 years of experience in the C variant. The second group consisted of respondents (n = 22) with experience from 5 to 9 years. The third group of respondents consisted of teachers (n = 10) with 10 years of experience. By evaluating the questionnaires and then calculating the arithmetic mean, we found that the average rate of burnout in the first group of respondents with up to 4 years of experience is 2.45, in the second group of respondents with 5 to 9 years of experience, it is 2.81, and in the group with 10 years of experience, it is 2.12. The results are presented in Figure 1.

Fig. 1: Average rate of psychological burnout of respondents depending on length of practice

A significant difference (p ≤ 0.05) in the average BM values appeared only between the group of respondents with experience from 5 to 9 years and respondents with experience of more than 10 years. When comparing these groups, teachers with more than 10 years of experience scored statistically significantly lower in burnout than teachers with 5 to 9 years of experience and even lower on average than teachers with the shortest experience of up to 4 years of experience. No other statistical difference in the degree of burnout was demonstrated between these groups of respondents.

Tab. 3: Percentage expression of respondents' burnout depending on the length of practice

Legend: BurnoutMeasure (BM) – degree of burnout: < 2 – good result, 2 – 3 – satisfactory result, 3 – 4 – critical state, 4 – 5 – presence of burnout, > 5 – alarming state of burnout.

Table 3 shows the percentage distribution of the burnout rate of the respondents depending on the length of practice. The majority of teachers in the selected group reported up to 4 years of experience. Out of the total number, 32% achieved a good result in determining the degree of burnout, 45% satisfactory, and 20% of respondents found the values ​​critical. The occurrence of burnout was confirmed in 2% of respondents, and their values ​​indicate an alarming state. The total number of teachers with experience from 5 to 9 years in our sample set was 22. In this group, 14% of teachers achieved a good result, 59% were satisfactory, we noted critical values ​​in 18% of respondents and the presence of burnout in 9% of teachers. In the group of teachers with more than 10 years of experience, the presence of burnout syndrome and critical condition was not recorded.

Discussion

The results of the presented research showed that age is not a variable related to the degree of burnout as is usually assumed. Older teachers do not differ from their younger colleagues in terms of mental, physical and social exhaustion. These results correspond to the results of other research on different populations of teachers (Daniel, Sarmány Schuller, 2000; Dubayová, Hrebeňárová, Straka, 2010), in which the connection between age and burnout rate was also not proven. Dubayová, Hrebeňárová and Straka (2010) investigated the rate of occurrence of burnout syndrome among teachers of students with mild mental disabilities in educational option A and compared the difference in its occurrence with elementary school teachers. A significant difference in the degree of burnout was found between teachers of variant A of special primary schools and primary school teachers. Teachers of pupils with mild mental disabilities in special primary schools scored higher in the incidence of burnout syndrome. However, for both studied groups of teachers, the burnout syndrome index did not correlate with any of the variables, i.e. j. according to the authors, neither age nor length of practice was related to the degree of burnout among these teachers. In our research, the group of respondents with 5 to 9 years of experience achieved higher burnout values ​​than teachers with more than 10 years of experience. This fact can also be interpreted as teachers with significant symptoms of burnout leave this demanding profession and only individuals with a high degree of resistance and adaptation will last more than 10 years in it.

From the point of view of a more in-depth analysis of the degree of burnout among teachers of students with severe and profound mental disabilities, it would be necessary to compare the relationship of burnout with other variables, such as school management style. According to Henning, Keller (1996) and Hučková (2011), the style of school leadership has the greatest influence on the emergence of burnout symptoms, especially on the emotional and social level. Some authors (cf. Mlčák, 1994; Mlčák, 2005) in their analyzes even assume that external factors, which include e.g. working conditions, student behavior or bureaucratic demands are more serious factors affecting feelings of dissatisfaction with work than internal ones. As the analysis of stressors in the work of a pedagogical employee and educator shows, the most burdensome are fulfilling administrative duties, respecting decisions that were made without the employee's participation, rushing during the day and lack of cooperation with parents (Mlčák, 2005). The atmosphere and climate of the school significantly influence the effectiveness of the teacher (Žolnová, 2007) and are an important part of the context in which the burnout syndrome occurs.

Conclusion

The aim of the paper was to analyze the burnout rate among teachers of special elementary schools educating students with severe and profound mental disabilities and to compare the observed rate of burnout among teachers with the age and length of experience of teachers in variant C. According to research findings, the age and length of experience of a teacher do not correlate with the occurrence of burnout syndrome in the sample set of respondents. However, teachers in the C variant of special elementary schools with more than 10 years of experience showed a statistically significantly lower level of burnout than teachers with 5 to 9 years of experience and also a lower BM score on average than teachers with up to 4 years of experience.

Authors: Lucia HREBEŇÁROVÁ, Department of Special Education, PF PU in Prešov Tatiana DUBAYOVÁ, Department of Special Education, PF PU in Prešov Beáta NEMCOVÁ Joined boarding school, Komenského 3, Humenné Literature

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