THE PREDICTION OF STAFF BURNOUT INDICATORS IN IDD COMMUNITY SERVICES BY STAFF DEPRESSION, WORK FUNCTIONING, AND WORKING ALLIANCE

Open Access
- Author:
- Stube, Jonathan Edwin
- Graduate Program:
- Counselor Education
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- August 11, 2016
- Committee Members:
- Richard Hazler, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Richard Hazler, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Jolynn Carney, Committee Member
Diandra Janelle Prescod, Committee Member
Michael Cameron Wolff, Outside Member - Keywords:
- Burnout
Working Alliance
Depression
Treatment Outcome Package
Intellectual Disability
Direct Support Professionals
Challenging Behaviors - Abstract:
- I examined how burnout indicators for DSPs are impacted by the presence of certain intrapersonal and interpersonal resources. Based on the job demands-resource model of work stress (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001), it was hypothesized that depression, work functioning problems, and working alliance would all impact burnout indicators for DSPs uniquely. It was also hypothesized that working alliance would interact with depression and work functioning problems to moderate their impact on emotional exhaustion. Participants were 201 direct service professionals (DSPs) who completed the surveys at a one-day training event. Regression models showed that depression, working alliance, and work functioning problems each have significant and unique impact on burnout, though they affected different indicators within the burnout model. Results also showed that there was no interaction effect for working alliance. Depression significantly predicted emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. Depression was the best predictor of emotional exhaustion. Work functioning problems significantly predicted emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, and was the best predictor of depersonalization. Working alliance significantly predicted depersonalization and was the best predictor of personal accomplishment. These results of this study offer evidence of the impact of the DPS-client relationship on personal accomplishment and introduces working alliance to this field of study. Implications for how to help DSPs manage burnout symptoms are discussed, along with suggestions for future research.