Socio-psychological aspects of syndrome of emotional burn-out in psychologists of different spheres of professional activity
Syndrome of emotional burn-out in psychologists of different spheres of professional activity as one of the serious problems of present-days professional activity is discussed. This is syndrome of psychological exhaustion, professional inefficiency induced by the return reaction to continuous interpersonal and emotional stress factors in professional sphere. The problem is wide because deals with considerable spectrum of different phenomena. Specialists working in the sphere of educational psychology, medical psychology, psychology of labor, psychiatry, education hold an interest in profound study of the syndrome. But in spite of wide spectrum of directions there is no single theoretical basis for the problem. The following methods were used in the research: MBI questionnaire developed by C. Maslach and S. Jekson, adapted by N.E. Vodop’yanova; mental burn-out scale by A.A. Rukavishnikov;. AVEM Arbeitsbezogenes Verhaltens und Erlebensmuster by U. Schaarschmidt, A. Fischer; the authors inquiry form aimed at revelation of satisfaction with professional activity. Qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis including Mann-Whitney U-test were used. 60 psychologists from Voronezh region from different professional spheres (educational sphere - 20, medical psychologists - 20, penal psychologist - 20) participated in the research. Length of professional experience constitutes 3-22 years. The results of empirical research of socio-psychological aspects of emotional burn-out syndrome in three groups of psychologists are presented. All participants to a greater or lesser extent are disposed to emotional burn-out syndrome, with the highest one in psychologists of penal institutions. It should be mentioned that signs of emotional exhaustion were more expressed in women than in men regardless of the activity sphere. Directions of preventive and correctional work for overcoming of emotional burn-out symptoms are considered as well.