Influence Of Personal Characteristics On Occurrence And DevelopmentOf Emotional Burnout

Abstract

The article reviewed the specifics of emotional burnout, the leading symptoms and phases of emotional burnout, characterological features that contribute to the emergence and development of a syndrome of emotional burnout. The author analyzes emotional burnout as a complex multidimensional dynamic entity that manifests itself in specific ways and develops for a sufficiently long period of time: the chronic state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion. The emergence and development of the phenomenon of "emotional burnout" occurs under the influence of three factors: personal, organizational and role. However, noting the importance of all these factors, we support the idea of the role of personality as leading and determinative. In turn, the individual personality has a complex structure and, in our opinion, includes the following components: individual-typological (characterized by a certain combination of individual psychological features), cognitive (characterized by the level of knowledge and awareness of their personal characteristics and emotional states, skills about 'objective analysis of psycho-traumatic situations’) and behavioral components (characterized by self-regulation skills of the emotional state and the self-organization of their own work). That is what we consider the prerequisite for the emergence of the phenomenon of emotional burnout, which is confirmed by experimental data.

Keywords: Emotional burnoutburnout symptomsphases of burnout

Introduction

Information dynamism, inherent in the 21st century, and the variability of socio-economic, socio-political, moral and spiritual values of society causes a lot of problems for the individual. One of them is a well-founded professional choice, the formation and development of a professional's personality. It effects not only the physical life of a person, but personal self-affirmation, mental health and the achievement of personality the top of "acme". They become indifferent to their previously beloved professional activity, reduces their efficiency at work, devalues communication within a professional group, professional tasks are performed at the reproductive manner, anxiety increases and negative emotional experiences prevail. Psychologists note: the effect of professional burnout is a result of the internal accumulation of negative emotions which leads to the depletion of personal, emotional, and energy resources. The emotional well-being of a professional specialist is one of the determinative factors of the ability to work at a professional level, and the full mental health is an important condition for professional activity.

Problem Statement

The problem of "emotional burnout" does not have a single conceptual basis, there are many theories of the emergence of the phenomenon of emotional burnout. Among the various approaches can be distinguished three main ideas depending on the source of occurrence: individual, interpersonal and organizational. "Burnout" is considered as a syndrome consisting of many interconnected symptoms in which depletion prevails. Shattered expectations and goals are considered as the main cause of "burnout." This approach may include the work of (Plutchik, Kellerman, & Conte, 1979; Kondo, 1991; Thornton, 1992). Based on existential psychology, the main cause of "burnout," Pines (1988) considers as the unsuccessful search for the meaning of life in a professional field. In her opinion, "burnout" is most likely to occur in social workers with a high level of aspirations. When highly motivated people identify themselves with their work and consider it to be significant, socially useful, fail to achieve their goals and feel that they are not able to make a significant contribution, they experience "burnout". Work, which was the meaning of life for the individual, causes him disappointment, the development of which leads to "burnout" (Plutchik, Kellerman, & Conte, 1979). At the same time, other researchers consider the more important personality characteristics (low self-esteem, high neuroticism, anxiety, etc.).

Representatives of the interpersonal approach perceive the traditional cause of "burnout" in the asymmetry of relations between employees and clients, which emphasizes the importance of interpersonal relationships in the event of a "burnout". In particular, Maslach (1982) believes that the main cause of "burnout" is a tense relationship between customers and employees. In contrast to the above-mentioned approaches, the organizational approach focuses on the factors of the working environment as the main source of "burnout." These factors include a large amount of work and, above all, its routine nature, the narrow scope of contacts with customers, lack of autonomy in work. As pointed out by  Thornton (1992), any factor that leads to a lack of balance between requirements and personal resources may be a source of "burnout".

Based on the previous information, we will adhere to the idea that the phenomenon of "emotional burnout" as a complex multidimensional dynamic entity, which is manifested as "specific and develops for a sufficiently long time, a chronic state of emotional, mental, physical exhaustion" (Kondo, 1991). The development of this phenomenon is characterized primarily by altruistic occupations, where care for people (social workers, doctors, nurses, teachers, etc.) prevails.

Research Questions

This problem was studied by foreign and domestic psychologists, in particular: (Maslach, 2001; Selye, 1982; Boyko, 1996a; 2008b; Vodopianova, 2000; Maksimenko, Karamushka, & Zaichikova, 2006; Orel, 2001; Formanyuk, 1994). But the descriptive and occasional nature of these studies does not allow the disclosure of the content of this phenomenon.

In psychological literature, the problem of professional burnout is considered within three main areas and is a manifestation of chronic fatigue syndrome, a state of physical, mental, emotional exhaustion, which is the result of prolonged exposure to emotionally overloaded situations of communication. Psychologist Boyko (1996a) distinguishes emotional extinction as a personality-generated mechanism of psychological protection in the form of complete or partial lack of emotional response in response to psycho-traumatic influence. By synthesizing well-known scientific approaches, we believe that professional burnout is a syndrome of emotional, mental and physical exhaustion due to prolonged emotional stress. Its negative manifestations are depressive states, a sense of fatigue, desolation, a negative professional setting, a reluctance to predict positive results in one’s own life and profession. On the one hand, the analysis of scientific literature and research thematically related to emotional burnout shows the lack of a single point of view about understanding the essence and content of this phenomenon, factors of its origin, stage or stages of its development. To date, there is not enough research that has a general, systematic nature regarding the problem. Obviously there is a contradiction between the need of society in professionally activities, initiative, and stress-resistant individuals and the lack of a system of means aimed at maintaining the necessary level of efficiency in their professional activities.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of our study is to research the specifics of the phenomenon of emotional burnout, to identify the leading symptoms and phases of "emotional burnout", to identify the significance of characterological features in the emergence and development of the "emotional burnout" syndrome.

Research Methods

Emotional burnout. The advantage of the technique "Diagnosis of the level of emotional burnout" by V. Boyko ( 2008b) consist in a aggregate picture of the phenomenon of "emotional burnout," allows you to see the leading symptoms of "burnout". Operate the semantic content and quantitative indicators calculated for different phases of the construction of the "burnout" syndrome, one can give a sufficiently voluminous characterization of the personality, outline individual prophylactic measures and psycho-correction.

The method determines the degree of development of individual symptoms and phases of "emotional burnout".

Accentuation of character. Method of determining the accentuation of the character of K. Leongard-Schmidek (1989). This tool can identify the dominant type of accentuation character of the subjects and determine the appropriate types of personality features. Purpose of use: to identify the meaning of characterological features of the emergence and development of a syndrome of "emotional burnout".

Rigiditi. Method of rigidity measurement by Levitov (1964).

The diagnostic tool is aimed at determining the presence and measurement of two opposite personality traits: rigidity and mobility.

 The purpose of using the technique in this study is to determine the degree of stability of mindset, stereotypes, ways of thinking in psychological activity and its role in the emergence and development of the phenomenon of "emotional burnout".

Mathematics Methods

Analysis of average values; method of percentage; analysis of rank correlation of Spearmen , that allows to determine the quantitative measures of the relation between variables (between symptoms of the phenomenon of emotional burnout and certain individual psychological characteristics); non-parametric U-value of Mann -Whitney for defining authentic differences in one or more changes (symptoms of the discovering phenomenon) in the above mentioned groups and subgroups.

Mathematical data processing and graphical presentation of the results were carried out using the computer software package of statistical software SPSS 11,5.

Findings

An analysis of the theoretical base made it possible to conduct an empirical study whose purpose is to study the specifics of the phenomenon of emotional burnout, to identify the significance of characterological features in the emergence and development of a syndrome of "emotional burnout".

Our experimental study of the phenomenon of "emotional burnout" took place in two stages. A total of 110 people participated in the study. The sample of our study was made of specialists who had experienced work from one to fifteen years in a certain field of activity.

All subjects are representatives of the social area of activity. Of these, two groups were formed:

• a group of pedagogical workers of the town of the Pre-school institutors in city of Chernivtsi and the surrounding region – 50 people;

• a group of medical workers of medical institutions of the city of Chernivtsi and region – 60 people.

The criterion for the allocation of these groups is the specifics of their professional activity. In turn, for solving individual tasks, each group was divided into groups in accordance with their professional experience: 1-5 years of work, 6-12 years of work, over 12 years of work. The same sample of our study was made of individuals who had experience of work from one to fifteen years in a certain field of activity.

The results of the research – statistic data and their interpretation

The task during the first stage was to determine the presence of "emotional burnout" and the significance of its impact on professional activities. The tasks of the second stage were: 1) studying the features of the phenomenon of "emotional burnout"; 2) the identification of its relationship with the indicators of socio-psychological adaptation; 3) identification of the personal characteristics of the representatives of various professional groups with different work experience and their role in the emergence and development of the phenomenon of "emotional burnout".

On the basis of literature analysis, we concluded that the emergence and development of the phenomenon of "emotional burnout" occurs under the influence of three factors: personal, organizational, and role. However, noting the importance of all these factors, we adhere to the idea of the role of the personality as leading and determinative. In turn, the personality has a complex structure and, in our opinion, includes the following components: individual-typological, cognitive, and behavioral.

According to the results of the methodology "Diagnosis of the level of emotional burnout " Boyko (2008b) there were allocated three levels of development of the phenomenon of emotional burnout. According to the task of this stage, it was discovered: in the group of employees of pre-school educational establishments there is a high phenomenon of emotional burnout - 37%, in the group of medical workers - 33%. In the subgroups, selected according to the criterion of professional experience (from 1 to 5 years of work, from 6 to 12 and over 12 years of work), the distribution of workers in preschool and medical institutions with high, moderate and low levels of development of the phenomenon of emotional burnout manifests itself in the same way. Regardless of the length of work, the number of subjects, in which the phenomenon of emotional burning is unformed to 1/3, with the phenomenon of emotional burn-up at the stage of formation to 1/2, with the emerging phenomenon of emotional burn-up - 1/3. Employees who have high-level indicators of the phenomenon of "emotional burnout", regardless of the group (by experience or field of activity), make up about 1/3. The first conclusion, which can be made according to experimental data, is similar to the phenomena of emotional burnout.

The results of experimental research show that the most consistent and steady development of the phenomenon of "emotional burnout" occurs among employees of preschool institutions. Representatives of the medical group are distinguished by higher indicators and individual symptoms of "burnout", and the formation of phases and the phenomenon is general at the stage of the first five years of work, but then there is a tendency to decrease these indicators. In the opinion of  Ivleveva and Shatalova (2003), who study the phenomenon of emotional burnout in the field of medical workers, the signs of the phenomenon of "emotional burnout" may appear from the first months of employment. Indeed, the tendency of young people to "burn out" is explained by the emotional shock, when they faced the real reality that often does not meet their expectations (Schaufeli, & Yanczur, 1994). As a rule, the risk of the phenomenon of emotional burnout increases in the 3rd-4th year of work, when the feeling of novelty is lost, and requirements to themselves increase. The requirements of others are becoming even larger. Those who overcame this border, remain more calmly in the profession, although there are a lot of exceptions, Ivleeva and Shatalova noted (2003).

Use of the U-criterion by Mann Whitney has revealed the significant differences in the samples with different experience for the following parameters:

• In the workforce of the pre-school institutions, "the experience of psycho-traumatic situations" (at p<0,05), "dissatisfaction with oneself" (at p<0,01), "inadequate emotional response" (at p < 0,01), "expansion of the sphere of economy emotions "(at p<0,01)," reduction of professional duties "(with p<0,05)," psychosomatic and psycho-vegetative disorders "(at p<0,05) are significantly higher with the professional experience of more than 12 years. Such employees tend to spend as little time as possible on their professional duties, experience deterioration, minimize emotional contributions to work and are dissatisfied with their professional activities and as a professional (fig. 01).

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In medical workers, "emotional and moral disorientation" (at p<0,05) and "reduction of professional duties" (at p<0,05) are greater in persons with professional experience of less than 5 years. Such individuals are indifferent and avoid professional duties (fig. 02).

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According to the criterion for belonging to a particular profession, irrespective of the length of work, the following significant differences were found:

• The level of symptoms of "dissatisfaction with oneself", "anxiety and depression" among preschool workers is significantly higher than that of medical workers, and the manifestations of the symptom of "decrease of occupational responsibilities" are more pronounced in healthcare professionals.

The staff of kindergartens are more dissatisfied with their own professional activities, they show increased anxiety and irritability at work, but spend less time performing their professional duties than medical workers (fig. 03).

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On the basis of the above material it can be concluded that specific professional activities, as well as the professional experience and competence of employees acquired with experience, affect the nature of the formation of the phenomenon of "emotional burnout", contribute to the greater development of certain symptoms. However, common to all, and therefore logical is the equally intense development of the phenomenon of emotional burnout in both professional groups during the first five years of work.

According to the author of the method used "Diagnostics of the level of " emotional burnout" V. Boyko ( 2008b) , some symptoms may be dominant in the syndrome of "emotional burnout", while others are not yet formed; phases are not necessarily formed sequentially, since they reflect fundamentally different phenomena: reactions to external and internal events, techniques of psychological defenses and the state of the nervous system (Boyko, 2008b). However, there is a mutually positive correlation between all the symptoms of the phenomenon of "emotional burnout" (with p<0,01), excluding the symptom of "emotional detachment", which has no correlation with the symptoms of "anxiety and depression", "broaden the sphere of economic emotion", "psychosomatic and psycho-vegetative disorders".

This fact, as well as a careful study of the data of specific subjects, suggests that, as a rule, the rates of all individual symptoms, as well as the aggregate indices of all phases, are within the same values, or low, moderate or high. In other words, the emergence and development of several symptoms earlier or later "pull" the development of all others. This is a rather valid basis for the allocation of our total indicator of the level of formation of the phenomenon of "emotional burnout."

Quantitative analysis of the data of the test by K. Leongard-Shmyshek (1989) showed that in the two groups and subgroups, based on the experience of work, representatives of the hypertensive, emotional, disturbing and demonstrative accentuation prevail (Leonhard, 1989). Let's pay attention to the fact that more than a third and slightly less than half of the sample subjects have an emotional type of accentuation of character - 52 out of 110, which makes up 43% of the total number of subjects. The results of the study indicate that the most prone to "emotional burnout" are representatives of the emotional type of accentuation of nature. K. Leonhard (1989) notes that empathy, humanity, softness, introverts - qualities that contribute to the emergence and development of a syndrome of "emotional burnout" (Leonhard, 1989). These qualities, like extreme vulnerability, the need for a special style of relationship, forgiveness, deep feelings for any reason are characteristic of people with an emotional type of accentuation of character. In our study, leadership is taken by preschool workers, and a lower percentage is for healthcare workers. Such a result is quite logical according to which medical workers should have a moderate level of "softness" and empathy for the performing of their professional activities.

Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the accentuation of the nature of the subjects in groups with low, moderate, and high level of development of the phenomenon of emotional burnout made it possible to conclude that the phenomenon of "emotional burnout" is practically does not affect hyperactive accentuation person, moderately inclined representatives of jitters, pedantic, excitatory, exalted, distemper, cyclothymic types, and to a large extent demonstrative, disturbing and emotional types.

Thus, the emotional accentuation of character is the leading individual and psychological characteristic that affects the process of the emergence and development of the phenomenon of emotional burnout.

Results of the Method of Rigidity Measurement D. Levitov. Rigidity (mobility) – a personality characteristic, from which usually associated adaptation capabilities of the individual. It would be logical to assume that this quality plays a role in the development of the phenomenon of "emotional burnout" (Table 01 ).

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The average indicator indicates the prevalence of the average degree of rigidity and mobility among representatives of two professional groups. Some tendencies in the ratio of indicators of different levels of the phenomenon of emotional burnout with rigidity indicators did not allow comparative analysis of the individual values of the studied and mean values in the groups. However, a negative correlation between the indicator of "rigidity" and the indicators of the symptom of "emotional burnout" is "dissatisfaction with oneself" (-0,12 at p<0,05).

Obviously, a certain degree of rigidity contributes to preserving the persistent perceptions of the individual, the more stable the positive "image, I", the less the person feels dissatisfaction with oneself.

The reliability of this relationship is confirmed by the presence of another negative correlation between the indicator of rigidity and the indicator of the characteristics of socio-psychological adaptation, as "rejection of oneself" (0,18 at p<0,01).

Also, a positive correlation with the "acceptance of others" indicator was established (0,21 at p<0,01).

Rigidity impedes self-perception of the individual and promotes a positive attitude towards the surrounding people. Thus, rigidity as personal quality to some extent indirectly can hinder the development of the phenomenon of "emotional burnout".

Investigated with a low/unformed level of the phenomenon of "emotional burnout" inherent high degree of adaptability, self-acceptance, acceptance of others, internality and moderate manifestation of domination and rigidity. Experienced with a moderate (in the stage of formation) level of the phenomenon of emotional burnout are characterized by an average degree of adaptability, self-acceptance, acceptance of others and internality, a small degree of dominance (ie, quantity) and rigidity (that is, greater mobility). Experienced with a high (formed) level of the phenomenon of "emotional burnout" are low degree of adaptability (maladaptation), self-acceptance, acceptance of others, internality (externality), domination (knowledge) and rigidity.

At the same time, the emotional burnout of an individual is an individual process, the causes of which are the combination of a combination of subjective and objective factors that depend on personality traits of a person, an individual system of professional development and social interaction.

Conclusion

1. The phenomenon of "emotional burnout" is a complex multi-level dynamic formation and includes three levels: low, moderate and high. These levels determine the degree of the formation of emotional burnout and are indicators of the dynamics of its development.

2. Experience and specifics of professional activity influence the intensity and peculiarity of the phenomenon of emotional burnout in representatives of various social professions: according to the increase in length of service, quantitative indicators of emotional burnout increase; in accordance with the specifics of the profession, the priority and intensity of the formation and manifestation of some symptoms in comparison with others is determined. At the same time, none of the professional groups is safe from the emergence of the phenomenon of emotional burnout.

3. The leading factor in the emergence and development of the phenomenon of emotional burnout is personal. In particular, the representatives of the "emotional accentuation" of character with all the characteristics inherent in this type are inclined to this phenomenon. Individual psychological characteristics contributing to the process of maladaptation: maladaptation (as the inability of the individual in adapting to changing conditions and changing oneself), the rejection of oneself and others, emotional discomfort, externality, and awareness, also predetermine the process of developing the phenomenon of emotional burnout. Rigidity as an individual personality characterized by persistence stereotypes and ideas of the individual, promotes the preservation of positive perceptions of themselves and others, self-acceptance and acceptance of others.

4. Each level of the phenomenon of emotional burnout is characterized by a certain combination of individual psychological features of the individual (individual-typological component) and the corresponding degree of formation of the cognitive and behavioral components.

Further perspectives of the study are seen in the manifestation and study of the influence of personality traits of man, his seniority, and satisfaction with work, and factors of professional competence for the purpose of professional self-preservation of a worker and overcoming the negative emotional burnout trends.

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