The Relationship Between Burnout and Occupational Stress in Genetic Counselors

Burnout represents a critical disruption in an individual’s relationship with work, resulting in a state of exhaustion in which one’s occupational value and capacity to perform are questioned. Burnout can negatively affect an individual’s personal life, as well as employers in terms of decreased work quality, patient/client satisfaction, and employee retention. Occupational stress is a known contributor to burnout and occurs as a result of employment requirements and factors intrinsic to the work environment. Empirical research examining genetic counselor-specific burnout is limited; however, existing data suggests that genetic counselors are at increased risk for burnout. To investigate the relationship between occupational stress and burnout in genetic counselors, we administered an online survey to members of three genetic counselor professional organizations. Validated measures included the Maslach Burnout Inventory—General Survey (an instrument measuring burnout on three subscales: exhaustion, cynicism, and professional efficacy) and the Occupational Stress Inventory—Revised (an instrument measuring occupational stress on 14 subscales). Of the 353 respondents, more than 40 % had either considered leaving or left their job role due to burnout. Multiple regression analysis yielded significant predictors for burnout risk. The identified sets of predictors account for approximately 59 % of the variance in exhaustion, 58 % of the variance in cynicism, and 43 % of the variance in professional efficacy. Our data confirm that a significant number of genetic counselors experience burnout and that burnout is correlated with specific aspects of occupational stress. Based on these findings, practice and research recommendations are presented.     

国外心理咨询师职业耗竭研究现状

职业耗竭是学术界关注的一个新热点,国外心理咨询师的职业耗竭问题也得到了比较系统的研究。通过回顾国外相关研究,从心理咨询师职业耗竭的发生率、影响因素、症状特点、职业易感性等几个方面进行总结,尝试提出干预意见,并对未来研究趋势进行展望。     

Person-Placement Congruence: A Framework for Vocational Counselors

A common guideline for vocational counseling is the rule requiring congruence between a man and his job. The issue of person-placement congruence was studied utilizing 159 patients referred for vocational rehabilitation to the Mental Health and Manpower Project from the Fort Logan Mental Health Center. A 13-item scale devised by project research staff and completed by vocational counselors was shown to predict later job success. By separating the scale into two categories, those items dealing with abilities and those related to needs, it was possible to predict the nature of job termination, i.e., quit or was fired. There was demonstrated considerable validity for the man-job fit approach to counseling, and this research served as an initial step toward detailing this rather simple rule.     

Value Congruence and the Vocational Self Concept of School Counselors

A model based on self concept theory has been presented for the consideration of the vocational values of school counselors. A study of the hierarchy and congruence of their values is interpreted as demonstrating a high degree of self-awareness, a foundation for movement toward the ideal self, and a measure of strong satisfaction with their career identification.     

Training Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors in Group Dynamics: A Psychoeducational Model

Vocational rehabilitation (VR) counselors often head interdisciplinary teams composed of various medical, educational, and allied health care professionals. Issues stemming from team dynamics can impede the delivery of services to eligible clients with disabilities. A psychoeducational program for training VR counselors in group dynamics is described, and the reactions of participants are discussed     

Usefulness of Gati's Hierarchical Model of Vocational Interests for Career Counselors

Career counseling is complicated and involved, requiring counselors to use a conceptual framework to help guide them through the process. Using a case study, the author demonstrates how Gati's hierarchical model of vocational interests can assist counselors in working with clients concerned about their careers.     

高职院校教师职业压力的初步研究

本研究采用自编压力问卷和SCL-90问卷对397名高职院校教师进行测验,发现高职院校男女教师在总体职业压力方面并无显著差异,中青年组教师压力最大,各项压力因子与心理健康状况存在显著相关。根据调查结果,本文探讨了高职院校教师压力的原因与对策。     

Use of Occupational Drawings to Enhance Vocational Development

Missing in the literature regarding the teaching of occupational information are techniques involving the use of materials created by the students themselves. The method of utilizing the students' occupational drawings was compared to the traditional method taught in group guidance classes. The criterion instrument was developed, pre- and post-measures secured for both groups, and the statistical significance at .0005 level was computed between the experimental and the control group, favoring the experimental group.     

Vocational Risk Tolerance and Perceptions of Occupational Hazards

Opinions of three groups in occupations presenting some environmental health risks were compared with each other to determine the factors important to vocational risk perceptions and the effects of vocation on attitudes toward environmental hazards. Variation in attitudes among groups toward assessments of risk and the acceptability of risk exposure reflected outlooks toward the compensatory factors within one's vocation. These included availability and use of information to support preexisting conceptions of one's own and other vocations, social support, vocational identity, positive public image, and high salaries. Such compensatory factors may help explain why groups differ in their vocational risk tolerance and in attitudes toward environmental hazards.     

Parental Behavior and Vocational Choice: A Comparison of Counselors and Engineers

This study compared the perceived parental behavior characteristics of 41 counselors in training and 33 fifth-year engineering students in a test of a part of Roe's vocational choice theory, which suggests dichotomous pattern of vocational choice: “toward persons” (e.g., counseling) or “toward nonpersons” (e.g., engineering) categories that will have been determined by the nature of the early childhood socialization process. In essence, a person who has experienced a warm loving home situation is more likely to enter a “toward persons” occupation and an individual whose parent-child relationship was emotionally cold will most likely gravitate toward a “toward nonpersons” occupation. Both groups were administered the Parent-Child Relations Questionnaire developed by Roe and Siegelman. The findings lend considerable support to Roe's theory.     

A Comparison of Female Professionals' Role Profiles With Occupational Adjustment and Life Satisfaction

This exploratory study on 50 female health professionals examined the impact that multiple roles (work/family) had on occupational adjustment and life satisfaction. Results indicate some evidence that as the number of occupational roles increased, life satisfaction scores tended to decrease; however, as the number of family roles increased, scores on occupational adjustment and life satisfaction scales tended to increase.     

National Culture and Leadership Profiles in Europe: Some Results From the GLOBE Study

Different cultural groups may have different conceptions of what leadership should entail, i.e. different leadership prototypes. Several earlier studies revealed that within Europe various cultural clusters can be distinguished (Hofstede, 1991; Ronen & Shenkar, 1985). Using recent data from the GLOBE project, this article discusses similarities and differences on culture and leadership dimensions among 21 European countries. The results show that two broad clusters or patterns of cultural values can be distinguished, contrasting the North-Western and South-Eastern part of Europe. Within these clusters, differences in leadership prototypes to a certain extent mirror differences in culture. On the basis of these results it is hardly possible to speak of a single typically European culture or one distinct European management style. However, on some dimensions European scores are different from at least some other regions in the world.     

Elementary School Counselors in California

The number, school location, academic preparation and experience, and functions and duties of “elementary school counselors” in California were studied. Questionnaires were answered by 175 counselors, 118 elementary school principals, and 312 teachers in schools employing counselors. The number of children in the participating schools was 133,125, or five per cent of all pupils in grades K-8 in the State. Counselors reported that they spent 50 per cent of their time working with pupils, 17 per cent with teachers, 10 per cent with administrators, 12 per cent with parents, and 11 per cent with probation, welfare, and other officials. The counselors and the principals generally agreed on the rank order of importance of the functions of elementary school counselors and on the most important skills and personality characteristics counselors should have. The teachers reported that counselors gave them most help by testing individual pupils, counseling with pupils, helping them with classroom problems, and participating in parent conferences. Elements of an ideal counseling program at the district and school level as well as deficiencies in present programs were described by the respondents.     

Lighting Fires in Burned-Out Counselors

The authors conducted workshops for the development of leisure awareness in counselors. These experiences resulted in the authors' awareness that many counselors were not feeling fulfilled in their work and in fact, if given the option, would prefer spending their time in leisure activities. This article describes the development (and provides examples) of workshop exercises designed to fuse work and leisure. It presumes that most counselors prefer to remain in the counseling field but need some method to recapture their initial enthusiasm for their work.     

Early Occupational Restriction: An Examination of Elementary School Children's Expression of Vocational Preferences

A total of 387 boys and girls in Grades 1 through 5 were questioned on occupational preferences. The results demonstrated that the thinking of young children is generally sexist oriented.     

Vocational Concerns of Elementary Teachers: Stress,Job Satisfaction,and Occupational Commitment

This study examines the vocational concerns of 185 elementary teachers. Participants were classified based on their perceptions of the magnitude of their classroom demands and resources. These groupings were then examined for differences in teachers' personal coping resources, job satisfaction, and occupational commitment. Results indicated that teachers classified as perceiving high classroom demand vis‐à‐vis classroom resources reported lower personal coping resources, less job satisfaction, and more plans to leave their current job.