Communal Orientation and Burnout Among Self-Help Group Leaders

To assess the relationship between burnout, communal orientation, and leaders' perceptions of balance in their relationships with group members 102 self-help group leaders were interviewed. Leaders had low to moderate levels of burnout as measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory subscales of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. As hypothesized, leaders' communal orientation was negatively related to the burnout subscales of depersonalization and personal accomplishment. Contrary to the study hypothesis, burnout was not related to balance. It was speculated that the salience of need-based norms in the group's helping relationships reduced expectations of reciprocity. The findings illustrate the usefulness of applying equity theory to studies of helping relationships within the setting of self-help groups.