Causes and Prevention of Burnout in Human Services

Burnout
There may be several causes or reasons that play a role in an individual who becomes overly exhausted. Dynamics of this condition may be characteristics in the home life, personal life, or in the employment arena. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines burnout as “Exhaustion of physical or emotional strengths or motivation usually as a result of prolonged stress or frustration” (Merriam-Dictionary, 2011).
Describe individual, cultural, organizational, supervisory, and social support factors that cause burnout
Individual factors Burnout in an individual can happen at different times to different people. A few factors that can contribute to burnout are a person’s upbringing, expectations, or personalities. One of the worst insults to believe would be to think you are useless and lesser than others. An individual can put too much on him or herself by setting unrealistic career goals and without any sense of direction disturbed emotions evolve, and increased tendency to think negatively increase. As a result they start to become the person others want him or her to be.
Cultural
An example of cultural burnout could be moving into an unfamiliar culture. Different cultures might not understand the cultural differences of certain communities. Developing skills to adapt to someone else’s customs can be challenging and stressful. The perceptions of others play a vital role for many, especially when we experience a diminishing sense of community. Our goal to fit into a competitive environment can be frustrating, particularly if faced with one’s potential of work.
Organizational
Stress can influence many stages of daily life and is very dominant in the job force. Many factors can have emotional strain on the physical layout of the environment, tedious or dull tasks and duties, confusion between superior and employee, too much or too little job training, and much more. Employees can be affected by pressure in many ways, two of the most common are economic and well-being problems. However, companies can also take the advantage to reduce this stress for their employees by balancing the workload, giving clear expectations or even train people how to identify and manage stress.
Supervisory
The lack of job structure is a major factor that contributes to burnout. When the supervisor lacks leadership and communication skills employees are at risk of burnout. The work environment becomes chaotic and low moral sets in. An employee working in a high-pressured environment without the support of the supervisor leads to believing he or she is overworked and undervalued.
Social Support Daily factors like social support (or lack thereof) can contribute to long-lasting stress and eventually burnout. By taking on massive amounts of tasks that cannot be re-assigned, puts people in stressful positions, and create burnout risk. According to Maslach (1997), “Burnout is the index of the dislocation between what people are and what they have to do. These are important and necessary aspects of social support. Feeling isolated with our stress generates more stress, and raises our risk for burnout, whereas acceptable social support can be a shield against it.”

Describe various individual, job role, and organizational methods to prevent burnout According to Lewis, Packard, and Lewis (2007), “Burnout has an adverse impact

on worker productivity and therefore on organizational effectiveness. Human

service agencies cannot afford the loss of productivity involved when and active

enthusiastic professional burn out.”
Individual

The importance of keeping personal and business life in proper perspective is that it

enhances gratification of life. By obtaining significant relationships and giving attention to ones

career development is a step in the right direction. Personal goals are vital in releasing stress in

all areas of your life. Releasing stress will build strength creating a purposeful life, which in

turn builds a strong statement of standards and importance.

Job role

The roles and responsibilities in any position need to be clear and precise. Leaving the

instructions without certainty will lead to failure and disappointment, which could lead to

becoming stressed. Team collaboration helps make it easier to make decisions and is an

important stress reducer. Stirring the contribution of staff members and passing on

tasks appropriately also reduce stress levels.

Organizational

Finding the program that is suitable for the organization will probably be effective if

the employees help with the planning stages. For example, implementing gym facilities,

management training, counseling, and staff meetings can become a preventive approach

to reduce employee stress.

Examine your personality, and share how you react and respond to personal and work-

related stress

My personality can be identified as dominant and assertive. In a previous class one of our

assignments was to take an assessment test. The assessment described me as possessing a

dominant behavior. I agree with the assessment test, however; I am also assertive and straight to

the point. I believe in the saying what you mean and doing what you say model.

How I react to personal stress varies, depending on the situation. For example, the

Internal Revenue Services refused to release my tax refund and I became very upset. I demanded

to speak to the manager and voiced my strong opinion regarding this situation. Later, I believed

that maybe I should have handled that situation different. At the end of the day the results still

did not go my way. Work-related stress gets a different reaction from me. I work with special needs children

so I have a built in level of high -tolerance. Although this field can have challenging moments,

my positive personality helps me cope.

Responding to personal stress takes self-control and emotional balance. Usually when I

experience stress I confront the it head on, by responding promptly focusing on the solution and

how to eliminate the stress.

How to reduce effects of burnout Surely there are many ways to reduce effects of burnout. Personally I believe that

sustaining healthy relationships and having balance helps reduce effects of burnout. Also taking

time to enjoy life with friends and family is a vital ingredient. Most important staying spiritually

fit is your foundation to reduce effects of burnout.

References

burnout. 2011. In Merriam-Webster.com.Retrieved July 3, 2011, from

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/burnout

Maslach, C. (1997). The truth about burnout. How Organizations Cause Personal Stress

And What To Do About It. Retrieved from http://www.friedsocialworker.com/

truthaboutburnout.htm Lewis, J.A., Packard, T., & Lewis, M.D. (2007). Management of Human Service Programs, Fourth Edition. Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook
Collection database.