Premium Essay

Causes and Prevention of Burnout in Human Services Staff Paper

In:

Submitted By angarr22
Words 1015
Pages 5
Causes and Prevention of Burnout in Human Services Staff Paper
University of Phoenix
Angela Arington
April 30, 2014

Burnout, in the human services field, can be a common factor among employees. To reduce employee burnout it is important to look at contributing factors causing employee burnout to find methods of prevention. Reaction and responses to high-stress conditions from a personal perspective will follow, while providing useful methods into how as a human service professional, I can reduce the effects of burnout.
Burnout is defined as a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion that comes from prolonged emotional stressors, interpersonal stressors, and workplace stressors. Burnout can happen when being involved with people in high stress jobs, and emotionally demanding situations (Lewis, 2007). Three factors to consider when identifying burnout are emotional exhaustion, a sense of depersonalization, and a feeling of low personal accomplishment with clients.
The feeling of being overwhelmed can become present when trying to meet the constant demands as a human service professional. The causes of burnout can vary individually, culturally, organizationally, supervisory, and through social supports. Individuals with Type A personalities, uncompromising management philosophies, the lack of motivation from employees, the absence of participative decision making, and policies created by the organization that go against employees’ cultural beliefs create a climate contributing to burnout (Lewis, 2007). Burnout can have an adverse impact on employees. Burnout can reduce productivity, reduce interest or motivation, and can increase the feeling of being hopeless, helpless, and cynical, affecting the entire organizations effectiveness (helpguide, 2014). When an organization witness’s employee burnout due to repetitive services he or she provides,

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Human Services

...Causes and Prevention of Burnout in Human Services Staff Kristina M. Murkowski University of Phoenix BSHS/432 Melinda Barker, May 9, 2011                 Causes and Prevention of Burnout in Human Services Staff ​Burnout has been seen more and more among human services staff.  Many individuals in the human services field got into that type work because they enjoy helping others, but in the same breath are more likely to become emotionally involved and there for suffer burnout more then those who can separate personal feelings and work.  This paper discusses what burnout really is based on the description given by Maslach and Leiter.  Further more, the paper goes into describing different causes of burnout and ways to prevent it.  This paper also examines the writers own personality while sharing personal reactions to work-related stress.  Lastly, the paper talks about be alert and assisting with potential staff burnout. What is Burnout ​Burnout is a syndrome of physical and emotional exhaustion, involving the development of negative self-concept, negative job attitudes, and a loss of concern and feelings for clients (Bbnet, 1995).  Burnout spreads gradually and continuously over time, putting people into a downward spiral from which it is hard to recover; you become chronically exhausted; you become cynical and detached from your work; and you feel increasingly ineffective on the job (Maslach & Leiter, 1997). Causes ​Different industries, whether factory work...

Words: 1067 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Burnout

...Causes and Prevention of Burnout in Human Services Staff Jennifer Ishida BSHS/462 University of Phoenix October 31, 2011 David Worsely Causes and Prevention of Burnout in Human Services Staff ​ Many individuals in the human services field got into that type work because they enjoy helping others. Workers suffer burnout more than those who can separate personal feelings and work. This paper will review what burnout really is based on the description given by Maslach and Leiter, it will also describe different causes of burnout and ways to prevent it. This paper also examines the authors personality and how she reacts to personal or work-related stress. She will provide some insights into how to reduce the effects of burnout. This paper will also review what to do as a human service manager to be alert to help staff with his or her burnout. Burnout ​Burnout is physical and emotional exhaustion, involving the development of negative self-concept, negative job attitudes, and a loss of concern and feelings for clients (Bbnet, 1995). Burnout spreads over time, putting people into a situation that is not easy to recover from; an individual becomes chronically exhausted, cynical, and detached from his or her work and he or she begins to think he or she is ineffective while at work (Maslach & Leiter, 1997). ​ High stress jobs are demanding and are cause for higher rates of burnout among others. When employees become burnt out he or she begins to lose sight of how...

Words: 1083 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Casue and Prevention of Burnout

...cause and prevention of burnout The human service field can be stressful for the professionals and wreck havoc to the organization. Burnout affects the employees as well as the organization; an organization suffers from burnout by having high turnover rates, accidents, and so on. This paper will define burnout and describe some of the individual, cultural, organizational, and social support factors that cause burnout. The paper provides an explanation of various individual, job role, and organizational methods to prevent burnout. In this paper I have shared the ways I react and respond to personal and work related stress as well as my reaction to combat the effects of burnout. Lastly this paper discussed how human service managers assist with staff burnout. Define Burnout According to help guide (2012,” Burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed and unable to meet constant demands”. As the stress continues it causes you to lose interest or motivation I your work role. Individual, Cultural, Organizational, Supervisory, & Social Support Causes of Burnout Human service professionals may become overwhelmed and stressed especially when dealing with large case loads, overtime, and balancing work and home duties. Some of the personal lifestyle stressors include insufficient sleep, little or no time off, lack of social supports, and so on. Cultural factors contributing...

Words: 844 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Cause and Prevention of Burnout in Human Services

...Causes and Prevention of Burnout in Human Services Staff Paper Deniece C. Robins University of Phoenix BSHS/462 May 2, 2011 Causes and Prevention of Burnout in Human Services Staff Human service professionals work under many conditions that make them susceptible to experiencing burnout. This paper will define burnout and discuss some of the individual, organizational, and cultural support factors that cause human service professionals to experience burnout (Lewis, 2007). Various individual, job role, and organizational methods employed to prevent burnout will also be addressed (Lewis, 2007). Deniece will discuss how she reacts and respond to personal and work-related stress and give insight into how she works to reduce the effects of burnout (Lewis, 2007). Last, Deniece will identify how she prepares to assist staff who she believes may be experiencing burnout. Human Service Professional Burnout Many human service professionals fall victim to employee burnout, mainly because of heavy caseloads, minimal resources, and tremendously cut budgets. These individuals may start to experience a sense of increasing emotional and physical exhaustion, hopelessness, and loss of motivation. Employees experiencing these feeling are experiencing employee burnout. Many times the employee is not aware of what is happening to him or her at the time. Burnout has three defined dimensions; emotional exhaustion that is the feeling of being psychologically detached...

Words: 966 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Causes and Prevention in Burinout

...Causes and Prevention of Burnout in Human Services Tiffany Monroe BSHS/462- Effective Management of Human Service Organization May 20, 2013 Latera Davis Causes and Prevention of Burnout in Human Services The human service field faces a major issue of burnout among their employees. In this paper I will define burnout and describe some of the factors of burnout. I will examine my own personality and share my reactions and responses to personal and work related stress. I will also discuss my response to an employee burnout as a human service manager. Burnout According to Johnson and Stone (1987), burnout refers to a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion resulting from involvement with people in emotionally demanding situations (p. 67). There are three major factors of burnout: emotional exhaustion, feeling of low personal accomplishment with clients, and a sense of depersonalization or possessing an uncaring attitude towards clients. When an employee shows physical burnout signs, this includes the appearance of fatigue, frequent absentees from work, having physical complaints, and weight loss. Behavioral signs of burnout include isolation, withdrawal from work responsibilities, procrastination, the use of alcohol, drugs, over eating of food, frequent outbursts of anger toward other workers, and increase absentee from work. Emotional signs include feeling helpless, personal failure, detachment from work and others, decrease of satisfaction, and an increase...

Words: 1012 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Organizational Structure

...Causes and Prevention of Burnout in Human Services Ashley James BSHS/462 January 28, 2013 Linda Latson Causes and Prevention of Burnout in Human Services Burnout is a serious problem that mostly occurs in high stress level jobs. Burnouts are very popular in the Human Services field since it contains a lot of high intensity jobs. The definition of burnout, what causes burnout, burnout prevention, personal reactions and responses to high-stress situations, and ways to reduce personal and work-related burnout will be discussed in this paper. Ideas of how to respond and react to employee burnout as a human services manager will follow. Burnout is the experience of long-term exhaustion and diminished interest. This includes physical, mental, or emotional, that an individual experiences when under extreme stress. Burnout can be split into three major features which include emotional exhaustion, feelings of decreased successful outcomes with clients, and increased feelings of being de-sensitized to the needs of clients (Lewis, Packard, & Lewis, 2007). How pressure is dealt with depends on how much stress an individual feels. It also depends on how close the individual is to burnout. An individual experience a little stress and may not be able to handle it well and experience burnout, a posed to another individual who may experience a lot of stress and may be able to deal with it and avoid burnout. Drained appearance and fatigue may be signs of Burnout has many causes which...

Words: 803 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Burnout

...Causes and Prevention of Burnout in Human Services Staff Work-related stress is known to cost the economy of the United States an estimated $300 billion in sick time, long-term disability, and excessive job turnover. According to Isatou (2014), “Jobs that are stressful can be just as harmful to women as smoking and obesity.” This research was also recognized in an article written by the Department of Health and Human Services. When having to take care of someone who is sick or disabled, this can cause major burnout especially if the situation is chronic and professionals barely have any support. When it comes to difficult situations such as big case loads, difficult clients within agencies, lack of teamwork, and poor management supervision; this causes exhaustion or also known as burnout. In this paper, there will be a definition of the term burnout and the factors that cause it. There will also be a discussion about ways to prevent burnout and how to assist with staff burnout within a human service organization. I will then share with you how I personally handle work-related stress and how I go about reducing the effects of burnout. Burnout Herbert Freudenberger came up with the term “burnout” in the early 80’s. He defined the term as, “a debilitating psychological condition brought about by work stress which eventually resulted in depleted energy and exhaustion, illness, increased depersonalization in interpersonal relationships, and a dissatisfaction in work”  (Lee, Johnson...

Words: 1253 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Causes and Prevention of Burnout in Human Services

...Causes and Prevention of Burnout in Human Service Staff Paper Juanita Morgan BSHS/462 December 22, 2013 Professor Jane Flournoy According to Johnson and Stone (1987), burnout “refers to a state of physical, emotional, and Mental exhaustion resulting from involvement with people in emotionally demanding situations” (p.67). Burnout can happen to anyone at any time and in many different forms. For some people that experienced burnout one of the key factors is the loss of autonomy which includes “ the sense that one can do as one wants” (Burish, 1993, p.83). Whenever an employee feels that they may not be doing a good job or feels as though what they are doing is wrong, they could be experiencing burnout. From an individual standpoint a person with a “type A” personality or unrealistic expectation of themselves may become burned out. This type of person may feel like they are the only one that’s capable of doing the job. In the Cultural setting burnout can include the declining feeling of a community, the competition that exist in the culture as well as the evaluation of one’s own work. Within the organization roles if there is conflict about what is expected, unclear expectation and an overload of work to be done. As a supervisor burnout can happen at any-time especially when there is a lack of help and decision making abilities . Whether you have the support you need or not preventing burnout is something all organizations should strive...

Words: 743 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Burnout in Human Services

...Causes and Prevention of Burnout in Human Services Shanah Magee BSHS 461 4/8/2013 Dr. Edward Armstrong People working in the helping field are subject to conditions that can lead to depletion or even impairment, such as the emotionally intense nature of the helping relationship and increasingly heavy caseloads. Burnout is a serious issue in human services. According to Johnson and Stone (1987), burnout “refers to a state of physical, in emotionally demanding situations” (p. 67). Factors that contribute to burnout and methods used to prevent burnout will be discussed in this paper. Individual, cultural, organizational, supervisory, and social support factors can lead to burnout. Some factors that correlate with burnout within an individual include overload, insufficient compensation, and lack of recognition. A heavy workload can be tiring and often causes an individual to work longer hours than he or she would like. This can lead to an individual feeling “out of control” because most time is being spent working instead of resting or doing things that give life value. Cultural factors...

Words: 860 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Elder Abuse

...percent of cases. The U.S. Department of Justice estimates more than half a million of our nation’s elders are mistreated each year, of course the numbers may be three times higher since few cases of abuse are reported or investigated (Axmaker, 2003). Experts estimate the number of older adults who are mistreated annually at more than two million (Swagerty, 1999, p.2804). A U.S. National Elder Abuse Incidence Study confirmed that reported elder abuse cases are only the "tip of the iceberg" (National Center on Elder Abuse, 2003). The study also shown that two-thirds of the offenders were adult children or spouses. Additionally, elders are being abused in nursing homes, hospitals, or other institutions; in one study, 36 percent of nursing home staff stated that they had witnessed at least one physical abuse incident with an elderly patient (Nelson, 2002). Clearly, elder mistreatment or abuse of the elderly is a growing social occurrence. Unfortunately, our elder population is considered to be easy targets because they are perceived to be fragile and defenseless. Elder abuse is defined as representing all types of abusive behavior or mistreatment toward an older adult; this includes acts that are intentional or unintentional. Abuse takes many forms ranging from financial exploitation, scams, physical acts of violence, along with neglect and psychological abuse. There is no common pattern of elder abuse, acts can be performed by random strangers, to...

Words: 2493 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Turnover at Academic Institutions

...1919, and currently has about 40,000 students, 26,000 administrative staff and 4,000 faculty (UCLA, n.d.). The Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior is an organization that researches a number of psychiatric and behavioral topics. The researchers come from all across the globe to work at UCLA and publish papers into prestigious journals, which hopefully might change the way diagnoses are made and treatments provided. Researchers also need to hire assistants and volunteers to help with the workload and get a project initiated and running, and eventually finished to analyze results. In addition to hiring assistants, researchers also need to hire employees that will fill out grant paperwork, handle finances and purchases, and set-up meetings as needed. If the researcher has many projects going on at the same time, this could be very stressful for the most capable employee, and could lead decrease in motivation and productivity, eventually leading to either leaving the job or getting fired. California is currently in a budget crisis, and public schools are getting less and less money from the state government to hire more employees. The employees that are present must be able to be as productive as two or three employees put together and have quality results. My role in this is a volunteer for a research project for 3 months. I was accepted into a named laboratory that was known for publishing 10 papers minimum per year to numerous neuroscience journals about drug addictions...

Words: 3384 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

Compassion Fatigue

...patient care. Today the proportion of acute patients entering the health care system through emergency departments continues to grow and the number of patients in the Intensive care unit also increasing. In emergency room department, the Emergency medical services (EMS) workers are primary providers of pre-hospital emergency medical care and integral components of disaster response. The potentially hazardous job duties of EMS workers include lifting patients and equipment, treating acute injuries or life-threatening illnesses, handling hazardous chemical and body substances, and participating in the emergency transport of patients in ground and air vehicles. These duties create an inherent risk for EMS worker occupational injuries and illnesses. Healthcare workers in the Emergency medicine has evolved to treat conditions that pose a threat to life and have a significant risk of morbidity. Work-related stressors in which Emergency Department nurses encounter are numerous as a result of the hectic and chaotic environment in which they work. The main work stressors included the large number and continuous influx of patients, the increased patient acuity, and the lack of skilled nursing staff. Emergency physicians are tasked with seeing a large number of patients, treating their illnesses and arranging for disposition—either admitting them to the hospital or releasing them...

Words: 9128 - Pages: 37

Premium Essay

Hrm Job Satisfaction

...satisfaction in staff/managers of hotels and restaurants should be of great concern to any organization. Hotel and Restaurant staff and management personnel hold the majority of positions in most hospitality-industry settings, and replacement of a licensed personnel is costly and time consuming. Many registered and/or accredited personnel in hotels and restaurant sectors had limited time but ample exposure to varying degrees of job satisfaction. What makes some so happy with their chosen profession, and others so unhappy? Aside from a change of career, is there a solution? With the current employee’s shortage, and the anticipation of worsening conditions, the researcher of this study set out to investigate the sources of dissatisfaction in the hotel and restaurant settings. Most medium-sized enterprises realize that their effectiveness depend on the utilization of their human resources. Employees’ levels of burnout, job satisfaction and job performance give an indication of the effectiveness of an enterprise. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between a dispositional variable (sense of coherence), burnout, job satisfaction and job performance. A once-off cross-sectional survey design was used.. The Orientation to Life Questionnaire, Maslach Burnout Inventory, Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire and Performance Appraisal Questionnaire were used as measuring instruments. Sense of coherence was related to the three subscales of burnout. Job satisfaction...

Words: 14519 - Pages: 59

Premium Essay

Healthy Relationship

...1 HLTH 21: Health Education Spring 2012 Course Orientation This course is all about what YOU want and need to know about personal, family, and community health with an emphasis on epidemiology of disease, nutritional behavior, communicable disease, disease prevention, mental health, and substance abuse. It's really up to you to decide how much you want to get out of this course in terms of meeting your personal and professional goals. Learning Outcomes By the end of this course, students should be able to: Assess health behavior choices, apply that information to everyday life for the improvement of individual, family, and community well-being. Identify preconceived ideas about knowledge, values, and behavior that affect health and compare with established research and accepted scientific evidence. How to be Successful in this Course Plan to spend at least 9 hours per week on this course. Login and keep up with readings, discussions, and quizzes on a weekly basis. Click on Course Map and get familiar with it. First, introduce yourself in the Discussion Forum. Before you begin with the Module readings, take some time to get to know your classmates. Click on the Discussion and Private Messages link to the left of your screen. Click on Discussion Forum titled: Introductions Post a message to tell us a little bit about yourself such as your major, degree plans, career goals, hobbies/interests, and why you are taking this course. Read your...

Words: 26857 - Pages: 108

Premium Essay

Is It Important to Focus on Organisational Values and Engaging Stakeholders, Including Patients, When Working to Improve Care Quality and Patient Experience?

...Is it important to focus on organisational values and engaging stakeholders, including patients, when working to improve care quality and patient experience? Introduction This paper examines how organisational values and stakeholder engagement can improve patient quality, experience and care. The author will do this by exploring what stakeholder engagement is and how it is being used in the healthcare arena to improve care quality and patient experience. The author’s critical analysis will discuss the relationship between organisational values, stakeholder engagement and the delivery of quality patient care, before relating this to his professional practice, prior to drawing and presenting conclusions. The author having worked in the NHS for a number of years as a Commissioning Manager in a non-clinical role has often found it difficult to see the impact that sound organisational values and robust stakeholder engagement can directly have on the delivery of patient quality, experience and care, working through Module 3 has been a truly eye opening experience for the author. Having completed Module 1 and 2 of the EGA course and now coming to the end of Module 3, there have been many opportunities for self-reflection and time to make sense of how and why organisational values, engagement and service delivery are all interlinked. Analysis Engaging Stakeholders to Improve Care & Quality “Stakeholder engagement is the process by which an organisation involves people who may...

Words: 3855 - Pages: 16