Abstract:
The extent to which grief counselors report feeling burned out compared to a normative group of mental health professionals was investigated. Scores on the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) were obtained from 225 grief counselors certified by the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC). Results from one sample z-tests showed that grief counselors' scores were significantly different from the normative sample of mental health professionals. Grief counselors scored in the direction of lower burnout than the norm on all three MBI subscales. Standard and hierarchical regression procedures were conducted to identify predictors of burnout in grief counselors. Variables examined included death competency (measured by the Coping with Death Scale), years of experience conducting grief counseling, weekly client contact hours doing only grief counseling, total weekly client contact hours, age, gender, marital status, education, and work setting. Death competency was found to be the strongest predictor of all three burnout components; it was the only variable considered that significantly predicted all three components of burnout regardless of the regression method utilized. In addition, higher age was found to be predictive of lower emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Work setting, specifically private practice, was a significant predictor of lower emotional exhaustion. Those married or in a committed relationship reported lower depersonalization than those who were single. More years of experience and more direct client contact hours per week were predictive of higher personal accomplishment. The grief counselors in this study scored in the direction of lower burnout compared to a normative group of mental health professionals. This suggests that burnout may not be pervasive among grief counselors. Future research that investigates possible explanations for this finding would be beneficial. Death competency also appeared to play an important role in the extent to which grief counselors reported feeling burned out. Additional research that considers the role of competency-related variables in the experience of burnout is needed.
