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This study investigated how gratitude relates to burnout and job satisfaction in mental health professionals. Sixty-five mental health professionals (counselors, case managers, clinical administrators/supervisors, employment/housing specialists, social workers, psychologists) computed questionnaires assessing demographics, job context variables, hope, gratitude, burnout, and job satisfaction. Consistent with hypotheses, workplace-specific gratitude predicted emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and job satisfaction after controlling for demographic/job contextual variables, hope, and dispositional gratitude. In addition, dispositional gratitude predicted personal accomplishment after controlling for demographic/job contextual variables but not after controlling for hope. Implications for counselors and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Mental health professionals are at high risk of burnout (Ashtari, Farhady, & Khodaee, 2009; Linnerooth, Mrdjenovich, & Moore, 2011). Burnout., which results from persistent work stress, involves emotional exhaustion (mental strain attributed to job stressors), depersonalization (mentally distancing oneself and adopting a more impersonal view of other people), and decreased sense of personal accomplishment (Maslach & Jackson, 1981; Richardsen & Martinussen, 2004). Burnout can adversely affect both personal health and organizational functioning.
NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES OF BURNOUT
Burnout has been linked to poor health outcomes. For instance, a 10-year prospective study of industrial workers found that burnout increased the risk of hospitalization due to cardiovascular disease after controlling for employee health at baseline (Toppinen-Tanner, Ahola, Koskinen, & Vaananen, 2009). In a follow-up study, Ahola, Vaananen, Koskinen, Kouvonen, and Shirom (2010) found that burnout predicted mortality after other health problems and demographic factors were taken into account. Studies have also found that burnout relates to increased depression (Peterson et al., 2008; Toppinen-Tanner et al., 2009; Watkins, Grimm, & Kolts, 2004) and poor sleep quality (Brand et al., 2010; Peterson étal., 2008). Interestingly, there is evidence of a crossover effect in that burnout is related to poorer physical and emotional health in the romantic partners of employees (Bakker, 2009).
Burnout can also adversely affect the ability of organizations to function effectively. It has been linked to increased employee turnover (Chiù & Tsai, 2006), low morale and absenteeism (Hayes & Weathington, 2007), and an increase in grievance actions filed by employees against the organization (Kumar, Bhagat, Lau, & Ng, 2006). Because of the potential adverse consequences of burnout on the health and functioning of both employees and organizations, researchers have tried to identify factors that...