The emergence of professional-emotional burnout syndrome in teachers of preschool education institutions: factors, symptoms, stages, and prevention

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The emergence of professional-emotional burnout syndrome in teachers of preschool education institutions: factors, symptoms, stages, and prevention

Iryna Skomorovska, Natalia Kyrsta, Marianna Matishak

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of the syndrome of professional and emotional burnout of teachers. The authors analyzed the main factors, indicated the symptoms of professional burnout, and established methods and means of prevention of emotional burnout in the teaching profession. The article describes the content of key concepts, the essence of the categories "emotional burnout", "stress", and "emotional exhaustion", and the emergence and understanding of related concepts in the scientific research of foreign scientists (A. Griffiths, S. Jackson, T. Kox, K. Maslach, H. Selye, H. Freudenberg, etc.). The results of the analysis of scientific works proved that stress has three stages of development: anxiety, resistance, and exhaustion, which can cause professional and emotional burnout in specialists in various fields. The basic symptoms are emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduction of personal achievements. T. Cox and A. Griffiths (about 150) provided a more detailed analysis of the symptoms of professional and emotional burnout and distinguished three groups of symptoms - affective, cognitive, and motivational. The peculiarities of the raised problem in our country are revealed, taking into account the specifics of the teaching profession. The factors of professional burnout of preschool teachers are singled out, namely: high responsibility, daily mental overload, the excessive number of duties, high emotional inclusion, strict control of the administration, etc. Measures to prevent emotional burnout were presented in three aspects: professional and administrative (psycho-training, role-playing, business games, mentoring, a favorable psychological climate in the team, etc.), non-professional (a rational division of work and rest, healthy nutrition, physical exercises, self-regulation, establishing short-term and long-term goals, etc.). It has been established that a comprehensive approach to the prevention of professional burnout in preschool teachers should include correction of the mental, physical, and spiritual components of the individual's health.

Keywords; professional-emotional burnout, stress, emotional exhaustion, teachers of preschool education establishments.

Скоморовська Ірина, Кирста Наталія, Матішак MapiaHHa.

Виникнення синдрому професійно- емоційного вигорання у вихователів закладів дошкільної освіти: чинники, симптоми, етапи та профілактика.

Стаття присвячена проблемі синдрому професійно-емоційного вигорання педагогів. Авторами проаналізовано основні чинники, наведено симптоми професійного вигорання, встановлено методи і засоби профілактики емоційного вигорання в педагогічній професії. У статті охарактеризовано зміст ключових понять, сутність категорій «емоційне вигорання», «стрес», «емоційне виснаження», виникнення та розуміння дотичних понять у наукових дослідженнях зарубіжних учених (А. Гріффітс, С. Джексон, Т. Кокс, К. Маслач, Г. Сельє, Г. Фрейденберг та ін.). Результати аналізу наукових праць засвідчили, що стрес має три стадії розвитку: тривоги, резистентності, виснаження, які можуть викликати професійно-емоційне вигорання у фахівців різних галузей. Базовими симптомами вважаються емоційне виснаження, деперсоналізація і редукція особистих досягнень. Докладніший аналіз симптоматики професійно-емоційного вигорання навели Т. Кокс та А. Гріффітс (близько 150) і виокремили три групи симптомів - афективні, когнітивні, мотиваційні. Виявлено особливості порушеної проблеми в нашій країні з урахуванням специфіки педагогічної професії. Виокремлено чинники професійного вигорання вихователів ЗДО, а саме: висока відповідальність, щоденні психічні перенавантаження, надмірна кількість обов'язків, високе емоційне включення, суворий контроль адміністрації тощо. Заходи щодо профілактики емоційного вигорання представили у трьох аспектах: професійні та адміністративні (психотренінги, рольові та ділові ігри, наставництво, сприятливий психологічний клімат у колективі тощо), непрофесійні (раціональний розподіл праці і відпочинку, психогігієна, здорове харчування, фізичні вправи, саморегуляція, встановлення короткотривалих та довготривалих цілей та ін.). Встановлено, що комплексний підхід до профілактики професійного вигорання вихователів закладів дошкільної освіти має включати корекцію психічної, фізичної та духовної складових здоров'я особистості.

Ключові слова: професійно-емоційне вигорання, стрес, емоційне виснаження, вихователі ЗДО. professional burnout stress

INTRODUCTION

The teaching profession imposes on a person the requirement to be perfect, flawless, competent, etc., thereby predisposing them to perfectionism. A teacher often acts as a benchmark in various spheres of life, and society's expectations of educators, teachers, and lecturers are very high. Therefore, the daily practical activity of a teacher is working on self-improvement, which requires a considerable expenditure of energy and time. In addition, the Professional Standard "Educator of Special Education" (2021) presents 4 competencies, the mastery of which involves the formation of a significant number of professional qualities in the educator, as well as the acquisition of relevant skills and knowledge. Therefore, today's realities require one to be competitive, mobile, flexible, and creative, have a thorough basic education, a high cultural and technical level, quickly update and replenish knowledge, retrain, etc. As a result, the teacher spends more time on work-related matters and spends less and less time with family and friends, gives up hobbies, neglects personal needs, etc. As a rule, such sacrifices do not bring the expected results, because the success turns out to be significantly lower than the efforts spent, instead, the teacher feels exhausted and constantly tired, efficiency and satisfaction from work decrease, the circle of communication narrows, the number of psychosomatic complaints increases, etc. Idealism, enthusiasm for work, and hard work turn into their complete opposite.

The analysis of psychological literature shows that the problem of professional burnout (its content, structure, and functions) was studied in the works of foreign authors (M. Agapova, N. Andreeva, V. Boyko, M. Buyankina, N. Vodopyanova, N. Levytska, K. Maslach, V. Orel, E. Starchenkova, J. Storli, H. J. Freudenberger, V. Schaufeli, and others) and Ukrainian (H. Vasylkevich, I. Vashchenko, I. Galetska, T. Hruby, T. Zaichikova, L. Karamushka, S. Maksymenko, O. Matvienko, O. Sviatka, and others) scientists.

The phenomenon of professional burnout of pedagogical workers was considered by such researchers as O. Bondarchuk, Y. Zhogno, T. Koltunovych, A. Rakytska, T. Solodkova, V. Teslenko, and others.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The study raises the problem of professional and emotional burnout among teachers of special education. The theoretical and methodological basis of the research is based on the methods of analysis, synthesis, and generalization of the content of normative and legal documents, systematization of psychological-pedagogical and methodical literature to establish the historical context and the essence of the key concepts of the problem; identifying the causes, features of manifestation and consequences of professional burnout of employees in the educational sphere.

As a result of the conducted theoretical research, recommendations were developed for future educators regarding the prevention of teacher burnout, as well as the correction of the physical, mental, and spiritual components of a teacher's health.

RESEARCH RESULTS

The problem of emotional and psychological burnout is one of the most relevant today among those that arise among people in the "person-to-person" field. According to the data from the World Health Organization, occupational stress has been identified as a disease of the 21st century, as this type of stress is characteristic of any profession in the world and can reach global dimensions. It is appropriate to note that professional stress was included in the International Classification of Diseases, in the classification rubric "Problems associated with difficulties in overcoming life complications, difficulties in managing one's own life", under the number Z 73.0 (Begun-Trachuk, 2020, p. 128). Experts indicate that a person with professional stress feels a persistent reluctance to perform professional duties, which is accompanied by mental and somatic disorders, including depression, impaired memory, and attention, decreased activity, loss of desire for everyday activities, devaluation of the benefits of professional activities, the desire to avoid fulfilling one's duties. It is worth noting that interest decreases not only in the profession but also in life itself in general.

The study of the problem of professional burnout began in the 70s of the 20th century. The result of the study of this phenomenon was that doctors and psychologists substantiated "a special form of "communication stress". The concept of "burnout" was introduced by the American psychiatrist H. Freudenberg, who described emotional burnout as chronic fatigue, depression and frustration, in which an individual is forced to engage in work that does not satisfy one's ambitions and does not bring the expected result.

The conceptual prerequisites for the emergence of the theory of burnout are considered to be the works of the researcher H. Selye (a doctor of Austro-Hungarian origin, the founder of the theory of stress, who defined the following stages in the development of stress), who interpreted stress, or the general adaptation syndrome, as a physiological reaction of the human body that occurs under the influence of physical, chemical and organic factors (Koltunovych, 2012b, p. 38). The author defined and characterized three stages of stress:

1) anxiety stage - characterized by the fact that the human body prepares to meet a threat. At the same time, it mobilizes resources and includes self-regulation mechanisms of protective processes. If the latter is effective, anxiety disappears and the body returns to normal activity;

2) resistance stage occurs when the stressor has a long and constant effect when the body needs protective forces. The body tries to find resources and resist stress factors, balance the expenditure of adaptive reserves under the pressure of a certain stress on functional systems. This is the stage of maximum adaptation and successful return to mental balance. If the protective mechanism does not work, the person moves to the third stage;

3) exhaustion stage occurs under conditions of strong and long-lasting influence of stress factors. Under such conditions, the ability of the human body to resist stressors is sharply reduced, and there is a feeling of desolation, fatigue and physical problems are clearly manifested, which can lead to diseases and even death of the body.

A major contribution to the study of the problem of employee burnout was made by an American social psychologist, and professor at the University of California, Christina Maslach. The researcher proposed to change the term to "burnout", which implies a process associated with a state of exhaustion, exhaustion, with a feeling of one's own devaluation (Teslenko, 2021, p. 37). Her first paper was published in 1976 and received wide acclaim.

K. Maslach interprets burnout as a syndrome of emotional and physical exhaustion, which has the following components: development of negative self-esteem, passive attitude to work, and loss of understanding and empathy. The researcher pointed out that professional burnout is not a loss of a person's creative potential, but emotional exhaustion that appears because of the influence of stress factors in the process of interpersonal communication (Teslenko, 2021, p. 38).

In particular, K. Maslach together with researcher S. Jackson developed a three-factor model of burnout. In this model, burnout is interpreted for the first time as a syndrome that manifests itself in three basic symptoms: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduction of personal achievements (Karamushka & Gnuskina, 2018, p. 43).

Emotional exhaustion is a complex of manifestations of "emotional fatigue" or "devastation" from constant tension and stress reactions in the process of working with people. Loss of interest in professional activities and interpersonal communication may be observed.

Depersonalization is the loss of a "sense of self", depersonalization. Two options for depersonalization: a) the specialist "depersonalizes" himself, believes that he has no influence on the situation, and refuses to make independent decisions; conformism, lack of initiative, and a passive attitude to professional duties are acceptable; b) the specialist "depersonalizes" another person (client, student, and pupil), begins to perceive those with whom he works as soulless "objects of activity".

Reduction of personal achievements implies a devaluation of one's own professional achievements is characteristic. It is noted if a person loses a sense of self-importance in professional terms, does not see prospects for his further development (Karamushka & Gnuskina, 2018, p. 43).

Researchers who have worked on the study of the outlined problem at various stages have focused their efforts on describing the symptoms that are associated with the syndrome. Most of the studies were characterized by empirical orientation; theoretical generalizations of definitions were insignificant (Koltunovych, 2013). Authors of studies devoted to burnout, T. Cox and A. Griffiths, list about 150 of its symptoms. Among them:

• affective symptoms: gloom, negativism, memory impairment, and mood instability, exhaustion of emotional resources;

• cognitive symptoms: feeling hopeless and hopeless, rigid thinking, cynicism, indifference in communication with colleagues and clients, stereotypical attitude;

• motivational symptoms: the disappearance of motivations characteristic of a person - effort, enthusiasm, interest, and idealism; and, on the contrary, the appearance of disappointment, dissatisfaction, and possible resignation from the position (Zhogno, 2009).

This phenomenon belongs to personal deformations and is a mechanism that a person produces for the purpose of his own psychological protection in response to long-term professional psycho-traumatic situations. Let us consider the factors of professional and emotional burnout.

Modern researcher Koltunovych (2012b) summarized the main prerequisites and factors of professional burnout of preschool educators in Ukraine:

1) high responsibility assigned to them by society and the family for the life, development, adaptation, education, training, and mental health of pupils;

2) daily mental overload, imbalance between costs and rewards;

3) wide range of duties; the need for high emotional involvement in work; strict time frames; remoteness of work results in time; role conflicts;

4) strict control by the administration;

5) uncertainty and inconsistency of psyche hygienic norms; weak normative regulation (load, schedule, stimulation, etc.), behavior of "difficult" children, etc.

In addition, the majority of preschool educators in our country are women, so family responsibilities, lack of time for the family, which causes constant emotional and physical stress, and a situation of constant compromise balancing between work and family should be added to the mentioned professional factors, that increases psycho-emotional tension, physical and mental exhaustion. The price of professional burnout for a teacher of the preschool educational establishment is very high not only for him/her but also for everyone with whom he/she interacts because a negative state is transmitted to students, their parents, colleagues, members of one's own family, etc. through the mechanism of emotional contagion.

Numerical studies have shown that teachers' "burnt out" have the following destructive properties:

• tension, irritability, conflict, aggressive self-defense, fatigue, emotional lability, the appearance of negative character traits, deterioration of psychosomatic health, suppression of creative activity, and feeling of loneliness (Bondarchuk et al, 2007, pp. 58-59);

• decrease in professional abilities, and therefore, satisfaction with one's achievements, with life in general;

• violation of the adequacy of emotional response, empathy (decrease or loss of the ability to empathize), reflection, self-esteem, normative behavior, and relationships; destruction of communicative competence skills;

• decrease in professional activity motivation, cognitive interest, and thus, self-esteem; destructive change of value orientations; intrapersonal and group conflicts;

• distancing from the problems and interests of pupils, lowering the level of motivation regarding their development;

• professional inefficiency associated with the awareness of the inability to bear responsibility for the behavior and education of children, to set an appropriate example, etc.

Thus, as a result of professional burnout, the teacher becomes a victim of professional deformation (violation of the integrity of the personality, its instability, and maladaptation in the emotional and volitional sphere). Teachers' personal qualities are changing. This leads to a decrease in the effectiveness of the teacher's professional activity. Dissatisfaction with the profession leads to a decrease in the qualification and professional level of a specialist and increases the risk of the occurrence of professional burnout.

In the study by Koltunovych (2012b) "How not to burn out in the flames of the profession: a correctional program for educators of preschool educational institutions", the researcher systematized measures to prevent professional burnout into three groups: professional, non - professional, administrative (p. 23):

1) professional (on the part of specialists: psychologists, specialists in stress management, time management, doctors, and other narrow specialists);

2) unprofessional (on the part of the educator oneself, the immediate environment);

3) administrative (on the part of management, although today there is a tendency for managers to turn to professionals for help in the prevention and correction of professional burnout).

Among the professional and administrative measures aimed at preventing burnout, we included: the use by psychologists - professionals of appropriate psycho-training, role-playing, business games, tolerance training, situational training, anti-stress programs, etc.; carrying out appropriate educational work; organization of the work of a practical psychologist in an institution of preschool education, including aimed at prevention of burnout; taking into account individual abilities and capabilities of employees when assigning tasks; creation of a favorable psychological climate in the team; prevention of mobbing, frustration, conflicts, etc.; mentoring organization; enriching the work and creating extra tasks that help reduce the monotony of work; constructive assessment. The educator, due to the lack of opportunity to immediately see the concrete result of one's activity, needs the work to be appreciated, so that he/she feels that it is needed by someone.

In order to prevent professional burnout, the educator should (non-professional preventive measures): calculate and carefully distribute one's workload and rest from work, including homework; observe psychological hygiene and "psychological safety" (a sense of safety and comfort, visual and acoustic comfort, fresh air, comfortable equipment and clothes, healthy food; own space, hobbies, etc.); keep physically fit, eat right, monitor weight, etc.; master the skills and abilities of self-regulation; not self-isolate; determine short-term and long-term goals, which in the case of successful performance of the activity will ensure an increase in long-term motivation and adequate self-esteem; consciously relate to the work process, one's participation in it; take care of professional development and self-improvement (participation in methodical associations, seminars; taking advanced training courses, etc.).

To avoid such a negative dynamic and maintain health and a high level of work capacity, it is desirable for the educator of special education to carry out the prevention of "emotional and professional burnout" using, in particular, a comprehensive approach based on the theoretical research of modern scientists. In a comprehensive approach, we see the correction of the teacher's mental, physical, and spiritual health.

I. Recommendations for correcting the physical component might be adjusting the sleep regime, proper nutrition, physical activity (fitness, running, yoga, etc.), and breathing exercises (to relieve emotional stress and form the general tone of the body).

II. Recommendations for correction of the mental component are compliance with the rules of self-organization (time management), keeping a diary with introspection, and art therapy.

III. Recommendations for correcting the spiritual component are communication with family, and friends, caring for pets, staying in the open air, travel, etc.

CONCLUSIONS

Thus, professional burnout is the result of the negative impact of professional activity on behavior and thinking, a violation of psychological structure, which leads to the narrowing of interests and needs to purely professional ones. It is the dominance of a certain professional group of personal qualities and evaluation of objective reality through the prism of professional interests. Professional burnout is an individual process, the causes of which are a combination of subjective and objective factors that depend on the personal qualities of a person, the individual system of professional development, and social interaction.

REFERENCES

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