University professors’ professional burnout and its features

Irina A. Kurapova¹, Larisa V. Lezhnina²

¹Assoc. Prof., Mari State University, RUSSIA, kurapova.psy@mail.ru

²Prof. Dr., Mari State University, RUSSIA, flouers@mail.ru

*Corresponding Author

 

Abstract

 

The article is devoted to the problem of professional burnout, which has not lost its relevance both theoretically and in practice for several decades. The activity of a teacher is characterized by communicative and emotional saturation, increased responsibility, which is one of the factors of burnout. At the same time, it is noted that nowadays the socio-economic changes taking place all over the world strengthen the effect of unfavorable factors of the professional environment, increasing the level of psycho-emotional stress of teachers. Despite the research data showing that university professors are less prone to professional burnout, compared with their colleagues at other levels of education, this phenomenon is becoming commonplace in the system of higher education. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to study the features of professional burnout of university professors in comparison with school teachers. The study was conducted with the use of the questionnaire "Professional burnout" (N.E. Vodopyanova, E.S. Starchenkova), which allows to determine both the level of burnout and the expressiveness of its structural components. The study showed exposure to university professors’ professional burnout: all employees in various degrees showed signs of burnout, while a high level of professional burnout was diagnosed in 40.8% of university professors of Mari State University (Russia). It was found out that they have all indicators of burnout: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment. The peculiarity of university professors' burnout is the structural coherence and homogeneity of professional burnout, the relationship with the socio-demographic characteristics of respondents: the length of work experience, the position.

Keywords: depersonalization, emotional exhaustion, university professors, pedagogical activity, reduced personal accomplishment, professional burnout.