Construct Validity of the Maslach Burnout Inventory in Mental Health Workers: Differentiation from Traumatic Stress Disorders
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14738/abr.36.1727Abstract
The construct of psychological burnout has been in the literature for decades, and has been largely assessed through C. Maslach’s Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Much of the research on the MBI has been on human service and education workers and has stressed the differentiation of groups. Here we summarize the results of two studies with groups of therapists and explore the relative ability of burnout as assessed by the MBI to differentiate stress disorders that are likely to arise in therapists who deal with clients who have been exposed to severe forms of psychological or physical trauma, namely posttraumatic stress disorder and compassion fatigue or secondary traumatic stress disorder (STSD). Study 1 compared 21 workers from sexual assault centres, 47 from women’s refuges, and 21 other counselors and found higher levels of burnout and posttraumatic stress disorder in the sexual assault workers. Study 2 differentiated 19 therapists with posttraumatic stress disorder from secondary traumatic stress disorder in a second group of 51 therapists exposed to many clients with traumatic experiences, and contrasted them with a group of 55 generic mental health workers. Results showed that the groups did not differ in burnout, but the measure of secondary stress disorder did differentiate the two groups with traumatic stress disorders from the generic mental health workers. While the MBI showed some ability to distinguish therapists with symptoms of PTSD from other practitioners, it was less able to discriminate cases of STSD.
References
Ackerly, G. D., Burnell, J., Holder, D. C., & Kurdek, L. A. (1988). Burnout among licensed psychologists. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 19, 624<631.
Arthur, N. M. (1990). The assessment of burnout: A review of three inventories useful for research and counseling. Journal of Counseling and Development, 69, 189.
Arvay, M. J. & Uhlemann. M. R. (1996). Counselor stress in the field of trauma: A preliminary study. Canadian Journal of Counseling, 30, 193<210.
Campbell, D. T. & Fiske, D. W. (1959). Convergent and discriminant validation by the multitrait
Capner, M. & Caltabiano, M. L. (1993). Factors affecting the progression towards burnout: A comparison of professional and volunteer counselors. Psychological Reports, 73, 555<562.
Chrestman, K. R. (1999). Secondary exposure to trauma and self
Cunningham, M. (2003). Impact of trauma work on social work clinicians: Empirical findings. Social Worker, 48, 451<450.
Figley, C. R. (1995). Compassion fatigue as secondary traumatic stress disorder: An overview. In C. R. Figley (Ed), Compassion fatigue: Coping with secondary traumatic stress disorder in those who treat the traumatized (pp. 1< 19). Levittown, PA: Bruner/Mazel.
Figley, C. R. (1999). Compassion fatigue: Towards a new understanding of the costs of caring. In B. H. Stamm (Ed), Secondary traumatic stress: Self
Figley, C.R. & Stamm, B. H. (1996). Psychometric review of the Compassion Fatigue Self
Foa, E. B. (1995). Posttraumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale manual. Minneapolis, MN: National Computer System.
Horowitz, M., Wilner, N., & Alvarez, W. (1979). Impact of Event Scale: A measure of subjective stress. Psychosomatic Medicine, 41, 209<218.
Jenkins, S. R. & Baird, S. (2002). Secondary traumatic stress and vicarious trauma: A validation study. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 15, 423<432.
Kalliath, T. J., O'Driscoll, M. P., Gillespie, D. F., & Bluedorn, A. C. (2000). A test of the Maslach Burnout Inventory in three samples of healthcare professionals. Work and Stress, 14, 35<50.
Keane, T., Caddell, J., & Taylor, K. (1988). Mississippi Scale for Combat
Keane, T., Malloy, P., & Fairbank, J. (1984). Empirical development of an MMPI subscale for the assessment of combat
Kirkhart, K. A. (1996). Caregiving and burnout: Are you at risk? Generations, 24, 6<10.
Leiter, M. P. & Harvie, P. L. (1996). Burnout among mental
Linton, J. M. (2000). Stress on the job: Self
Maslach, C. (1976). Burnout. Human Behavior, 5(9), 16<22.
Maslach, C. (1982). Burnout: The cost of caring. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Maslach, C., Jackson, S. E., & Leiter, M. P. (1996). Maslach Burnout Inventory manual (3 Ed.). Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
Meldrum, L., King, R., & Spooner, D. (2002). Secondary traumatic stress in case managers working in community mental health services. In C. R. Figley (Ed.), Treating compassion fatigue. London: Taylor & Francis.
Munroe, J. F. (1991). Therapist traumatization from exposure to clients with combat related posttraumatic stress disorder: Implications for administration and supervision. Dissertation Abstracts International, 52(3), 1731.
O'Halloran, T. M. & Linton, J. M. (2000). Stress on the job: Self
Oliver, N. & Kuipers, E. (1996). Stress and its relationship to express demotion in community mental health workers. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 42, 150<160.
Ortlepp, K. & Friedman, M. (2002). Prevalence and correlates in secondary traumatic stress in the workplace late trauma counselors. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 15, 213<222.
Perry, B.D. (2003). The cost of caring: Secondary traumatic stress and the impact of working with high
Rupert, P. A. & Kent, J. S. (2007). Gender and work setting differences in career
Rupert, P. A. & Morgan, D. J. (2005). Work setting and burnout among professional psychologists. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 36, 544<550.
Schauben, L. J., & Frazier, P. A. (1995). Vicarious trauma: The effects of female counsellors of working with sexual violence survivors. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 19, 49<54.
Schwan, K. (1998). The phenomenon of compassion fatigue in perioperative nursing. AORN Journal, 68, 642<647.
Smith, K. J., Davy, J. A., & Everly, G. S., Jr. (2006). An assessment of the construct distinctiveness of stress arousal and burnout. Psychological Reports, 99, 396<406.
Snibbe, J., Radcliffe, T., Weisberger, C., Richards, M., & Kelly, J. (1989). Burnout among primary care physicians and mental health professionals in a managed health care setting. Psychological Reports, 65, 775<780.
Stamm, B. H. (1997). Work
Stebnicki, M. A. (2000). Stress and grief reactions among rehabilitation professionals: dealing effectively with empathy fatigue. Journal of Rehabilitation, 66, 23.
Tabachnick, B. F. & Fidell, L. S. (1989). Using multivariate statistics (2nd Ed.). New York: Harper Collins.
Toker, S., Shirom, A., Shapira, I., Berliner, S., & Melamed, S. (2005). The association between burnout, depression, anxiety, and inflammation biomarkers: C
Walkey, F. & Green, D. (1992). An exhaustive examination of the replicable factor structure of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 52, 309<323.
Wang, J.
Weathers, F., Huska, J., & Keane, T. (1991). The PTSD Checklist Civilian version. Boston, MA: National Center for PTSD.
Weathers, F. Litz, B., Herman, D., Huska, J., & Keane, T. (1993). The PTSD Checklist (PCL): Reliability, validity and diagnostic utility. Paper presented at the 9th annual conferences of the ISTSS, San Antonio.
Wee, D. & Myers, D. (2003). Compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue and critical incident stress management. International Journal of Emergency Mental Health, 5, 33<37.
Williams, J. B. W., Gibbon, M., First, M. B., Spitzer, R. I., Davies, M., Borus, J., Howes, M. J., Kane, J., Pope, H. G., Rounsaville, B., & Wittchen, H. U. (1992). The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM
Wilson, J. & Keane, T. (Eds.). (1997). Assessing psychological trauma and PTSD. New York: Guilford.
Yadama, G. & Drake, B. (1995). Confirmatory factor analysis of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Social Work Research, 19, 184<192.
