Coping, perceived social support, and attachment as predictors of professional caregiver burnout
Abstract
This study investigated the following relationships in professional caregivers working with people with emotional/developmental disabilities: (a) the relationship between work-related stress and burnout, (b) coping and burnout, (c) perception of available social support and burnout, (d) the effects of coping and perceived social support on burnout, and (e) the effects of adult attachment style, above and beyond coping and perceived social support, on level of burnout. Participants included 124 individuals who provide direct services to children and or adults with developmental and or emotional disabilities. All participants completed a demographic questionnaire, a measure of stressors, the 2 subscales created from the Brief COPE Inventory (adaptive and maladaptive coping), the Burnout Measure, selected items representing perceived social support from the Job Content Survey, and 2 subscales created from the Experiences in Close Relationships Inventory (anxious and avoidant Attachment). The response rate was 41.3%. Descriptive statistics were calculated. Correlational and hierarchical regression analyses were conducted. Findings indicated that level of stress was related to and proved to be a significant predictor of burnout. Social support and maladaptive coping proved to be related to burnout. Adaptive coping did not prove to be related to burnout and neither adaptive coping nor social support proved to be a significant predictor of burnout. Attachment orientation did not prove to be a significant predictor of burnout after controlling for level of stress, social support, and coping. An exploratory regression analysis was conducted. Burnout remained the criterion variable, and level of stress was entered first followed by anxious and avoidant attachment and social support. An additional 9% of the variance in burnout was explained. Anxious attachment, in particular, proved to be a significant predictor of burnout. Adaptive and maladaptive coping were entered last and remained a significant predictor of burnout. More specifically, maladaptive coping added significantly to the prediction of burnout accounting for an additional 5% of the variance.
Subject Area
Social psychology
Recommended Citation
Scarcella, Santa, "Coping, perceived social support, and attachment as predictors of professional caregiver burnout" (2005). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI3166579.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI3166579
