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Stress and burnout among superintendents of public residential facilities

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Abstract

While the phenomenon of “burnout” has received increased attention by human services professionals, no studies have been reported which examine burnout levels and coping strategies of superintendents of public residential facilities for mentally retarded persons. The present study was designed to investigate several research questions in that area with a random sample of 162 residential facility directors. Results indicated that the mean overall burnout scores tend to be lower than those reported in the literature for other human service employees. Also, superintendents tend to favor the use of Direct/Active strategies for coping with stressors. Implications for burnout prevention and further research are discussed.

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Authors
  1. Gary V. Sluyter Ph.D.
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Additional information

Gary V. Sluyter, Ph.D., M.P.H., former superintendent of the Corpus Christi State School (TX), is Associate Professor of Special Education and Residential Care Administration at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 26061.

The author wishes to express his appreciation to the superintendents who made this study possible. Also, thanks to Jeff Egelston for his assistance with the analysis of the data. Finally, a special acknowledgement is made to Ayala Pines, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley and pioneer in the area of burnout research, for her invaluable technical and editorial assistance with several aspects of this study.

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Sluyter, G.V. Stress and burnout among superintendents of public residential facilities. Administration in Mental Health 12, 174–183 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00819417

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