Burnout as a function of communication patterns: A study of a mUltidisciplinary mental health team

This study explores a model predicting burnout among human service workers in terms of their social involvement with coworkers and their job satisfaction. The model is presented as a step toward recognizing the rich diversity of social contact occurring in health service settings. The results were consistent with expectations that burnout would be higher for workers who communicated extensively regarding work, but maintained relatively few informal, supportive relationships with cowork-ers. The model included job satisfaction in conjunction with the communication variables as predictors of burnout. The results are discussed as having relevance to the development of peer supervision procedures in mental health settings. Methods of clarifying departures from the model are discussed. Burnout in human service organizations occurs to a large extent in a social context. In these settings the pressures that contribute to burnout are encountered most directly in social interactions with other people; in fact, the defining feature of human service burnout is a disruption of the social relationship between the service provider and client (Cherniss, 1980; Maslach & Jackson, 1984a). Social relationships with coworkers may be a source of support, helping to alleviate the demands of client interactions, or a source of strain in themselves (Brodsky, 1976; Leiter & Maslach, in press; Leiter & Webb, 1983). Enhancing the supportive aspects of This research was conducted with the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. I wish to thank Debbie Pick, M.Sc., for her help in this project