Professional burnout among correctional facilities personnel as a result of dispositional and evaluation of stress

Publikacja recenzowana / Peer-reviewed publicationThis article deals with the problem of professional burnout among correctional facilities workers (such as pedagogues, teachers, psychologists and prison officers) as being particularly vulnerable to this phenomenon. In this paper professional burnout has been dealt with twofold, i.e. as a result of dispositional as well as situational evaluation of stress. In the former case, professional burnout is connected with the way an individual functions in his/her working environment with various strategies of dealing with occupational stress. Individual features and characteristic ways of coping with stress at work have been taken into consideration. It has been found that both personal predispositions and individual approach to the assigned tasks are important predicates of burnout. Following on from this, a set of potential features that prison offi cers should be characterised by has been described. In the context of situational infl uence on stress, the description of a workplace plays a crucial role as it is an institution, which, very peculiar in its character, may bring about stressful situations that, in turn, may lead to burnout, no matter what individual strategies of overcoming diffi cult situations have been applied. The article describes situations that might infl uence the cognitive evaluation of an individual as stressful situations, it also presents features that can possibly lower the stress and those are controllability and predictability of the incident. Finally, it has been emphasised how important it is to prevent the workers particularly vulnerable to burnout from such situations as early as possible. It might be helpful to be familiar with the potential stress factors at work and to be equipped with professional diagnostic tools which will distinguish the features and the personality types exceptionally susceptible to burnout, remembering at the same time that burnout is a special phenomenon that should not be mistaken with experiencing stress at work, fatigue, alienation or depression