Burnout en bevlogenheid bij Vlaamse journalisten: prevalentie, antecedenten en gevolgen

This study explores the prevalence, work related antecedents (job demands versus job resources) and consequences of burnout for absenteeism and turnover among journalists in the Flemish region of Belgium. Work engagement was also surveyed, in order to offer a balanced appraisal of the experience of their work. 721 journalists were surveyed with a written questionnaire, based on internationally validated scales. The results showed that 31,6% of the respondents showed an elevated risk for burnout. At the same time, however, the scores for work engagement clearly exceeded those of burnout. A cluster analysis on both scales revealed three clusters: ‘burned out’ (14,1%), ‘engaged’ (38,1%) and ‘in between’ (35,2%). Especially workload, role conflicts and (quantitative) job insecurity were positively correlated to the burnout dimensions, whereas skill utilisation and variety at work were negatively correlated to these dimensions. Emotional exhaustion predicted absenteeism, and especially depersonalisation was a strong predictor of turnover. The results are discussed in the light of the international literature and some suggestions for practice are formulated.status: publishe