Investigating the Job Demands and Support Available to Improving Access to Psychological Therapies Workers.

Objective: The aim of this study was to establish whether burnout was prevalent in Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) workers or not and if so, which job characteristics were related to this. The Job Demands-Resources Model (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner & Schaufeli, 2001; JD-RM) was tested to investigate whether the two psychological processes underpinning burnout, exhaustion and disengagement, related to job demands and job resources respectively. Design: A cross-sectional quantitative survey design was employed utilising the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (Demerouti et al., 2001), the Mental Health Professionals Stress Scale (Cushway, Tyler & Nolan, 1996) and a non-standard questionnaire concerning IAPT job characteristics. Participants: The sample included 202 lAPT workers recruited either from lAPT services or via a magazine and website affiliated to the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapists (BABCP). Results: Nearly two thirds of the lAPT workers experienced burnout. Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners (PWPs) were one and a half times more likely to experience burnout than High Intensity (HI) Therapists and length of time worked in the lAPT service predicted burnout in the total sample. Working for two years or more in the lAPT service and overtime hours were the overall predictors of burnout in PWPs. There were no significant predictors of burnout in HI Therapists. The results of the present study did not support the JD-RM. Discussion: Possible reasons for the failure to find support for the JD-RM are discussed. The prevalence of burnout in I APT workers is explored in relation to the existing research and the study is critically evaluated. The clinical implications of the results and future research are discussed. Conclusions: The prevalence of burnout in lAPT workers is high. Attempts to prevent burnout through consideration of certain job characteristics will be imperative if I APT services want to avoid the well documented economic costs of burnout