Do different job stressors predict burnout in teachers who were physically assaulted versus those who were not?

Background/Purpose: From the investigator's current research, burnout was shown to be associated with being physically assaulted. For teachers, burnout can emerge from chronic job stressors such as student behavior management. However, job stressors have not been examined for teachers who were physically assaulted and those who were not.

Methods: A nested case-control study of licensed Minnesota educators (n=290 cases and n=946 controls) examined stressors that may predict burnout, using the Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure Version 2. Stressors were determined by asking level of stress from grouped job characteristics: general school; colleague-administration; and student-related. Cases reported exposures occurring prior to their physical assault month. Controls reported on exposures from a randomly selected month. Potentially confounding variables were selected for multiple logistic regression analyses using directed acyclic graphs.

Results: Changes in burnout scores were shown for both cases and controls for all general school levels of stress. For colleague-administration stressors, controls had decreases in scores for all levels, except "Very Stressful", compared to “Not Stressful” (range, -0.77 to -0.14). Cases showed no important changes. Student stressors resulted in greater decreases in burnout scores for both cases and controls; cases had important changes for "Extremely Stressful" and "Very Stressful".

Conclusions: Stressors associated with burnout in educators differed by recent history of physical assault. Examining stressors in the context of violence for this population serves as a basis for further in-depth research.