PYCHOLOGICAL VARIABLES AS PREDICTORS OF BURNOUT SYNDROME AMONG UNIVERSITY LECTURERS IN RIVERS STATE

PYCHOLOGICAL VARIABLES AS PREDICTORS OF BURNOUT SYNDROME AMONG UNIVERSITY LECTURERS IN RIVERS STATE

PYCHOLOGICAL VARIABLES AS PREDICTORS OF BURNOUT SYNDROME AMONG UNIVERSITY LECTURERS IN RIVERS STATE

 

BY

Ezulofor Maureen¹

Department of Educational Psychology, Guidance and Counselling

Faculty of Education, University of Port Harcourt

Rivers State, Nigeria

 

&

 

Dr. Rosemary O. Ekechukwu²

Department of Educational Psychology, Guidance and Counselling

Faculty of Education, University of Port Harcourt

Rivers State, Nigeria

 

Abstract

The study investigated psychological variables as predictors of burnout syndrome among university lecturers in Rivers State. The study adopted the correlational research design. Two research questions as well as two corresponding hypotheses guided the study. A random sample of 400 lecturers were drawn from 4, 532 teaching staff from three universities namely; University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State University, and Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, using the stratified proportionate random sampling technique. Two instruments (Lecturers’ Burnout Syndrome Questionnaire (LBSQ) and Psycho-demographic Questionnaire for Lecturers (P-DQL)) were used to collect data for the study. The reliability coefficients of the instruments ranged from 0.73 to 0.82 through Cronbach Alpha. Mean, standard deviation, one sample t-test, independent t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and regression statistics (simple and multiple) were the statistical tools deployed for the analysis of data collected. The findings show that emotional intelligence and anxiety significantly predict burnout syndrome respectively. Based on these findings, it was recommended among others that the various counselling units of the universities should as a matter of concern, institute programmes, activities and orientations that will help lecturers cope with the demand of their duties.

Keywords: Psychological Variables (Emotional Intelligence and Anxiety), and Burnout Syndrome

 

Introduction

The term ‘burnout’ was coined in the 1970s to describe the physical and emotional exhaustion that workers may experience on the job, especially those who provide some type of service to others (Ekechukwu & Isabella, 2020). Robinson, Ode and Hilmert (2011) described burnout as a situation in which workers are continuously subjected to stressors that they find themselves unable to cope with, which in turn makes them feel exhausted, lacking in energy, and mentally fatigued. Maslach and Jackson as cited in Guillermo Elena, Lucia, Emilia, Cristina and Jose (2018) described burnout as comprising three dimensions; (1) emotional exhaustion, characterized by lack of energy and enthusiasm and depletion of emotional resources; (2) depersonalization, described as negative attitudes toward clients, colleagues, and the organization; and (3) reduced personal accomplishment, which is manifested as a worker’s tendency towards negative self-evaluation, showing dissatisfaction with their own performance at work. Burnout has also been associated with low employee turnover, excessive absenteeism, negative job attitudes, low morale and a reduction in willingness to help others (Abushaikha & Saca-Hazboun, 2009). Burnout is a specif­ic kind of occupational stress among hu­man service professionals, as a result of the demanding and emotionally charged relationships between caregivers and their recipients (Ekechukwu & Obicheina, 2020). Burnout is characterized by emotional and mental exhaustion, which is accompanied by the feelings of hopelessness, negative self-concept, poor self-efficacy and cynicism towards people (Moczydłowska, 2016). Lecturers are considered to be particularly susceptible to the risk of burnout syndrome due to the very stressful nature of their work, which has negative impact on their mental and physical health, teaching efficacy and productivity (Johnson, Cooper, Cartwright, Donald, Taylor and Millet as cited in Irena, 2017).

The work of university lecturers demand long hours of service delivery a day, increased work-load, and exposure to stressors. Abushaikha and Saca-Hazboun (2009) argued that lecturers continuing exposure to stressors will likely result in burnout syndrome. To this end, they explained burnout a syndrome of physical and emotional exhaustion, involving the development of stress which could result in negative self-concept, negative job attitudes and decrease job satisfaction (Abushaikha & Saca-Hazboun, 2009). Studies have shown that lecturers are exposed to various stressful situations which impact negatively on their health and performance. The stressful nature of the lecturing profession constantly takes a toll on lecturers’ emotions, interpersonal relationships and level of resilience. They often experience feeling exhaustion and dissatisfaction with their work. Burnout syndrome among lecturers has resulted in negative physiological and psychological consequences like headache, muscular tensions, fatigue, irritability, insomnia, depression, hypertension and even suicide. Burnout has led to negative behavioural reactions such as reduced level of job performance, irresponsibility, low morale, absenteeism, tardiness, and early retirement among lecturers. It is based on the researcher is interested in investigating psychological variables as predictors of burnout syndrome among university lecturers in Rivers State.

 

There are debates that emotional intelligence may predict burnout syndrome among university lecturers. Emotional intelligence is the capability of individuals to recognize their own emotions and those of others, establish relations with other individuals, discern between different feelings and label them appropriately, use emotional information to guide thinking and behaviour, and manage or adjust emotions to adapt to surrounding environment and achieve one’s goal (Coleman, 2008). It is generally said that emotional intelligence made up of five components, they are; self-awareness, self-management, self-motivation, and social-awareness and relationship management (Goleman cited in Isukwem & Ekechukwu, 2019). Self-awareness is the first component of emotional intelligence which indicates knowing ones feeling and emotions or recognizing a feeling as it happens. It is the ability to monitor feeling from moment to moment. Goleman as cited Ekechukwu and Isabela (2020) observed that handling feeling, in an appropriate ways help to build self-awareness and that people who are low in this ability are prone to feeling of distress and may shy away from performing a task assigned to them or avoid certain situation whereas, those who are high are more resilient to life’s setbacks and upsets, and are more confident in challenging situations. The second component is self-management. This is otherwise known as managing one’s emotion. It is the ability to regulate distressing affects like anxiety and anger and to inhibit emotional impulsivity. Self-motivation is the third emotional intelligence component, which is marshaling emotion in pursuit of a goal, people who have this ability tend to be more productive and effective in whatever they undertake. Social awareness, the fourth emotional intelligence component, encompasses the competency of empathy, and is the fundamental of people skill which makes them well suited for the caring professions such as nurses and social workers like teachers (Arvey, Renz, and Watson, 1998). Finally, the fifth component of emotional intelligence is relationship management as a social skill that poses the ability to manage emotions in others.

Aurora and Tudor (2014) explained that emotional intelligence is better known as a useful tool for improving workers’ quality of life, work attitude resilience to burnout and performance. They further stressed that lecturers, as professionals who work within human development area, being responsible for the becoming of many generation of children, need to demonstrate real emotional qualities which could enable them to maintain a positive work attitude, develop resilience to burnout and perform better. Platsidou (2010) stressed that there is a positive relationship between the dimensions of emotional intelligence and burnout syndrome. He further explained that lecturers are likely to experience positive work attitude and greater job satisfaction when they have high emotional intelligence, whereas they are likely to experience the opposite when they have low emotional intelligence. Brown and Richard (2008) maintained that lecturers with high emotional intelligence usually consider their lecturing task as those of a reformer and trainer. They further explained that their work attitude consist of diligence, great concern, care, kindness, accepting diversity and sharing responsibility, while those with low emotional intelligence experience burnout.

Anxiety is another psychological variable that may be linked to burnout syndrome among lecturers. Anxiety is a common psychological condition which acts as a protective factor against threatening situations (Cole, 2014). However, prolonged anxiety might result in psychological distress affecting an individual’s everyday functioning (Cole, 2014). According to Ahmed (2009), anxiety is a psychological and physiologic state characterized by cognitive, somatic, emotional, and behavioural components. It is a mental or emotional strain, nervousness and unease that negatively affects an individual’s pursuit in life be it schooling or working (Vitasari, 2010). Turnipseed (1998) found out that burnout syndrome and anxiety symptoms are significantly correlated, with the strongest link existing between anxiety and emotional exhaustion. According to Turnipseed, this interaction between work situations and individuals’ personalities –as mentioned earlier– creates a state of anxiety and, by extension, contributes to burnout syndrome onset. Similarly, Vasilopoulos (2012) reported that high anxiety level is related to burnout syndrome. Ding (2014) also found that emotional exhaustion and cynicism as components of burnout syndrome were positively related to anxiety.

Aim and Objectives of the Study

The study investigated psychological variables as predictors of burnout syndrome among university lecturers in Rivers State. Specifically, the study sought to achieve the following;

1. Find out the extent to which emotional intelligence predict burnout syndrome university lecturers in Rivers State.
2. Find out the extent anxiety predicts burnout among university lecturers in Rivers State.

 

 

 

Research Questions

The following research questions guided the study;

1. What is the predictive relationship between lecturers’ emotional intelligence and their burnout syndrome?
2. What is the predictive relationship between anxiety of lecturers and their burnout syndrome?

 

Hypotheses

The following null hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance guided the study;

1. There is no significant predictive relationship between lecturers’ emotional intelligence and their burnout syndrome.
2. There is no significant predictive relationship between anxiety of lecturers and their burnout syndrome.

 

Methodology

The study used correlational research design. The population of the study consisted of all the teaching (academic) staff of the three universities in Rivers State, Nigeria. Consequently, as at the time of the study (2020/2021 session), the population of the study was marginally put at 4, 532 teaching staff from the three universities (University of Port Harcourt, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education and Rivers State University). A random sample of 400 lecturers were drawn from 4, 532 teaching staff from three universities namely; University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State University, and Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, using the stratified proportionate random sampling technique. Two instruments (Lecturers’ Burnout Syndrome Questionnaire (LBSQ) and Psycho-demographic Questionnaire for Lecturers (P-DQL)) were used to collect data for the study. The reliability coefficients of the instruments ranged from 0.73 to 0.82 through Cronbach Alpha. Mean, standard deviation, one sample t-test, independent t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and regression statistics (simple and multiple) were the statistical tools deployed for the analysis of data collected.

Results and Discussion

Research Question 1: What is the predictive relationship between lecturers’ emotional intelligence and their burnout syndrome?

Hypothesis 1: There is no significant predictive relationship between lecturers’ emotional intelligence and their burnout syndrome.

Table 1: Summary of R value and ANOVA table showing the Predictive Relationship between Emotional intelligence and Burnout Syndrome

Model	Simple R	R-Square (R2)	Adjusted R2	Standard Error of the Estimate
Values	.053	.003	.000	7.291
Source of Variation (SV)	Sum of Squares (SS)	df	Mean Square (MS)	F	Sig.	Decision
Regression	58.639	1	58.639	1.103	.294	Not Significant
Residual	21156.201	398	53.156
Total	21214.840	399

NS = Not Significant at 0.05 Level of Significance

Table 1 shows an R-value of .053 and an R²-value of .003. The table also shows the test of significance of this predictive relationship. The test output shows an F-ratio of 1.103, which is not significant at .05 level of significance. The implication of this test is that there is positive but very low predictive relationship between emotional intelligence of lecturers and their burnout syndrome which is not significant. To this end, the null hypothesis is accepted. The result is that there is no significant predictive relationship between lecturers’ emotional intelligence and their burnout syndrome. A further analysis of Table 1 reveals that lecturers’ emotional intelligence could only account for up to .3 % (R² X 100) of lecturers’ burnout syndrome. That is also to say that lecturers’ emotional intelligence, explains .3% of the variance in lecturers’ burnout syndrome.

 

Research Question 2: What is the predictive relationship between anxiety of lecturers and their burnout syndrome?

Hypothesis 2: There is no significant predictive relationship between anxiety of lecturers and their burnout syndrome.

Table 2: Summary of R value and ANOVA table showing the Predictive Relationship between Anxiety and Burnout Syndrome

 

Model	Simple R	R-Square (R2)	Adjusted R2	Standard Error of the Estimate
Values	.584	.341	.340	5.926
Source of Variation (SV)	Sum of Squares (SS)	df	Mean Square (MS)	F	Sig.	Decision
Regression	7238.700	1	7238.700	206.137*	.000	Significant
Residual	13976.140	398	35.116
Total	21214.840	399

* Significant at 0.05 Level of Significance

Table 2 shows an R-value of .584 and an R²-value of .341. The table also shows the test of significance of this predictive relationship. The test output shows an F-ratio of 206.137, which is significant at .05 level of significance. The implication of this test is that there is positive and moderate predictive relationship between anxiety of lecturers and their burnout syndrome which is also significant. To this end, the null hypothesis is rejected. The result is that there is significant predictive relationship between anxiety of lecturers and their burnout syndrome. A further analysis of Table 2 reveals that lecturers’ anxiety could account for up to 34.1 % (R² X 100) of lecturers’ burnout syndrome. That is also to say that lecturers’ anxiety, explains 34.1% of the variance in lecturers’ burnout syndrome.

Summary of the Findings

The results obtained after data analysis are summarized below;

1. There was a positive but very low predictive relationship between emotional intelligence of lecturers and their burnout syndrome which was not significant statistically. Besides, lecturers’ emotional intelligence could only account for up to .3 % (R² X 100) of lecturers’ burnout syndrome. That is almost a negligible value.
2. There was a positive and moderate predictive relationship between anxiety of lecturers and their burnout syndrome which was also significant. In addition, 34.1 % (R² X 100) of lecturers’ burnout syndrome could be explained by their anxiety.

 

Discussion of the Findings

Emotional Intelligence and Burnout Syndrome

The finding of the study revealed that there was a positive and moderate predictive relationship between anxiety of lecturers and their burnout syndrome which was also significant. In addition, 34.1 % (R² X 100) of lecturers’ burnout syndrome could be explained by their anxiety. This is in agreement with an earlier study by Platsidou (2010) who found out that there is a positive relationship between the dimensions of emotional intelligence and burnout syndrome. He further explained that lecturers are likely to experience positive work attitude and greater job satisfaction when they have high emotional intelligence, whereas they are likely to experience the opposite when they have low emotional intelligence. Brown and Richard (2008) also found out that lecturers with high emotional intelligence usually consider their lecturing task as those of a reformer and trainer. They further explained that their work attitude consist of diligence, great concern, care, kindness, accepting diversity and sharing responsibility, while those with low emotional intelligence experience burnout.

 

Anxiety and Burnout Syndrome

The results showed that, there was a positive and moderate predictive relationship between anxiety of lecturers and their burnout syndrome which was also significant. In addition, 34.1 % (R² X 100) of lecturers’ burnout syndrome could be explained by their anxiety. The finding of the present study is in agreement with an earlier study by Turnipseed (1998) who found out that burnout syndrome and anxiety symptoms are significantly correlated, with the strongest link existing between anxiety and emotional exhaustion. According to Turnipseed, this interaction between work situations and individuals’ personalities –as mentioned earlier– creates a state of anxiety and, by extension, contributes to burnout syndrome onset. Similarly, Vasilopoulos (2012) reported that high anxiety level is related to burnout syndrome. Ding (2014) also found that emotional exhaustion and cynicism as components of burnout syndrome were positively related to anxiety.

Conclusion

From the study it could be concluded that, the level of burnout syndrome among universities lecturers’ in Rivers state is moderate or mild. This study has also shown that lecturers emotional intelligence and anxiety significantly predict on lecturers’ burnout syndrome in Rivers State.

 

Recommendations

Based on the findings of this study, the researcher recommended the following;

1. In view of the moderate burnout syndrome observed among universities lecturers’ in Rivers state, the various Counselling units of the universities should as a matter of concern, institute programmes, activities and orientations that will help lecturers combat burnout syndromes in such a way that will not lead to psychological and health challenges among lecturers in the nearest future.
2. University management should know the symptoms of burnout and make lecturers be familiar with them; should regularly hold staff meetings that can be used for staff support; foster a sense of teamwork among the staff; and should restructure jobs so that lecturers do not unduly spend as much time with particularly demanding students and assignments. Workshops in stress or time management should be mounted regularly. More lecturers should focus on the more positive aspects of their job instead of focusing exclusively on the negative.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

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Ahmed, I., Banu, H., Al-Fageer, R., & Al-Suwaidi, R. (2009). Cognitive emotions: depression and anxiety in medical students and staff. Journal of Critical Care 24, 1–7. doi: 10.1016/j.jcrc.2009.06.003

Arvey, R. W., Renz, G. L., & Watson, T. W. (1998). Emotionality and job performance: Implications for personnel selection. In G. R. Ferris (Ed.), Research in personnel and human resources management, 16, 103-147.

Aurora, C., & Tudor, C. (2014). Teachers’ attitudes towards work in relation with emotional intelligence and self-efficacy. Procedia - Social and Behavioural Sciences 159, 615 – 619

Brown, J. S., & Richard, A. (2008) Minds on fire: Open education, the long tail, and learning. Educational Review. http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0811.pdf

Cole, A. H. (2014). Anxiety in encyclopedia of psychology and religion, ed. D.A.Leeming. (Boston, MA: Springer), 95–99. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4614-6086-2_38

Ding, Y., Qu, J., Yu, X., & Wang, S. (2014). The mediating effects of burnout on the relationship between anxiety symptoms and occupational stress among community healthcare workers in China: a cross-sectional study. PLoS ONE 9:e107130. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0107130

Ekechukwu, R. O., & Isabella, O. (2020). Personality traits as predictors of burnout syndrome among nurses in University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital Rivers State. Advances in Social Sciences Research journal, 7 (3), 35-42

Ekechukwu, R. O., & Obicheina, G. (2020). Emotional intelligence and gender as correlates of burnout syndrome among nurses in the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital Rivers State. International journal of humanities Social Sciences and Education, 7 (1), 81-87

Guillermo, C. D., Elena, O., Lucia, R. B., Emilia, D. F., Cristina, R.  &Jose, A. (2018). Gender, marital status and children as risk factors for burnout in nurses: A meta-analytic study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15 (10), 1-13

Irena, S. (2017). Self-efficacy and burnout syndrome among teachers. The European Journal of Social and Behavioural Sciences EJSBS Volume XX (eISSN: 2301-2218)

Isukwem, G. C., & Ekechukwu, R. O. (2019). Joint influence of psych-demographic variables on adolescents’ gambling behaviour in Rivers State, Nigeria. European Journal of Social Sciences Studies. 4 (4), 259-269.

Platsidou, M. (2010). Trait emotional intelligence of Greek special education teachers I relation to burnout ad job satisfaction. School Psychology International 31, 60-76.

Robinson, M. D., Ode, S., & Hilmert, C. (2011). Regulated and unregulated forms of cortisol reactivity: A dual vulnerability model. Psychosomatic Medicine, 73, 250-256

Vasilopoulos, S. (2012). Job burnout and its relation to social anxiety in primary school teachers. Hell. J. Psychol. 9, 18–44.

 

 

 

 

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