9‘ [I I I ' II." I. I . n -1 -I Ial IIIlIII-.I.InI - I. 1‘ n I I.‘ QIO'I. I I. . InIIIIIIIXI 1356113.. {III III“ I II I (IIIEIHMIHIOIIIIIIQII‘IilI . 0.4..QIIIIIIIIILIHHIIIIII I IIIVIII I I I I .I . :II .I . ..II III» . . ¢ Inhflvu . II .- I I . S... I III-III. IIIIIIUII‘. ~ IoII I I III I . . III. I» II III I III III.I~. IIIIII .Jiilt niIII lhl I 1.0“ {HIIII IIII-‘Iv. I é IIIIIII‘I.vvl‘lo‘VIhvau‘IuhoanlIIdlIII .III .III IIIIII. I . II. .IIIIIlnIIIu‘cLI III. :II IIIJIIIIIIII II.I|I I III! I but 0 \IIIIII- III~IIIIIOIII I \ In; ILIIIII I III..17IIII.I O‘IIM‘IIII I I I. '1‘} a li‘vtl.I(I|IIIo¢l~o Irolv‘IIIftlkawIlv- IgIll. .\I .|_.I-II.I.II0 II .I I I an Iv I. .v .Il-vl . I.~I.IO.JDHOIIII.I|III ‘5’.anth III’IIIQIn v... I o II. I .I I‘ I III...” IIIII. . ..... .I . I . : I. I III. II II.IIII I u. I I I . IIIIIII .IhIIIIIInlIII I . III.....I. I Is. .I W13 . . I I II IIIIIIIIIdaflIIIdeIQI . I III. III. III I I . I IV. I . I III IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ... I .Iurhfflql. IW..IIH.I....II.. I . In I I. \I IIIluw. II I. luIluIII. III.\III..III.I.INRIIII IIIuI In? .KIIII.IUINIT.IurIIN I...I.I. . . I I. .. I 4 I .II‘IIIIII. I vs. I I fi’yniIIII IIIquflHIIINIIIIIPIIIIIIIIWI .1 III I II I I ' II.III IIIIIIIIIInuunIIIIvrIII III I Inn.‘ III. “III IIIIIIIHIIIII I.I.II..I. . .II. -6... .II III III ..I. III.n.\I.I1.IIIII unfitfiIIIJInhflflfin... IInIuIquanaIuIJIIIINII:II.I III.-. ,II... . I II III IVIIIII IIIIuILIII III-“IQ.““IIIII I I I‘II I I “III , III. DIE“. I. III! I I .I IIIIVI IDII ‘ I 0‘ II IIIII'DII I: I. 1.. .IIIIIIIII...9II.|I.HIIII I. I n I flIIIIIb H I. . . I I I .. IfilIIII ”III... I. I III-.9 I. u..\IIIIIII I VIII 1‘ I I..I.II I I I v I. III-III... IIIIIIIIIII I. . I IIIHI NV..|..MII 5:- I I I lIIIIIIIIIhHIq .- 5 .II.II I III . I ' C. I. . II: III I Rfl$I3I IlilLII‘IIIDIII. III III II W . I I v. I. II . I... ~ QC on .IJ‘IIIV It- II.I‘IIIIIIIIIIIIII III ‘1 I II IIIII . I\I\.|I}l\ III. II J |(.II . .I - I I..- IIWIhILaIIIIIIIIIIIIInuHuHuquALI. 1 I - I I II . .I: III) . . .I III IIIIIIIIII out I . it!) I} .l I . I?IIIIIIIII'III¢I I III 7.. I I I I kn III I .. II I ~\ II I II I I I . tIIIcI I'I‘.I}. . \IBI‘III. I. I I I I . a? III..IIIIIIIII. .I. I.I IIIfiIIIII IJHI‘ OI I III . . III III-\(lIIIIIIIWIIIA‘IIIv I I I I .w I I l I IIImItl‘IcIIflI I $I.V III III I I I II I In I I _ I.“ .UILII‘tI IIIO I’Iocr‘III III II..." I . I. I II‘IIII‘IIi IIIIIII‘" I {III I . III II ' I II‘ ‘ ‘I l {I . I II I II .I I I . I 3” IIIquIIIHMINMIIIIIqu..- . .IIII. IIIII I IIIII III I I I I. I II I I IRI. I h: It}! I. I. III . . I I I u I I I Is! 0 . II . . . I II . I I I I .III I I I“ I II II . I .. I II. \ I .. I . I. I I III I II. I I I IIIIHI IIIIIIIIIIJI IIIIII VIII I IHfiIlI .l .1 HI. 5» I I III. . . I III II 4 . I I. I.I.ILI...II I I I . ,. . I“! III {FIIkII .. . I .I I: I IIISIIhIVIINII I IIILHIIIZNWIWIIII ”II I I (I. IIIIIIII .. I. l I . .I I. m ..I I I II I. III. II In, II .LIIIIIIIIII I. I. . I .II . III. I .I ”hunt. III I . . I I I . .3 VI LII.I ..IIILI. rIIIIIIaIII .I I. II II I II IIIILI .IICII. I I IIIUI. IILIIIIIIIIIIIIIII. 1F.IIIIIIIII. .I.III.III.I.IIIT\IIII1IIIII.II.IINFII.1 Ll I. III": “ ”1.1"qu .«IIIIIHIII. . I III III i I.” I. .III I I..I.IMIII..III:.R .IIIIIIJIIIH III INIIHIII IZIIIIIIIIIIIIIII. .I . dequInItflflHIINI . I I... n“: I _ .II I II ILLIIIIII) U IIIII.II. .\I.. I III-.. LI III IIIIHI IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII,IIIIIII.I&I III\II.II|III. . . IIIIIIJIII I I III IIIIIIII “I III . II II I I . I .III‘\ \I\ . I I. IIII‘III v I I II. :\ ~‘I‘I III III I V IIIII .I I. .II I. II I I IIIDIIII‘. \IIIIIIII‘III III}. | I. IIIKII IIII. II IIII .III\«I I. .IIII. I I v (I. IIHIIII \.I.l 3?in IIIIINVHIIGIQIIIIIIIII'III'. Ii II‘IC‘IIIIII I I I IIIIIIIIII‘III I I .IIIIIIIII I: IIIIIIIIII II IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILI II II I.I IIIII: I. .I..I.|)IIIII1.\III\ II . 3 \.4I.II.IIIIII)\ n I III .. I J. II.I. .r .I I III- . p I II. I I I I! I _..JI .1 IIIII: I I .III I. :1-.. .. II III. ..II r. III. Ir... AI .IIIIIIII .II INN. IIIIIIII IIIII. IIIIIJHHJI HI“_\I.|lrII4 II .IIfiIIQuIIIJ IIII.I LII I J. n x I I I .I I. I .. .2 I. I, I . III... II . I.I Is. I. I . I III. IIIIIII . IIIII 3.. .kIIIV I: \IuIIlr. I) IudNIIUII "It! I.H IIIIoIIIIIIIIII I iIIII \ . I la n ,KN ..I , a I . .. I _,. ..I . I. f . . .I.. II . .I. I. I.. . I.,I.I .II. II II HIJIII, IIH~ MW... . I... I .I. II .IIIIJOI. \ VIII III... .IIIIKJIIUJIIII. I‘lIJIIInIIIIII.flI]I|IIIIquHu III III 4 my I II_. .. . . V . . .2 2.... III III III . .IhrI .. I. .. I. II. In IWL. 1N.) LIWIII IIIIRNIMII IIILrIIIIIfI \ III: viIILIII.) “HIIIIIIIIIIIIIRIIIIIII‘II - I I III . .I I..... - III II III I II . I 41 0' ..._.I I141... III I II III. . .II IIIII. II. I ,I. .I.II .w Pr....I.IO..... .IIWIII... .I.II IIIIIIIH I . ”I In...‘ .IIHIcIIII IIIIIXIIPIAIE O Ill ,I '1 I I .I I Ifi‘l \r I I I ‘ I ‘4 ‘ I I). .I I ' ’ III. II II I Iii . This is to certify that the dissertation entitled AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF THE PRESENCE. DEGREE AND NATURE OF BURNOUT IN COMMUNITY COLLEGE FACULTY presented by Marion Di Falco Vander Ven has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for PILD degree in W10" and Higher Education Major professor Date M MS U is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution 0-12771 Luna 1 Macmmr‘n 6 age I Uhi‘i'ii’wty I .._.._..E‘ MSU RETURNING MATERIALS: Place in book drop to LIBRARJES remove this checkout from .Alllzgau-n. your record. FINES will be charged if book is returned after the date stamped below. APR 21 2005 JAN 2 8 2008 AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF THE PRESENCE, DEGREE AND NATURE OF BURNOUT IN COMMUNITY COLLEGE FACULTY By Marion Di Falco Vander Ven A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Administration and Higher Education 1982 ‘\ ‘l‘ r -. (Mao ABSTRACT AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF THE PRESENCE, DEGREE AND NATURE OF BURNOUT IN COMMUNITY COLLEGE FACULTY By Marion Di Falco Vander Ven This descriptive study assessed the presence and degree of burnout in a sample of community college teachers. It was also in- tended to measure some of the personal and situational variables assumed to be related to burnout. Problems within the community college system which resembled the elements identified in other work settings where burnout had already been reported indicated a need for this exploratory study. After a critical analysis of the burnout literature, the re- searcher selected a number of variables thought to be significant in- fluences in the development of burnout, and formulated a set of scales and items to measure both the dependent variable: burnout, as well as some of the key independent variables: attributional style, work load, curriculum division, and personal life stress. The scales were combined into a four part questionnaire and were mailed to a sample of 200 full-time faculty randomly selected from a subset of three Michigan community colleges selected for their representa- tiveness of the typical community college. Marion Di Falco Vander Ven The degree of burnout reported by the community college teachers was significantly lower than the burnout reported by other groups of human service workers as measured on the "Emotional Exhaustion" sub- scale, a generalized measure of burnout. While the degree of burnout was lower than predicted (in comparison to a population of human ser- vice workers), 4l% of the respondents indicated that they had experienced feelings related to some degree of burnout; 5% of them to a high degree. The variables which were found to be statistically significant in relationship to burnout were primarily from the "personal" category of variables rather than the "situational" category, i.e. related to work conditions and the teaching environment. Attributional style, the tendency to perceive the causes and control over problems in teaching as external to oneself, was significantly correlated with the degree of burnout reported. Other personal factors significantly related to the degree of burnout were: gender, males obtained higher means on the burnout scale than did females as a group; and the experience of per- sonal life events regarded as potentially stress inducing during the past year was also associated with higher degrees of burnout. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Among the many people who were very helpful to me in com- pletion of my doctoral work, three of them must be singled out for special recognition: Donna Wanous, Ph.D; Max Raines, Ph.D; and David Zimny, Ph.D. Professor Nanous provided exemplary assistance and guidance in her role as dissertation research director. I am extremely fortunate to have worked with her; her help was invaluable. Professor Raines, my major adviser, accorded my concerns with genuine interest, support and responsiveness during the years of my participation in the doctoral program. David Zimny, a friend and teaching colleague, extended considerable experience and talent as an informal tutor and reference source during the data-analysis phase of my research. Thank you, David, for your patient assistance. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES .......................... v LIST OF FIGURES ......................... vii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION ........................ 1 Background ....................... 1 Statement of the Problem ................ 4 Conceptual Assumptions ................. 8 Definition of Terms ................. l0 Statement of the Research Questions and Hypotheses . . 12 Delimitations .................... l4 Procedures ...................... l5 Limitations of the Study ............... 15 Significance of the Study .............. l7 II. REVIEN OF THE LITERATURE .................. 19 I. Description and Classification of Variables Associated with Burnout ............. 20 Causes and Correlates ............. 22 Manifestations and Effects of Burnout ..... 27 Empirical Studies of Burnout ......... » 29 II. The Relationship of Burnout to Other Work Related Constructs ................ 32 Stress and the Mediation of Stressors ..... 32 Morale .................... 37 Job Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction ....... 39 III. Characteristics and Issues Identified in the Higher Education/Teaching Literature Which Provides a Basis for Investigation of Burnout. . . 42 Existential Issues .............. 42 Nature of the Service ............. 44 Organizational and Systemic Factors ...... 48 Skill Preparation and Professional Recognition ................. 54 Personality Characteristics .......... 56 iii Chapter Page III. METHODOLOGY ......................... 59 Procedure ........................ 59 Sample ........................ 61 Data Collection Instruments ............. 62 Pilot Study ....................... 66 Analysis of the Data .................. 71 IV. RESULTS .......................... 76 Demographics of the Respondents ............. 77 Research Instruments .................. 81 Hypotheses Tested .................... 86 Post Hoc Analysis .................... 100 Summary ......................... 103 V. SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION, AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH ...................... 105 Summary ......................... 105 Conclusions ....................... 115 Recommendations for Further Research .......... ll7 Implications of the Study ................ 119 LIST OF REFERENCES ........................ 121 APPENDICES A. PART I. BURNOUT SCALE ................ 129 PART II. DEMOGRAPHIC SECTION ............. 131 PART III. ATTRIBUTION SCALE AND PERSONAL LIFE EVENTS CHECK-LIST ............. 132 PART IV. ROTTER LOCUS OF CONTROL SCALE ........ 134 B. DISILLUSIONMENT .................... 137 C. JOB ATTITUDE SUBSCALE/JOB SATISFACTION ......... 133 D. MASLACH BURNOUT INVENTORY SUBSCALES .......... 139 E. ATTRIBUTION SCALE ................... 140 F. COVER LETTER FOR SURVEY AND SAMPLE 0F POSTCARD ENCLOSED WITH QUESTIONNAIRE ............. 142 iv Table 10 11 12 13 14 LIST OF TABLES Problem Issues of Higher Education and Teaching Which Fit the Categories of Causes and Correlates of Burnout ........................ Manifestations and Effects of Burnout in Relation to the Causes and Correlates of Burnout .......... Comparison of Burnout to Morale and Job Satisfaction Constructs ....................... Reliability Coefficients for Instruments Used in the Pilot Study ...................... Distribution of Respondents by Age and Gender ...... Distribution of Respondents by Areas of Previous Teaching ....................... Distribution of Respondents by Subject Categories . . . . Frequency of Responses to Items re: Preparation for Teaching ....................... Reliability Coefficients for the Burnout Scale ...... Chi Square Values for Burnout Subscales With the Self-Report Measure .................. Reliability Coefficients for Attribution and Rotter Scales ..................... Scale Means and Standard Deviations ........... Responses to Self-Reported Measure of the Presence of Burnout ....................... Means for Community College Teachers and Human Service Workers on Two Burnout Subscales; trtest Values . . . . Page 23 41 68 78 79 79 80 81 83 84 85 87 89 Table 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Correlations for Mean Scores on Emotional Exhaustion Subscale with Means on Three Other Subscales ....... Burnout Scores for Academic and Occupational Faculty and trtest Results ................... Chi Square Values for Test of Relationship Between Curriculum Division and Subject Taught with Degree of Burnout ....................... Descriptive Statistics on Three Key Work Condition Variables ........................ Responses to Item re: Percentage of Students Lacking Skills ........................ .. . Chi Square Values and Pearson r_Values for the Relation- ships Between Each of the Work Condition Variables and Burnout ......................... T-test for Difference Between Means for Stress and No Stress Groups ...................... Mean Scores on the Burnout Scale for Men and Women and tftest Results ...................... Initial Degree of Commitment to the Open Admissions Concept ......................... Initial Degree of Commitment to "Educating" Students Responses to Item 18, Feelings About Teaching Mixed Classes ......................... Results of trtest for Item 15 on the Attribution Scale . . . Responses to Item 8, Controllability of Good Classes, Results of Chi Square Test for Item 8 With Degree of Burnout ........................ vi Page 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 103 LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1 A Conceptual View of the Dynamics of Attributional Style and Burnout ..................... 10 2 Attributional Style as Mediator of Stresses in Teaching . . . 36 vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Background The phenomenon of burnout was first recognized in the mental health field and was described as, "a physical and emotional exhaustion involving the development of negative self-concept, negative job atti- tudes, and a loss of concern and feelings for clients" (Pines and i Maslach, 1978, p. 233). Since 1974, other human service fields such as medicine, nursing, social work and corrections have become concerned about worker burnout and the negative consequences for worker, client and the organizational system. These consequences include: absenteeism, distancing and detaching from clients, and ultimately escape from the job itself (Maslach, 1976; Freudenberger, 1974).: While causation has never been empirically demonstrated, the assumption made is that burnout is caused by "excessive demands made upon the resources and skills of the worker" (Freudenberger, p. 159). Descriptive studies indicate that these excessive demands often include serving a clientele whose needs and problems are not easily served, and providing the service with limited organizational support, as well as lack of social recognition. Central to the personal eXperience of the worker suffering from burnout is the issue of "disillusionment“ and a loss of idealism as one faces work realities that were not anticipated while in educa- tional preparation for the work (Edelwich and Brodsky, 1980; Warnath & Shelton, 1976). Lack of adequate skill preparation is often a factor. One researcher describes a "crisis of competence" generated by job stress and client expectations which the worker cannot satisfy. The worker who experiences burnout is thought to be dealing with feelings of frustration and failure by projecting blame onto the client as a psychological defense against those feelings of personal failure (Chernis, 1980). Subsequent to the reports of burnout in the traditional human service fields in the mid-seventies, there have been increasing re- ports of widespread burnout among elementary and secondary education teachers (Hendrickson, 1979; Scrivens, 1979). Teaching, as a profession, is based on providing human services (Purvis, 1973; Jarvis, 1979) and is, therefore, assumed to share the same work-related concerns as the more traditional human service professions and occupations. Thus, the interest of this researcher is to better understand the phenomenon of teacher burnout, and to determine if it exists within other levels of education, primarily the community college. In summarizing the descriptions of burnout across all pro- fessional settings, the following list identifies five categories of factors assumed to be the causes and correlates of burnout. 1. Organizational and systemic factors related to the role structure of the job and to the quality of administra- tive support and communication with workers. 2. The nature of the service provided in relation to the intractable problems addressed by the workers. 3. The individual skill preparation and expectations of the worker as well as the profession's ability to provide adequate educational preparation and recognition to the professional. a 4. The personality characteristics and personal goals of the ' worker.* l I 5. Existential issues creating conflict about goals and pur- poses of the service provided. Since the community college has been described as more similar to the K-12 system than to other areas of higher education, the re- searcher assumes that teachers in the community college are also vul- nerable to the experience of burnout. One of the factors which indicates similarity between the community college and the K-12 system is the greater heterogeneity of student abilities found in the community college classroom. This is regarded as a stressful work factor for the teacher who must find ways to deal with the educational needs of a di- verse student population, and who must ultimately fail students who can- not perform on a college level (Clark, 1960). Another similarity is the hierarchical form of administration of most community colleges which is quite different from the colleagial governance of other higher education systems. The descriptions of burnout in the K-12 system, as well as the stresses which are currently occurring in the community college system has led the researcher to conclude that burnout should be investigated in the community college. Statement of the Problem The community college is reported to be experiencing tensions and a dilemma which are similar to problem areas described in human service fields where burnout is occurring. The problem addressed in this study is to explore whether or not community college teachers are experiencing burnout, and also to find out if the personal and situa- tional variables associated with burnout for other human service workers are also experienced by community college teachers. {Elf the five major categories of the causes and correlates of burnout previously listed, the community college system is described in the higher education literature as experiencing problems which the researcher would classify under the categories of organizational factors, skill preparation, and existential issues. While there has been limited direct discussion of burnout in the community college teacher, there is considerable evidence of stressful work conditions created by declining enrollment, reduction of financial resources, and the ensuing restrictions on jobmobility reported in the literature (Baiié§,‘197di B駧1”i973). ) These career and job related stresses which are described for all of\\J higher education are likely to be exacerbating the problem issues specific to the community college and increasing the possibility of burnout for these teachers. When job mobility is reduced in hard economic times, those who experience burnout remain in the organization and, therefore, become a problem to the system as well as to the teacher, himself or herself. As for the organizational factors, the community college has been experiencing an increasing emphasis on occupational training over the dual function of both occupational and intellectual or liberal arts function of the two-year college (Geiger, 1980). There is some evidence that this trend in higher education represents a wider value shift in the purpose of education and is especially problematic to the faculty teaching academic subjects.l:The National Center for Education Statis- tics reported that in 1979-80, 62.5% of the total number of Associate Degrees conferred were for students in occupational curricula (Cohen & Brawer, 1982). Administrative policies and institutional development appear to have strongly supported this shift in mission, or educational paradigm. Some studies provide evidence for a "bifurcated" faculty with significant differences between occupational and academic faculty in their attitudes, expectations and goals related to education and the appropriate role of the faculty member (Kelly & Connoly, 1971). In relation to the existential issues, the dilemma facing the community college relates to the standard policy of Open Admissions. This policy which the literature frequently describes as the "democrati- zation of higher education“ has resulted in a continuous increase in the numbers of students who lack the basic academic prerequisite skills to do college work. The literature indicates that the problems of teaching underprepared students inherent in Open Admissions has yet to be success- fully resolved by either administrators or teachers in the community college (Cosand, 1979; Cross, 1981; Moore, 1979). The academic faculty have described the great difficulties of teaching students who lack reading comprehension and awareness of significant historical and cultural indices previously mastered in secondary education (Kreigel, 1973/73). Despite the specialized skills needed to respond to the under- prepared student, college teachers are not required to have formal training in educational methods, and few community college teachers are acquainted with the specialized nature of the community college before they begin teaching in the community college. As far as personality factors are concerned, the burnout litera- ture indicates that individuals with high ideals and a deep sense of personal commitment to service may be more susceptible to burnout than people who are less idealistic and committed (Edelwich & Brodsky, 1980; Freudenberger, 1974). There is some evidence that the two-year college teacher is more student oriented than teachers on other levels of higher education (Eckert & Williams, 1971): a "sense of mission" was a striking characteristic noticed in the expressions of many community college teachers interviewed by Garrison (1967) In the following Table 1, the issues in higher education which fall within the five major causes and correlates of burnout are summarized. Table 1 Problem Issues of Higher Education and Teaching Which Fit the Categories of Causes and Correlates of Burnout Issues for Teachers Burnout Category a) social isolation of the teacher work role b) lack of administrative support for problems faced in teaching under- prepared students c) lack of professional challenge and stimulation for long tenured teachers a) difficulty in measuring "success" in teaching b) difficulty in satisfying students in heterogeneous classes a) college teachers are not required to have formal preparation in teaching methods b) community colleges provide limited orientation for new teachers to the nature of the community college student 4. Teachers in general tend to be ideal- istic, and community college teachers are noted for their service orientation 5. Conflict exists about the meaning and purpose of a community college educa— tion and who should resolve the problems of underprepared students 1. Organizational and systemic factors Service issues Skill preparation Personality factors Existential issues The problem addressed in this exploratory study has been to determine if teachers in the community college are experiencing burnout. Secondly, it was to describe and measure the relationship of some of the correlates of burnout as they appear in a selected sample of community college faculty. Conceptual Assumptions Burnout is regarded as a work related phenomenon somewhat set apart from previously studied constructs such as morale and job satis- faction. There is some empirical evidence to support the assumption that burnout is not the same as job dissatisfaction (Gann, 1979). Burn- out is thought to be a phenomenon uniquely related to human service work and distinct from low morale because burnout involves a significant negative shift in attitude towards clients, negative self-perceptions, as well as physical exhaustion not previously noted in low morale (Chernis, 1980). While a number of descriptive definitions of burnout exist, this study will assume the following definition: "A progressive loss of idealism, energy and purpose experienced by people in the helping pro- fessions as a result of the conditions of their work" (Edelwich & Brodsky, 1980, p. 14). In view of the evidence that not all people who experience stress from their jobs actually experience burnout, a Lewinian model is assumed in that behavior is a function of the properties of both the person and the characteristics of the environment, and therefore any investigation of burnout should attend to both situational as well as personal variables. In the descriptions of people who have experienced burnout, the elements of failure to achieve one's goals and failure to positively cope with frustrations are common expressions. The author accepts the social learning assumptions of Rotter about the construct of "locus of control" in that one's perceptions of one's ability to control rewards and events significantly influences one's behavior (Lefcourt, 1976). The notion of "phenomenal causality", i.e. individuals subjectively perceive the same event and develop causal schemas about those events (Weiner, 1972) is also relevant here. Weiner (1979) offers a useful model which proposes that both locus of control and locus of causality are significantly involved for people in achievement situations. Work is regarded as an achievement situation in this study. Figure 1 illustrates the researcher's view of the inter-relationships among the personal and situational stressors identified in the causes and correlates of burnout with the personal attributional style of the worker. While Weiner's theoretical model has not been previously applied to the phenomenon of burnout, the researcher believes that there is sufficient basis in the literature to eventually build a conceptual model of the dynamics of burnout according to attributional style. A more indepth discussion of the research behind these assumptions is presented in Chapter II. 10 Personal Stressors ---- in combination with ----- Situational Stressors high ideals work load high commitment intractable problems unrealistic goals lack of administrative support existential conflicts are mediated by the Attributional style of the worker along the dimensions of: a) locus of control; b) locus of causation; c) locus of measures of achievement Internal attributional style External attributional may be associated with a style may be associated Positive Job Attitude. with Burnout Figure l. A conceptual view of the dynamics of attributional style and burnout. In conclusion, it is assumed that how one deals with the problems and stressors inherent in the nature of teaching will be influenced by how one perceives control over the situation and its causes. As Figure 1 illustrates, the same situational stressors and personal stressors may yield either a positive job outlook or burnout, depending upon the attri- butional style of the worker. Definition of Terms Burnout:Q:A progressive loss of idealism, energy and purpose ex- perienced by people in the helping professions as a result of the conditions of their work?) Operationalized 11 by means of a self-reported 35-item scale containing an explicit statement of feeling burned out. Stressor(s): Any external event or situation, as well as self- imposed expectation which requires an adjustment to the event or demand. §£E§§§3 The physiological and/or psychological experience of the person who subjectively perceives the stressor as dis- tressing. The differentiation of the stressor from the stress response emanates from the work of Selye (Cassel, 1979). Attributional style: The individual's tendency to subjectively perceive and form causal schemas for the elements re- lated to work achievement and failure. The style is assumed to be dichotomous in terms of an "external" vs. an "internal" style of attributing the causes for problems and the perception of control over them. Ex- ternal meaning outside of oneself, and internal, within oneself. Measured by a l7-item scale designed by the researcher, and a secondary measure of "control" only, the Rotter Locus of Control Scale. Existential (issues): Those cognitive and affective elements which pertain to the overall meaning, purpose and goals for the service one provides as a practitioner of a specified profession or occupation. 12 Statement of the Research Questions and Hypotheses In view of the stated problem, and based on the conceptual assump- tions held, this study attempted to answer the following major questions: 1. Are community college faculty experiencing the feelings associated with burnout? How will community college teachers compare to other human service workers in the degree of burnout experienced? Hypothesis: a) It was hypothesized that community college teachers will perceive themselves to be experiencing the feelings associated with burnout. b) It was hypothesized that community college teachers will receive a mean score on a burnout scale equal to the mean score of other human service workers. If burnout exists, do the elements of burnout in the community college teacher resemble the burnout described in the experi- ence of burnout in other human service workers? Can a scale be developed to assess the nature of burnout On such dimen— sions as negative attitudes toward students, disillusionment about the community college concept, and negative job attitude? Hypothesis: It was hypothesized that faculty who obtain a high mean score on the Emotional Exhaustion subscale, which has been found to be a good indicator of burnout in human service workers, will also obtain a high mean score on the subscales designed by the researcher to specifically address the experience of the community college teacher. If burnout occurs, given certain conditions of work, will there be a greater proportion of faculty experiencing burnout in the teaching area assumed to be more problematic for faculty? Given the information that liberal arts faculty may be ex- periencing greater stress in relation to teaching underprepared students in a non-supportive work environment, the following has been hypothesized: Hypothesis: It was hypothesized that academic faculty will have higher mean scores on the burnout scale than the occupational faculty. 13 In an attempt to identify which aspects of the individual make some people likely to experience burnout, the question has been raised: 15 there a relationship between attribu- tional style and burnout? Hypothesis: It was hypothesized that there will be a positive relation- ship between the scores on the Attribution scale (dimensions of locus of causation, locus of control, locus of measures of achievement), and the Rotter locus of control scale with the mean scores on the burnout scale. In order to determine which factors within the job structure may contribute to burnout, the question was raised whether teaching load, i.e. number of hours per week required to teach, number of different course preparations carried each term, percentage of courses taught which are required courses for students, as well as perceived percentage of students lacking the skills for the course will have any relationship to the degree of burnout? Hypothesis: It was hypothesized that faculty who have high teaching loads, high number of course preparations, large percentage of re- quired courses, or large proportion of students lacking skills will report higher degrees of burnout than faculty low in those variables. In order to determine which demographic factors, if any, may be associated with burnout, the following variables were examined in relationship to burnout: gender, number of years in the current job, and number of personal life stressors ex- perienced in the last year. Hypothesis: It was hypothesized that people who have experienced one or more personal life event stressors during the past year will have higher mean scores on the burnout scale than those who have not experienced any of those stressors. Lastly, the Question was raised, do people who start out with a strong commitment to education and to the community college concept have greater risk of burnout than people who were more subject-matter oriented and had little commitment or in- difference to the community college? 14 Hypothesis: It was hypothesized that there will be a greater frequency of people in the "high" burnout category who initially be- gan with a strong commitment to teaching, as well as a strong commitment to the community college. In order to measure the independent and dependent variables identi- fied in these questions, the researcher has compiled a number of demographic questions and scales to use in the data collection. The items were organ- ized into a four part questionnaire and distributed to a selected sample of community college teachers. Deliminations While the researcher has formulated a conceptual model of burnout for heuristic purposes, this study was not intended to test out this model. Since there has been no previous empirical research of the burnout phenome- non in the community college setting, it was felt that an exploratory approach was appropriate for an initial investigation. The intent of the study has been to find out if some of the elements associated with the burnout of other human service workers are also part of the experience of burnout in community college teachers. While many variables are operative in the complex phenomenon of burnout, this re- searcher has chosen to focus on some variables related to work conditions and the work environment, i.e. situational variables, and some variables related to the personality style and personal demographic characteristics of the teacher, personal variables; recognizing that many aspects of the .job and the work experience of the worker will not be addressed. 15 Inquiries into the stress, morale and job satisfaction literature have not been exhaustive, but were primarily intended to ascertain the key elements which differentiate each concept from the other. The litera- ture review in those areas was, therefore, limited to gleaning the in- formation necessary to formulating the conceptual model of burnout. Procedures The researcher conducted a mailed survey to measure the self-reported incidence of feeling burned out, and the degree of feelings associated with burnout as measured by the responses to a 35-item scale. Personal and situational elements hypothesized to be associated with burnout were also measured in the questionnaire used. A sample of 200 full-time faculty was drawn from three mid-Michigan community colleges. Selection took place in a two-step design, first identifying a subset of colleges from 29 colleges and then randomly sampling from those colleges. Limitations of the Study Due to the limited resources of the researcher, a representative sample of all community college faculty was not drawn; instead, the study was designed to sample the full-time faculty of three community colleges in Michigan. Criteria were established for selection of colleges most representative of the normative community college on the basis of location, programs, and size of faculty. Then a random sample was selected from each 16 of the three colleges in the sub-set of colleges meeting the criteria. Thus, the results may only be generalized to the kind of faculty who volunteered to complete the questionnaire from the type of colleges identified in the sub-set of colleges used for the sampling. While speculation about the interaction of the variables selected for investigation in the study is likely, the size of the sample, and the nonrandom selection used in the first stage of the sampling design limit the kinds of statistical analyses which may be used to look at any possible interaction of variables. It is also recognized that a one-time data collection procedure, as used in the study, restricted a precise description and measure of the issue of a "progressive" loss of energy and purpose included in the definition of burnout. Items in the demographic part of the questionnaire about initial attitudes towards teaching, and measures of the distribution of burnout scores for years in the same job were efforts to compensate for the limits of the design. A one year longi- tudinal study of beginning human service professionals has substantiated a tendency for a negative attitude change during the first year of em- ployment after one's educational program (Chernis, 1980). Lastly, since the data collection instrument included two new scales, there are likely to be questions about the reliability and validity of these two new instruments. It is recognized that the small number of respondents in the pilot study, and the revisions in the 17 questionnaire after the pilot study, provided a limited basis for the establishment of the scales reliability and validity. Conclusions are therefore tentative until further application and testing of the in- struments either provide support for their reliability and validity, or for their rejection. Significance of the Study This study initiated the research on burnout of teachers in the community college. It was designed to describe the self-perceptions of faculty in their attitudes towards students, teaching and the community college as they are related to manifestations of burnout. It is an initial effort to relate burnout to previously established theoretical constructs which may provide insight into the psychological experience of burnout. This research is important in that if burnout does exist among community college faculty, it should be recognized and attended. The study is timely in that within the state of Michigan serious economic problems in public education limit job mobility not only in higher educa- tion, but in many occupational areas, so that the person who burns out within an institution is likely to remain in the job, rather than escaping from it by quitting and obtaining other employment. Therefore, the existence of faculty burnout is now more likely to become a problem to the institution, as well as to the faculty member and his/her students. 18 It would be instructive for both administrative and faculty groups to have a deeper understanding of both the work-related and psychological factors which contribute to burnout. The community college literature describes a decline in morale of faculty and a need for retrenchment during these difficult economic times, especially as institutions recognize that older, tenured faculty become the norm (Bess, 1978; Cross, 1981). As the community college system must now compete more vigorously for students, it is essential that it maintain its reputation for student service and emphasis on teaching which dis- tinguishes it from the four year college/university system. In summary, then, the researcher conducted a mailed survey to measure the degree and proportion of faculty burnout in a sample of faculty from three Michigan community colleges. The researcher attempted to develop a burnout scale specifically for the community college teacher and a scale to assess attributional style. The study also attempted to assess some of the variables assumed to be corre- lations and manifestations of burnout of other human service workers in the community college teacher. Chapter II REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE The literature review began with an analysis of the construct of burnout in order to understand the phenomenon and to identify the variables which would be relevant to the study of burnout of teachers in the community college. As a relatively new term and/or phenomenon, the literature was found to be diffuse, uncritical and limited in terms of empirical research. A critical analysis of the descriptions of burn- out was made in order to formulate a conceptual framework for this study. Burnout, as an occupational problem, was first introduced in 1974 in an article on drug rehabilitation center counselors (Freudenberger, 1974) and the term was applied in other professional settings such as nursing, social work, corrections and public school teaching. A review of higher education/community college literature yielded only two citations: a paper presented to an organization of staff development officers of community colleges (Justice, 1979) and a workshop at a community college (Clagett, 1981). Since the burnout literature was so limited for higher education, the researcher included investigations of morale and job satisfaction as indices of work attitudes. 19 20 The review of the literature will consist of three major sections: 1. Description and Classification of Variables Associated With Burnout; II. The Relationship of Burnout to Other Work Related Constructs; and III. Characteristics and Issues Identified in the Higher Education/ Teaching Literature Which Provide a Basis for the Investigation I. Description and Classification of Variables Associated With Burnout Most of the definitions of burnout are elaborations upon a literal dictionary version, such as: A wearing out, exhaustion or failure resulting from excessive demands made on energy, strength, or resources (Daley, 1979, p. 375). The exhaustion of a person's psychological and/or physical resources after long intense caring and striving for a goal that now appears unattainable (Hagaman, 1979, p. 120). These definitions emphasize the element of exhaustion on multiple levels related to both external and internal demands and strivings. Another characteristic element is disillusionment, "A progressive loss of idealism, energy and purpose experienced by people in the helping professions as a result of the conditions of their work" (Edelwich and Brodsky, 1980, p. 14). Edelwich and Brodsky maintain three premises: first, any occupational activity involves an investment of personal energy which is open to disillusionment; and that, secondly, a diminuition of this original investment is natural over time; and, lastly, since human service workers are prone to begin work with a large investment of emotional energy and commitment, they are most at risk to experience a sense of loss when that investment declines. 21 "Burnout is a resignation to a lack of power. . . the perception that no matter what you do or how hard you try, you cannot make a difference in the situation" (Storlie, 1979, p. 2109). This definition introduces the element of powerlessness in one's efforts to reach goals. The descriptive adjectives and images central to the definitions of burnout are: exhaustion, disillusionment, and powerlessness in response to excessive demands and/or intractable problems. While the definitions show consistency, there is a fair amount of ambiguity and some distortions in the identification of the causes and effects of burnout. For example, a lead article in the Instructor (January, 1979) attributes divorce and sexual problems to work stress and burnout without any systematic investigation of the relationship of those factors ("Teacher Burnout"). Most of the literature in the field of education was found in popular periodicals and publications of teacher organizations like: Learning, Todayjs Education, New York State Teacher Bulletin, Instructor. The interchangeable use of the term "work stress" and burnout (Sparks, 1979; Moe, 1979) was found frequently in a number of articles. As a means of organizing the descriptions and explanations given for burnout across a variety of occupational settings, the researcher has identified five categories of variables assumed to be operating in burnout. Recognizing that there has been limited systematic research to support the identification of these variables, for the ease of presentation in this study, 22 they will be designated as, "Causes and Correlates" and "Manifestations and Effects" of burnout. Table 2, on the following page, outlines each of the five major categories and indicates how burnout manifests itself in the organizational system, the worker, and upon the clients. Causes and Correlates Organizational and systemic factors. Of the five categories, the role of the organization in burnout seems least clearly articulated, although it is recognized as significant, especially in bureaucratic systems (Chernis, 1980). Veninger (1979) theorizes that administrators with certain personality styles who work in systems where communication is blocked, autonomy is limited, and where work is unrewarded are likely to experience burnout. In terms of the position of the worker within an organizational system, some work roles like "therapist" inhibit communication and cooperation and support. The lack of feedback from peers is thought to exaggerate any tendency on the part of the therapist to feel inadequate when he/she fails to live up to his/her own goals and expectations (Warnath 8 Shelton, 1976). This element was also thought to contribute to burnout of other human service professionals interviewed by Chernis during their first year of professional work after training. Chernis found that role structure was a significant element for teachers, lawyers, nurses, and it either inhibited or promoted the possibility for feedback from peers. "Even negative feedback appears to be more constructive than no feedback"(Chernis, 1980, p. 77). 23 Table 2 Manifestations and Effects of Burnout on the Organization. Worker, and Client CAUSES AND CORRELATES Organizational and Systemic Factors a) Administrative structure which blocks conmunication, autonomy, and fails to recognize and re- ward efforts. b) Job role-structure isolates the worker from peer involvement and support. Nature of the Service a) The work requires an emotional in- volvement with the people served. b) Problems addressed are not easily resolvable. c) Success is difficult to measure and observe as service is provided. d) Heavy workload or continuous direct service without respite. Skill Preparation and Professional Recognition a) Inadequate educational preparation for the demands of the work and job. b) Limited recognition and extrinsic rewards from society for one's work. Personality Characteristics a) Dedicated and conscientious. b) High idealism. c) Personal need fulfillment through clients. d) Unrealistically high expectations and goals. Existential Issues a Inherent dilenma in providing service. b Changing models and values related to the purposes and functions of one's work. MANIFESTATIONS AND EFFECTS A. Effect upon the Organization: Absenteeism, high job turnover; less effective service, lowered morale and productive work. Effect upon the C1ient(s): Service and attitude become impersonal and dehumanized; clients receive less time and sensitivity from worker; clients "blamed” for their problems. Effect upon the Worker: Loss of energy and enthusiasm; disillusion- ment; feelings of failure, doubts about competence; negative attitude towards clients; sometimes psychoso- matic distress. 24 In a study of situational and personal characteristics influenc- ing negative job attitude of mental hospital workers, Pines and Maslach (1978) found that unsatisfying collegial relationships were positively related to work dissatisfaction. "Burn-out rates are lower for those professionals who actively express, analyse and share their personal feelings with their colleagues." (Maslach, 1976, p. 22). The nature of the service. This seems to be a pivotal issue and the contributing factor most commonly agreed upon in the literature. Facing problems which have limited solutions, or working under time pressures poses a drain upon physical and emotional resources. Maslach describes the worker/client ratio as a critical factor in public welfare workers' burnout (Maslach, 1976), in legal aid attorneys (Maslach & Jackson, 1978), as well as in the burnout of child care workers (Maslach & Pines, 1977). The nature of the service in reality cannot be separated from the organizational system. When workers receive no respite from the intense face-to-face service, or when services are set up to rehabilitate chronic mentally ill people for which no treatment model has yet been developed, the worker is in a "no win" situation and bound to feel ineffective (Lamb, 1979). "I believe that burn-out follows a confrontation with reality in which the human spirit is pitted against circumstances intractable to change." (Storlie, 1979, p. 2108). Skill preparation and professional recognition. The issue of lack of appropriate preparation for the work was cited by a number of different 25 authors. Hagaman (1979) observes that lack of realistic preparation for the demands of working with autistic children is often responsible for the tendency to experience burnout. In accounting for why counselors leave clinical work after a few years in practice, Warnath and Shelton (1979) propose that inappropriate graduate education fails to prepare students for the limited sphere of influence and control they will have as therapists working within the constraints of an agency, as well as with a variety of patients, some resistant to help. Expectations about the sphere of influence and control are also thought to be an issue for nurses, "How I thought it would be fails to align with what really is" (Storlie, p. 2109). The fault is assumed to lie both in the educational preparation as well as within the nature of the person who chooses human service work, i.e. the desire to accomplish a great deal (Chernis, 1980; Edelwich & Brodsky, 1980; Maslach 8 Jackson, 1978). As for the issue of limited prestige and recognition from society, most writers agree that human service professionals, except for physicians, do not receive the prestige and economic compensation that other occupa- tions and professions receive (Chernis, 1980; Edelwich & Brodsky, 1980; Maslach, 1976; Warnath & Shelton, 1979). Personality characteristics. Those characteristics which make some people more likely to experience burnout than others seem to be least clearly delineated and agreed upon. The characteristic with greatest agreement is the tendency to set unrealistic goals given the inability to accept one's limitations. In Maslach and Jackson's interviews with legal 26 aid attorneys, they found that the attorneys who were experiencing burnout were those who entered their jobs highly idealistic. "Some- times the attorney's goals are impossibly high, (as in their vision of an ideal society), and this creates a situation in which any sort of accomplishment will always fall short and be viewed as a 'failure'." (Maslach & Jackson, 1978, p. 53). Chernis (1980) regards the experience of burnout as one of "learned helplessness" in the face of self-perceived failure to achieve one's goals (Chernis, 1980, p. 217). The person who burns out experi- ences a sense of helplessness in the work situation and may, in fact, develop an habitual response to work frustrations and problems. On the other hand, Edelwich and Brodsky (1980) observed that some people seem to have a need to confirm their own sense of power in their efforts to help others. As a result of their interviews with a variety of human service workers, Edelwich and Brodsky concluded that it was the inability to fulfill their personal needs for "power" which leads them to a feeling of powerlessness (p. 35). Freudenberger (1974) and Lamb (1979) also describe those people with a personal need to give as more affected by their lack of success than those workers who meet their personal needs outside of their work. One other characteristic noted in their interviews with human services workers experiencing burnout was a tendency towards "red-penciling", i.e. dwelling on the negative, or what hasn't been accomplished, rather than the positive (Edelwich & Brodsky, 1980, p. 213). 27 Existential issues. The last category which the researcher has labeled, Existential Issues, interacts with personality characteristics, nature of the service, as well as skill preparation. For example, in education, personal anecdotes of teachers experiencing burnout describe a "hopelessness'; "gnawing feelings of frustration and disappointment: in the face of changing student attitudes towards their education"(Bardo, 1979, p. 253). Most of the teacher burnout articles allude to the dilemma faced by teachers functioning within an educational system which no longer operates according to the value orientations of the teachers. Scrivens (1979) uses the term, "future shock", to describe the teachers' inability to cope with today's youngsters, and changing educational methods and philosophies. Looking at stress related illness of prison guards and teachers, Brodsky proposes that society is in conflict with the workers about the pruposes of these institutions; workers are asked to enact tasks which reflect mutually exclusive functions, such as both punishment and re- habilitations in prisons. "The prison guard becomes a buffer between the institution of service and society." (Brodsky, 1977, p. 133). Manifestations and Effects of Burnout The effects of burnout may be analysed in terms of the impact upon the organization, the client and the worker. In terms of the im- pact on the organization, Maslach found a certain amount of "escape", or avoidance of work responsibilities, absenteeism, and job turnover in her studies of public welfare workers and legal aid attorneys (Maslach, 28 1976; Maslach & Jackson, 1978). In a description of the burnout of Protective Services workers, social workers who deal with Child Neglect and Abuse, Daley (1979) observed that decreasing effectiveness and absenteeism preceded requests for transfer to other divisions within the Department of Social Services. A decline in the quality of service to clients is one of the most serious effects of burnout. Workers describe a change in their attitudes towards their clients from positive to negative perceptions, and a change in their behavior by spending less time with clients, and following bureacratic procedures more strictly than when they first be- gan their jobs (Maslach, 1976). Legal aid attorneys indicated such a dramatic shift in attitude that they began to "blame the victim", the client, for his/her own problems (Maslach & Jackson, 1978, p. 48). As for the impact on the worker, there is a variety of mani- festations from an altered perception of clients and one's work in a negative direction (Chernis, 1980; Maslach & Jackson, 1978) to psycho- somatic complaints (Brodsky, 1977; Freudenberger, 1974; Maslach, 1976) to feelings of frustration and failure; disillusionment, and concerns about competence (Chernis, 1980; Edelwich & Brodsky, 1980). As the summary of the variables associated with burnout reveals, the vast majority of the quantitative and qualitative research efforts has been conducted by Maslach and her associates in California. The data collected on each of the occupational groups studied by Maslach and associates have not been published in research form but presented 29 in popularized form, not in any of the research journals. A precis of the research activities leading to the development of the M81, Maslach Burnout Inventory, is available in report form sponsored by a Biomedical Sciences Support Grant. Despite the limited data base for assumptions about burnout, only one critical article was found in the literature, and that criticism was based on a conceptual disagreement, rather than on the lack of rigor in the research efforts. The critical article emanated from a reaction to Warnath and Shelton's presumption that burnout accounts for the exodus of counsel- ing psychologists from direct clinical activity after a few years in practice. Tiedman (1979) regards burnout as a personal "cop-out" on normal work demands and responsibilities, rather than as a systemic problem related to skill preparation on the graduate level. If a phenomenon exists, Tiedman would label it a "mid-life crisis". Empirical Studies of Burnout The empirical research tends to focus upon demographic and work situational variables. Pines and Maslach (1978) used a highly structured interview and a semantic differential scale to measure attitudes toward work, colleagues, clients, and self-concept of mental hospital employees (both professional and non-professional) in order to identify any significant relationships between and among variables. They found statistically significant correlations between the number of seriously disturbed patients one worked with and low job satisfaction. 30 They also found that the longer one had worked in the system, the lower the job satisfaction and the less they liked working with patients. Conversely, the more satisfying their coworker relation- ships, the more they liked their work, and the more opportunities they had away from patient care, the more they liked their jobs. Those with the best relationship to patients liked their jobs, felt successful and positive about themselves and their patients, and were also optimistic about the effectiveness of their service to patients. As a correlational study, one cannot identify which variables are causal factors in burnout; however, the relationships identified provide support for the manifestations of burnout. Another empirical study in the public school setting investi- gated the factors associated with burnout and "renewal" among public school educators, both teachers and administrative personnel. Using a small sample for each of three modes of data collection: individual interviews, group interviews, and a mailed survey, Metz (1979) found that educators could easily relate to the burnout concept and reported episodic experiences of burnout. Out of a survey sample of 101, 40 respondents reported themselves as burned out, and 38 as renewed. Among those factors most frequently selected by the burned out group in Metz's study as sources of their burnout were lack of communication, quality of administrative support and direction, lack of time, lack of academic/intellectual stimulation, and routine/repetitiveness of their work. 31 While the burned out group did not identify sources that clearly distinguished it from the renewed group, analysis of the responses according to age, gender, and years in teaching revealed that there was a greater proportion of men in the burned out group, especially in the 40-49 age group. Grouping of the data by years in teaching revealed that the greatest number of burned-out responses occurred in the 6-10 years in teaching group. In another doctoral dissertation, Gann (1979) investigated the role of personality factors and job characteristics related to burnout in social service workers. Using an instrument to measure ego development (impulse control, interpersonal style, understanding and insight), she found support for her hypothesis that high ego level subjects were more positively oriented towards clients, and therefore less burned out. Using the Job Diagnostic Survey as a measure of job satisfaction, she found that burnout was not correlated with job dissatisfaction, and used the Maslach Experienced Burnout Inventory as her measure of burnout. To conclude this section, a useful conceptual understanding of burnout has been derived from reviewing the burnout literature. The literature reveals some common agreement on the phenomenon across a variety of work settings, and some empirical efforts to test out some of the conceptual assumptions. This researcher concludes that burnout is a maladaptive response of some workers to situational and personal 32 stressors related to work achievement. It is manifested in a negative attitude change towards the people served and includes a loss of energy and enthusiasm for one's job. II. The Relationship of Burnout to Other Work Related Constructs In view of the use of "stress" terminology in the burnout literature, as well as questions about the similarity of burnout to low morale and job dissatisfaction, the researcher has attempted to differentiate burnout from the previously established work constructs and to explain the relationship between stress and burnout. Stress and the Mediation of Stressors Researchers primarily interested in the study of stress indi- cate that a stressor, i.e. an event which makes demands on the organism for some kind of adaption may have different effects on different individuals (Selye, 1979) and that there may, in fact, be some mediation by the individual which would both allow for a different perception of the event, as well as a different response to the stressor (Cassel, 1979). Maslach (1979) takes the position that many health care and other human service work settings present emotionally stressful demands and that burnout is a means of coping with occupational stressors. Burnout may then be classified as an attempt to cope, or adapt to a perceived stress- ful work environment. In a follow-up to the interviews of new human service professionals from Chernis' longitudinal study, Wacker obtained 33 measures of stress and attitude change during the first year of work; "in general, she found strong positive correlations between stress and negative attitude change." (cited in Chernis, 1980, p. 130). In a study of the higher incidence of psychosomatic disorders in prison guards and public school teachers than in other occupations, certain situational factors were identified as promoting long term stress: The job is one in which the goals and objectives are contradictory, lines of support are ill defined, and there is role ambiguity. . . in combination with per- sonal factors which make it difficult or impossible for the person to resign from the job. (Brodsky, 1977, p. 135). An inability to escape the situation, either through psychological de- fenses, or through a change in work assignment may precipitate physical distress for some people experiencing burnout. The negative attitude change characteristic of burnout is assumed to provide a psychological defense which is less maladaptive for the worker than illness, but more dysfunctional to the organization and to the client. Pines points out that, "individual differences mediate tedium and burnout. People differ in their hierarchy of needs, their view of the world, their appraisal of stresses, and their ability to cope" (1981, p. 320). This researcher believes that the differences in "appraisal of stresses" and "ability to cope" may be understood in terms of Weiner's (1979) three-dimensional model of attributions for success and failure, especially the dimensions of: locus of causality and locus of control. 34 Support has been found for a relationship between positive affect and self worth with perceptions of internal control and in- ternal causality (see Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978; Forsyth & McMillan, 1981; Weiner, 1979). Perceived loss of personal control has been found to be associated with depression, stress related ill- ness, and motivational deficits (Forsyth & McMillan, p. 394), all of which have been described in relation to the feelings of "powerlessness" and "failure" associated with burnout. . . . when one finds that one is helpless, the causal attributions he makes then determines the generality and chronicity of his helplessness deficits as well as later self-esteem. (Abramson, et al., p. 50) Within the context of the "learned helplessness" model addressed in the above quote, failure becomes personalized when one has tried un- successfully to achieve a goal. Forsyth and McMillan (1981) recently conducted a study in this area by asking college students to report their feelings about their test performance on a course exam. They were asked to respond in terms of: a) controlability - "to what extent do you think that your score on the test was caused by things you . . . can control/can't control;" b) causality - "to what extent do you think your score on the test was caused by personal factors/environmental factors;" c) stability - ". . . things that are stable/unstable. . . in relation to test performance;" d) their emotional effect in relation to the above situation." (p. 396). 35 They found that the most positive affect was reported by students who attributed their performance to controlable, internal, and stable factors (p. 399). They also found that the most positive affect was found in students who attributed success to internal personal factors. In further support of the suitability of applying these con- ceptual dimensions to the tendency in burnout to "blame the victim", Phares (1976) reported that internals attribute less blame for their failure to the environment than do externals (Phares, Wilson & Klyver, 1971). They infer that in order to pursue success one must attribute the locus of responsibility to internal factors. ". . . persistence in achievement behavior is most unlikely if control over reinforcement is outside one's control." (Phares, p. 115) Since work environments where burnout occurs present the workers with tasks that are not achieveable (Lamb, 1979), or where success is not easily measured (Edelwich & Brodsky, 1980), this researcher finds ' support in Phares (1976) statement that, attributing all failures to luck or powerful others. . . doesn't lead to persistence necessary for achievement but always attributing outcomes to internal factors even when unwarranted might lead to a degree of guilt or self-abasement that could impair personal performance (p. 113). In applying the conceptual model of locus of control and causal- ity to the experience of burnout, it is most likely that individuals with an external locus of control and causality risk burnout, and burn- out is least likely in individuals with a moderate degree of internal locus of causality and an internal locus of control. The manner in which the attributional style mediates the stressors is illustrated in Figure 2. 36 Personal and Situational Stressors 'Attributional Style Internal External perceives self as responsible perceives students, adminis- perceives self as able to control trators as responsible and manage problem situations perceives self as powerless to control and manage problem situations behaves by: behaves by: a) trying new methods and techni- a) sticking to nonproductive ques when problems arise methods and efforts b) seeks out feedback from peers b) avoids discussion and shar- and obtains means to adjust ing feelings of helplessness; goals to more objective holds on to unrealistic goals levels; receives support c) retreats from students and cuts through communication and off possibility of reinforce- sharing ment, feels frustrated c) receives positive reinforcement from students for successful efforts and feels rewarded Figure 2. Attributional Style as Mediator of Stressors in Teaching As Figure 2 illustrates, the person who has an external attri- butional style is less likely to break the isolation of the work role structure to obtain feedback and more objectively set goals. The more the person distances themselves from clients/students, the more they cut off the opportunity for positive social reinforcement and thus a negative and draining cycle is set up. In this model, the stressors are necessary but not sufficient in accounting for the experience of burnout. "Morale" is another work attitude construct which has also been mentioned in conjunction with burnout. The exact relationship of "low morale" to burnout has not been studied, although it is assumed to corre- late with burnout. 37 Morale In a comparison of the descriptions of burnout to the defini- tions and descriptions of morale, one finds both similarities and differences. A review of the morale literature by Gloster (1976) was used to obtain a variety of definitions of morale from both industry and education: Bentley and Rempel regard morale as, 'The professional interest and enthusiasm that a person displays towards the achievement of individual and group goals in a given job situation.I (p. 2) Viteles is quoted, . . . 'a concept suggesting individual attitude of satisfaction, desire and willingness to work for group and organizational goals.‘ (Gloster, p. 3) Gloster also quotes Hunter, '. . . The capacity of a group of people to pull together persistently and consistently in pursuit of a common purpose, or the quality of giving fully of one's best efforts to carry out a purpose or the capacity and courage to carry on a task with determination, loyalty, cooperation, and a personal sense of satisfaction and well-being.I (p. 6) These definitions reflect attitudes and affect in relation to achieve- ment behavior parallel to the domains involved in burnout. The indicators of low morale are similar to those of burnout in terms of effects on the organization. "Low morale cuts down on production . . . high morale increases it." (Gloster, p. 6) Bickering, high turnover, lack of confidence, and dissatisfaction are described as effects of low morale, and are similar to the manifestations of burnout (Daley, 1979; Edelwich & Brodsky, 1980; Maslach, 1976). 38 Burnout differs from morale for a number of reasons; it only describes a negative job attitude whereas morale allows for a continuum from low to high, a very positive job attitude. Burnout emphasizes individual goals and morale emphasizes group goals. Morale appears to infer a collective consciousness with terms such as “esprit de corps" (Hogan, 1979) used to describe high morale. Another factor which distinguishes burnout from low morale is the fact that burnout may be endemic to human service work settings, whereas moral may exist in any kind of work setting. The key relation- ship in burnout is . . . service to the client, and in morale it is . work for the organization. The effects of burnout are described as being felt by the client which may or may not ultimately affect the organization's goals. In a widely used scale for measuring morale in school teachers designed by Bentley and Rempel (1970), the items are focused on job characteristics, work conditions, extrinsic rewards, and demographic characteristics of teachers, rather than personality characteristics of the individuals. Morale studies do not emphasize the personal im- pact of low morale on the worker as much as the burnout literature does. In burnout, the causes are assumed to stem from the stresses of the work/service demands in combination with certain personality characteristics. In morale, there seems to be agreement that personnel practices and administrative style are directly responsible for the level of workers' morale (Blocker & Richardson, 1963). 39 The last element which distinguishes burnout from morale is the influence of the larger environment (herein labeled, Existential Issues) on the workers' attitudes toward their work. Teachers are caught in a bind between criticism from the public for the quality of their teaching and criticism from students in opposition to the teacher's effort (Help! Teachers Can't Teach, 11mg, July 16, 1980). The mental health literature gives examples of workers caught in the middle of the mental health movement of deinstitutionalization of chronically ill people without the development of new treatment methodologies for workers to use (Lamb, 1979). In summary, morale shows some overlap with burnout at the low end of the morale continuum in the similarity of impact on the organi- zation, but a greater number of dissimilar elements. Table 3 outlines the comparison of burnout to morale and to job satisfaction. Job Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction In a review of the morale literature in education, Blocker and Richardson (1963) conclude that job satisfaction covers a narrower domain and should be subsumed under the larger concept of morale. A cursory review of some measures of job satisfaction revealed an emphasis on the following: organizational climate, chances for advancement, and ivorkload (Taylor & Bowers, 1972). The major job satisfaction instru- Inents like the Job Diagnostic Survey, the Survey of Organizations, and 40 the Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (Paul & Gross, 1981), focused on the worker as part of an organizational system involved in an interpersonal work effort, and moving along on a personal career ladder. Job satisfaction only seems to encompass the cognitive domain, and does not single out aspects of the work per se, nor the personality of the worker in relationship to determinants of job dissatisfaction. Job satisfaction appears to be integrated with motivational psychology and the issue of need fulfillment as presented by Maslow's concept of the hierarchy of needs. Thus, job dissatisfaction is sometimes regarded as stemming from work which does not offer the worker an opportunity for growth and need fulfillment. As noted in the previous section, there was only one study in the literature which attempted to empirically compare and measure the relationship of job dissatisfaction to burnout. It was found that burn- out was dissimilar to job satisfaction (Gann, 1979). Table 3 summarizes the key elements of each of the three work related constructs. Since there are some elements of similarity among the three constructs, the researcher has used all three constructs in the review of the education literature. 41 mm>wuumnao cmmgmo new acmeppvaaw now: pmsuP>wvcm op cmumpmc one m>vuomnnam apzmw; mum mmammm cowuumwmwpmmmwu\cowuumm -mwpmm ”coPHMNPcmmco ocu mo cowuncumwcwsvm on» co mpmeoe Loxeoz mo Pm>w~ on» com mpnwmcoammc mom mwowpumca Pmccomgma on» can cowu -mecmmLo on» to :owumcu mpqomn meow cw :ocwsocmga on“ sow opnvmcoamoe mew momumwcouum -ganu ham_m=omgma meow ucm xuoz one mo mucmEou umompa m? mace meow mpwgz Ac -mwcwscm on» pan» mosammm Ac pzmmmmgum as» was» mosammm an Locum— mow>cmm gmmcmu a co p:_oa a ma non cuss; mumtnouuoumm on» mmNWmmgasm use .mcwp mcwuumm ago: to m mmgwacmg gown: xgoz upmm gee: ace op apanm xms Au ucwx ace op apaqm ans Au op x—wgmswcn mcwwuema Au :wmsou m>wpummmm :wmsou cwmsou m>wuwcmou mgu use on» use .aaocm m mm m>_pom$wm mgu new .Loxeoz pmzuw>wvcm ms“ mm~pmmgasm An mgoxcoz on» mmemmcasm An pmzuw>mucw on» mmemmnnEm an new msmm on» cwgpwz mucmsmFm “cosmewwu saw: cowuumw -mwummmwu can cowuummmwumm goon com mzoppm ;o_;3 m>wuvmoa mmcoqmmc m>wumowpmac op m>wammmc soc» zuwpmac m>ppmmmc a mo umzmw> an op mecca Am Eazcwucou m mgm>oo Am a we msogvcxm mumcomwc m an corpummmmpmm now o—mcoz uzocgam muuagumcou cowuommmwumm now can opmgoz op psoceam to compcmqsoo m mpnmh 42 III. Characteristics and Issues Identified in the Higher Education/Teaching;Literature Which Provides a Basis for Investigation of Burnout A basic question guiding this section of the review of the literature was: are there factors related to teaching in the community colleges which resemble problems and issues in public school teaching and in other work settings where burnout has been identified? From the education literature this researcher has found issues and problems per- taining to all of the categories of variables associated with burnout. The most significant problem issues fall within the categories of: Existential Issues, Nature of the Service, and Skill Preparation. While the findings will be presented in categorical break-downs, it should be noted that none of the variable categories are mutually ex- clusive, but are all interrelated. Existential Issues Just as there are basic questions about the meaning of educa- tion and pragmatic concerns about job security for public school teachers, higher education also seems to be in the midst of a similar crisis about the purposes of higher education. In Kuhn's (1970) terms, higher education may be experiencing a change of "paradigms" most dramatically represented in the Open Admissions policy of the community college. This policy has been a significant departure from the more traditional elitist and meritocratic models of higher educa- tion. 43 The faculty appear to be caught within the crisis which affects their work lives. To illustrate, the results of a survey of faculty from twenty community colleges around the country are described. Community college instructors are a new breed unsure of his/her status in the educational spectrum, a servant of several demanding masters . . . being asked to implement a policy (i.e. Open Door) he had no part in formulating. The Open Door is later described by Garrison (1967) as “. . . a national aspiration and expectation rather than policy" (p. 15). Garrison made his observations while presenting in-depth, issue oriented questions to faculty throughout the country. He used the term "identity crisis" to describe the feelings of faculty about their posi- tion in a higher educational system. This observation was originally made by Clark (1960) in an in-depth study of one community college. The study has since become a landmark describing some essential character- istics of the community college. Another facet of the changing model of higher education is the increasing adoption of the "production model" by administrators which . . has the danger of negating the quality of teaching by failing to recognize those nonmeasureable activities and attitudes which lead to effective teaching and learn- ing as the movement goes towards credit hour outputs; technology; and disregard for professional independence (Toombs, 1973, p. 17). In addition to the difficulties related to changing models of education, and new approaches to administration of educational insti- tutions, frequent articles attest to the decline of both enrollment 44 and financial support. Cost-effective systems, replacement of full- time faculty with part-time faculty, and collective bargaining reflect both the new technological approach to administration, as well as a means to cope with limited resources. Can the traumatic withering resources, and the seemingly impersonal requirements of quantitative analysis be miti- gated by attention to qualitative changes in lives of all those associated with institutions of higher education? (Bailey, 1974, p. 2) Bailey maintains that dire consequences for faculty, and ultimately students, will occur if administrators fail to meet the human needs of faculty. The limited job mobility due to declining resources may lead to the tedium Pines (1981) associates with burnout of people in systems which do not allow for stimulation and change. Bess (1975) expresses concern about "a feeling of entrapment" resulting from staying in the same faculty role over the course of a career as the older, tenured faculty member becomes the norm in higher education. In short, the macro-environment of higher education is creating increasing stress on the faculty member as educational models change around the teacher; job mobility is restricted and teachers are expected to respond to the new technologies and quantitative concerns of adminis- trators . Nature of the Service A recurrent theme in the analysis of teaching as a field of work is that of the frustrations and barriers to both intrinsic and extrinsic 45 rewards. In a major sociological study of elementary school teachers, Lortie (1975) collected data from interviews and mailed surveys to describe the ethos of teaching. In his qualitative analysis of the data, he terms feelings about the difficulties of teaching as "endemic uncertainties in teaching". Among the categories of themes he identi- fied were: fear of failure, doubts about one's capacity to teach; perceptions of psychic rewards as "erratic" and "unpredictable", vulnerability to the ebb and flow of student responses; and the loneli- ness of teaching due to the inherent isolation of classroom teaching. In higher education similar feelings are expressed. In a paper on the problems of poor teaching and the decline of joys of teaching over the years of one's career, Bess (1977) comes close to describing burnout. The unchanging structure of the teaching enterprise causes teaching gradually to become ennervating rather than moti- vating . . . because of the enormous difficulty of executing the tasks successfully, many faculty members lose their initial enthusiasm for the manifold tasks (p. 244). As for the reasons why teaching is not rewarding, Bess lists: "(a) effects of instruction are often intangible or difficult to measure; (b) internal need satisfactions are often frustrated." (Bess, 1977, p. 245) The problems inherent in teaching are described by teachers of college students in terms of: the changing attitudes towards education Treld by students and society as a whole, and the limits on total success in the classroom. 46 Teaching is failing . . . not obviously failing utterly, but failing considerably. . . . There is something noble about the teacher who aims at the sublime, but it is that teacher who is most likely to despair at the technically flawed pedestrian works he receives from his students . . . The higher he reaches, the more he fails (Hawley, 1979, pp. 598-599). While Hawley does not use the term, "burnout", the issue of "despair" about reaching for high ideals and goals is similar to what is des- cribed in the experience of people most at risk to burnout. Teachers daily set themselves up for passive and active rejection, and the most serious aspect of this hazard of the trade is the limited attention, recognition and dis- cussion to help faculty deal with the psychic aspect of their jobs (Hawley, 1979, p. 600). This appears similar to the plight of the therapist described by Warnath and Shelton (1979) in their analysis of burnout. The authors observed that therapists personalize failure when they lack a peer support group to help them objectively identify the problems they have in common due to the nature of their work. In drawing a parallel between the teacher-student relationship and the client-worker relationship of human service, one may see pressures placed on faculty equivalent to the pressures exerted upon workers by their clients to fulfill the clients' expectations of service. Much of the rhetoric of the community college movement regards the student as "consumer". Sociologists have described the concept of a student culture within any educational institution. 47 The educational effectiveness of a school or college is influenced by the student social system more than has commonly been recognized in practice or in educational theory. . . . Group attitudes and customs set quantita- tive and qualitative standards (Tyler, 1968, p. 410). Hughes remarks that just as levels of production in business are affected by worker attitudes and informal systems, so too may students combine to form a collective or student culture. In describing the ethos of the working student who is typical of the community college student, Hughes (1971, p. 32) observes that students feel, . since their education is so hard to come by it is up to the professors to make it good, and allowance in assignments and in course marking should be made for the fact that they work long hours. Students appear to have definite expectations as to what their professors owe them according to the exigencies of their school/work] home life demands. Hughes points out that a greater part of the voca- tional training in our country goes on in the same institutions carrying responsibility for "higher education". This is an aspect of the existential crisis previously mentioned as academic faculty attempt to meet the demands of students who have a totally different orientation towards a college educa- tion than do their teachers and, sometimes, their administrators (Gross, 1980; Kreigel, 1974). Lastly, in relation to the nature of the service and workload, community college faculty carry a higher number of teaching hours and course preparations than do faculty in four-year and university teaching positions (Higher Education Faculty, 1979). The most pressing problem 48 expressed by the faculty interviewed by Garrison (1967) was the lack of time to accomplish goals, and concerns about difficulty in satis- fying needs for their own intellectual growth and development within community college teaching. Organizational and Systemic Factors There is some discussion of role-stress in higher education; the role-stress is attributed to "pluralistic and conflicting demands made upon it [academic community]; high public exposure and social sanction, and internal disagreement about appropriate priorities on academic outputs" (Shull, 1972, p. 56). Shull identifies four different kinds of stress on the faculty role: ". . . constraint; ambiguity; overload, and conflict." Ambiguity and overload resemble the variables identified in association with burnout. Bess (1977) alludes to such factors as ambiguous and conflicting role demands, as well as the difficulty of perceiving indicators of intrinsic rewards. Lortie (1975) also cites the teaching role-structure as one which isolates the worker from peers. The best source of information on organizational and systemic factors was found in papers and studies addressing the constructs of "morale" and "job satisfaction". In a paper presented to the Annual Association for Institutional Research in 1978, Howard indicates that there is evidence of a deterioration in morale occurring in higher education as lack of job mobility, changing student attitudes, economic constraints, and a diminuition in society's support of higher education all contribute to a non-supportive environment. 49 In another paper addressed to the National Humanities Con- ference, Mirabeau (1977) finds fault with the administrators of the community colleges for their failure to provide faculty with adequate support and structures to deal with the new breed of college student brought in through Open Admissions. Administrators should give serious attention to such faculty problems as lack of acceptance of under-prepared students, insufficient teaching expertise, and low faculty morale, all of which are very closely related and interact in an intricate cause to effect pattern in Open Enrollment situations. (p. 8) There appears to be empirical support for a relationship be- tween the morale of faculty and teaching effectiveness. Using a modified version of the Purdue Teacher Opinionnaire, an instrument used to measure the morale of teachers, Cooper (1977) looked at the relationships among morale, perceptions of community support for educa- tion, and total job satisfaction with students' perceptions of teaching effectiveness. He found a statistically significant relationship for the measures of satisfaction with teaching, community support of educa- tion, and total job satisfaction with teaching effectiveness. The staff at the New York City Community College conducted a self-study analysing the impact of a new Open Admissions policy on the college environment. They measured the perceptions of faculty and students regarding campus morale, and student-faculty relations before and after implementation of Open Admissions (Bronx Community College, 1979). The instrument they used contained items pertaining to: (a) the quality of teaching before and after Open Admissions; (b) student-faculty 50 relations, and (c) campus morale. The responses suggested a perceived change among faculty in willingness to help students, in faculty in- terest in student problems, and in the thoroughness and depth of teaching. In terms of campus morale, faculty perceived changes in 18 out of 22 items, and all but one of those items represented factors related to a decline in morale. By and large, the faculty's responses were more negative about the changes in relation to Open Admissions than were those of the students. The faculty viewed the change as less benign and supportive of students and as producing less cohesiveness; they also noted a decline in academic and social standards. The re- search team pointed out that only 58% of the faculty responded, as compared to 100% of the students, thus casting doubt on the representa- tiveness of the faculty views. Both Cooper's study (1977) and the Bronx Community College self- study (1979) provide some evidence for concern about the way in which faculty morale, possibly burnout, has a negative impact on the quality of teaching. Under the rubric of "job satisfaction", studies in the community college literature indicate somewhat equivocal findings about the job satisfaction of community college teachers. One of the studies which described a high level of satisfaction of two-year college faculty was done in the Minnesota higher education system in 1956, and then repeated in 1968. A comparison of the two-year faculty with four-year university faculty was made and an overwhelming majority of two-year faculty 51 indicated high levels of satisfaction with their jobs (Eckert & Stecklein, 1958). The researchers observed that a large percentage of the two-year faculty had taught in the elementary and secondary school systems and were from lower socioeconomic families. This may account for their positive feelings about the two-year college, since teaching in the two-year college allowed them to improve their socio- economic status and professional prestige. A twelve year follow-up study sampling from the same population found that despite a greater number of areas of dissatisfaction with teaching, about 85% said they were satisfied (Eckert & Williams, 1971). Cohen (1973) found the faculty of Southern California and nine eastern community colleges to be generally satisfied. The areas identi- fied as sources of dissatisfaction were related to work conditions and administrative practices, whereas student-related activities were identified as sources of satisfaction. Some of the variations in the satisfaction studies may be due to regional and time differences; some states give greater support to their community colleges and there have been periods of great growth of the community college movement. An early study by Friedman (1967) may be useful in understanding some of the perspectives on faculty satisfaction. Friedman drew a sample from two mid-western community colleges and conducted long personal inter- views to obtain the subjective perceptions of the faculty about their teaching career and their feelings about their current community college teaching position. Faculty who had taught at four-year colleges and 52 universities regarded the community college as a downward career step, whereas those coming from teaching in the K-12 system saw the community college as a positive step in their career. Those coming out of graduate programs saw their community college position as a temporary one to meet their own needs for experience before they move on to a four-year/ university position. Friedman observed that those faculty reluctant to make the community college a permanent career viewed the daily role- routine as getting "into a rut", and were likely to describe feelings of boredom. Those with a positive career orientation were happy, and those who wanted to move on felt "stuck". Just as Friedman's study provided evidence for the career orienta- tion to be a significant aspect of job satisfaction, there is additional evidence that the teacher's discipline or curriculum area may affect the . teachers' attitude towards their job. A relationship between curricu- lum area and level of morale was identified from a sample of 223 faculty members of North Carolina community colleges. Brooks (1970) found that faculty teaching vocational subjects maintained the highest level of morale and the transfer (academic subjects) faculty showed the lowest level of morale. Using the Richardson-Blocker Faculty Attitude Survey to obtain an overall morale score, as well as 13 morale sub-scores, the re- searcher made comparisons between sex, age, total years of teaching experience, years in present institution, educational level and teaching load. Voca- tional faculty members exhibited the highest morale scores on all of the sub-scales where significant differences were found. 53 Another study of satisfaction reveals differences between academic and nonacademic faculty related to personal needs satis- faction. A study of the relationship between democratic governance of the college and needs satisfaction of the faculty found that the academic faculty was more affected by the level of democratic govern- ance than the faculty as a whole. Using a sample of faculty from four North Carolina community colleges, Clay (1976) selected two of the most democratically run institutions and two of the least demo— cratically governed colleges (as judged by a panel). The faculty from each of the four colleges were presented with a semantic differ- ential instrument and were asked to respond to items reflecting: (a) level of needs satisfaction; (b) perception of the extent to which the institution is democratically governed; and (c) degree of participation in college governance. Clay interpreted the different impact on academic faculty as indicating a difference in perception of the faculty role. He assumed that academic faculty were more likely to have had a university role model which would include a significant amount of participation in policy making. The issue of role perception could intensify feelings of power- lessness if faculty enter teaching with an assumption that they should be participating in policy making. In a paper presented on the need for orientation programs for all new community college faculty, Kelly and Connoly (1970) reported on their research findings that most community college faculty assume roles in the community college for which they have 54 not been prepared. The researchers point out that the disparate back- grounds and limited knowledge of the mission of the community college inhibits cohesion among faculty, and problems of organizational identity arise. This element appears to reinforce the role structure isolation of the teacher and reduces the opportunity for support systems. Kelly and Connoly (1970) found that orientation programs which could socialize faculty into the values, roles and mission of the community college were almost non-existent. They describe the community college faculty as bi- furcated with one set of attitudes dominating faculty in vocational/ career programs and a different set among the academic faculty. Skill Preparation and Professional Recognition It is common knowledge and concern to many educators that college teachers‘ére not required to have formal preparation in teaching methods. It is also common knowledge that most community college faculty know little about the community college before they begin teaching there;} This general deficit is further compounded by the teaching dilemma posed by the teaching environments of Open Admissions. Moore (1970) describes the sense of frustration of the faculty who ". . . no longer conceal their lack of knowledge or understanding of the marginal student and their [faculty's] own lack of training" (p. 11). He goes on to say that the teacher is caught in the middle between the needs of the academically capable students and the needs of the marginal students. Thus, whichever group's needs the teachers attempt to meet, makes them open to rejection 55 by the others. This work situation increases the possibility of a dissatisfied client/student population to serve which increases the levels of frustration and stress. Describing the frustration of the faculty dealing with the "new" student, Cosand (1979) is disparaging because he feels that colleges have not adequately built up developmental programs and alternative instructional methodologies for these students' needs. “. . colleges of all types are prostituting themselves by enrolling bodies in order to maintain enrollment'I (p. 2). Anecdotes written by college teachers reveal similarities to the sentiments expressed by public school teachers with respect to feelings of discontinuity between the teachers' own educational experience and their own students'. Kreigel (1973) reflects, What is it that makes the classroom experience so humiliating today, even for the teacher who knows the measure of his own talent? Is it our lack of certainty about what we are doing? Is it the possi- bility that our students will prove correct that no matter what we do, it is not going to change the way things are? (p. 45) The author, a teacher of literature, goes on to describe the experience of attempting to continue an intellectual tradition, . . . and yet, the failure of a classroom teacher can be personally devastating. The attempt to bridge literary culture with democratic higher education can so easily leave one feeling naked and burnt-out. (p. 45) 56 This is an example of the disillusionment and feeling of per- sonal failure described in the burnout literature. Kreigel teaches at a public four-year college which converted to an Open Admissions policy in 1970 and subsequently experienced a major crisis and loss of academic prestige. The story of the transition has been described in an article by Gross (1978), "The Death of a College". The concept of an "intellectual tradition" appears to be a problem issue for the academic faculty. There is reason to believe that community colleges are experiencing an increase in the number of faculty who have taught at the four-year/university level of teaching, and an increase in the number of faculty holding doctorates; 40% of the faculty in a recent study of humanities faculty in the community college expressed a preference for teaching at the university level (Cohen & Brawer, 1978). An increase in the numbers of faculty who hold a university teaching model may increase the faculty dissatis— faction. Personality Characteristics A limited amount of material was found in this area with most of the information obtained from informal observations and interview data. More appears to be known about the qualities of the successful community college teacher and the general attitudes towards the community college (Cohen & Brawer, 1972; O'Bannion, 1972) than particular person- ality characteristics of the teachers. 57 In a recent study of changing forms of higher education, Riesman and Grant (1979) conducted a national field study of insti- tutions of higher education of all types and describe a basic char- acteristic of the people they interviewed, . . . [educators] share one common failing, again characteristically American; namely to overestimate what education itself can do, i.e. to change the general culture or to produce a new generation of self-motivated students . . . deeply interested students (p. 7). Garrison (1967) observed a similar characteristic idealism in the community college teachers he interviewed, ". . . an almost mission- ary feeling about the function of the college as they might serve to lift the whole cultural and economic level of the total community" (p. 62). Just as there appears to be a bifurcated faculty in terms of academic and vocational program areas, there may be distinct differences in the level of idealism and view of teaching as service among community college faculty. Those actively choosing the community college as their career choice may have done so because of their service orientation. To summarize the higher education section of the literature re- view, indications of problem issues related to all of the categories of variables associated with burnout have been found. Some of the factors have been related to problems in skill preparation and idealistic per- sonality orientation; however, the larger proportion of the literature indicates organizational and existential issues which lie within the responsibility of the administrative domain. Both Pines (1980) and Chernis (1980) regard burnout as primarily a "systemic", or social 58 psychological problem, rather than a personal one. The morale and job satisfaction studies include sufficient information to assume that problems exist within the community college system. The question remains as to whether or not those problems are conducive to the burn- out of faculty. In order to collect data to assess the questions of this study, a survey instrument has been prepared incorporating items which address the key issues about the manifestations and correlates of burnout. The following chapter describes the methodology of this study. CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY Procedure: This exploratory study was conducted by using a direct source of information, faculty members from three community colleges in Michi- gan through the application of a mailed survey. The investigation was intended to determine the degree of burnout for faculty members and to describe some of the variables assumed to be associated with burnout. Selection of the sample took place in a two-step design. First an identification was made of a subset of colleges from the population of faculty in 29 Michigan community colleges with collective bargaining (Michigan Community College Association, 1978), and then a random sample of full-time faculty was selected from each of the colleges in the sub- set. While collective bargaining agreements exist in the majority of community colleges in Michigan, the list was used because it provided the best means to obtaining information on faculty size, not because collective bargaining was an issue. Small rural colleges were eliminated on the basis that they tend to have a more homogeneous student body and heterogeneity is more common in the community college today (Medsker, Tillery, & Dale, 1971). Colleges in urban areas which had an excessively 59 60 large full-time faculty and large ratio of part-time to full-time faculty were also excluded since they did not appear to represent the norm in Michigan schools. The schools in the subset represented urban and sub- urban colleges offering both general education and vocational programs representative of the dual function of the typical community college (Gleazer, 1968) and ranging in size from 89 to 215 full-time faculty. Only full-time faculty, those whose primary role is classroom teaching with responsibility for planning and implementing course methods and goals, were included. Coordinators, librarians, counselors. program directors, as well as part-time faculty, were excludedi While the classroom work of the part-time faculty met the criteria for teach- ing, they were not considered in the population in order to meet the assumption that the faculty member would be likely to regard teaching as his/her primary work.miPart-time faculty were also excluded in order to reduce the possible influence of work stresses peculiar to the nature of part-time employment which are not under investigation in this study. Research on burnout in other work settings has only focused upon full- time workers. From the subset of Michigan community colleges, three schools were selected on the basis of ease in obtaining lists of home addresses for faculty which was regarded as the best method of distribution of the survey questionnaire. These three colleges ranged in size of full-time 61 faculty from 98 to 165, one was located in a large urban area, one in a small urban area, and one in a suburban area of a large urban area . Sample A random sample of 200 full-time faculty was selected from the three colleges, with 65 names obtained from each of the two smaller faculty schools, 98 and 112, and 70 obtained from the college with 165 full-time faculty. Using faculty directories, the researcher numbered the names of faculty meeting the criteria for the population in each directory and by means of a table of random numbers selected 65, 65, and 70 from each college. Each of the colleges used in the selection of the sample contained a ratio of twice as many academic faculty as occupational faculty, and twice as many male faculty as female faculty; this ratio appeared in the same proportions in the other colleges in the subset. The sample of 200 faculty represented teachers of approximately 32 subjects in nine different areas of teaching. The sample contained 123 males and 77 females which represents the gender ratios in most of the colleges. Among the 200 faculty, the distribution of subject areas reflected approximately 77 faculty teaching in occupational areas and 123 faculty teaching traditionally academic subjects. This ratio also appears representative of the population under study. 62 The survey questionnaire was then mailed to the home address of each of the 200 randomly selected faculty members. It took place in the middle of the fall term, mid-November, in order to minimize any intervening variables related to the generally high energy level at the beginning of the term, or the general fatigue which occurs at the end of the term. Respondents were asked to return a postcard with their name and college to indicate either that they had returned the questionnaire under separate cover, or that they did not intend to participate in the survey. This procedure was employed to insure complete confidential- ity of the individual's responses as well as to indicate to the researcher which subjects should be followed up with a reminder to return the questionnaire. Ten days after the initial mailing, postcards were mailed to those who had not returned the questionnaire, and two weeks after that another reminder was mailed to the remaining subjects who had not returned the postcard. A total of 104 questionnaires were re- turned partially and completely filled out by the end of December. In addition, two were returned addressee unknown, and two were returned noting illness of the faculty member who could not fill out the question- naire. Data Collection Instruments The survey questionnaire contained four major parts: Part I, the burnout scale which measured the dependent variable; Part II, demographic 63 items and items describing the work conditions which have been assumed to bear a relationship to burnout; Part III, the attributional style scale which measures one of the major independent variables, along with a check list to identify personal life stress; and Part IV, the Rotter Locus of Control scale used to measure the independent variable of locus of control (see Appendix A). A pilot study was conducted to obtain indices of re- liability and validity on the scales designed by the researcher, and while further evaluation of the scales are needed, the questionnaire has served as a useful tool for data collection. Part I - Burnout Scale. This instrument developed by the researcher consists of 35 items containing four subscales which provides the measure of burnout, the dependent variable. The items are pre- sented in the form of statements which describe feelings and be- havior. The respondent is asked to select from a range of response choices on a Likert scale continuum ranging from -1- "not at all" to -7- "very strongly" felt. The mean score for all 35 items will determine the overall burnout score. Means will also be obtained for each of the four subscales; the higher the score, the higher the burnout. The subscales represent four different dimensions or elements assumed to be manifestations of burnout. The items were derived from descriptions of burnout in teaching (K-l2), as well as other indices measured by Maslach & Jackson (1980) in a number of work settings. Subscale (a), Disillusionment . . . about teaching, the community college concept and students covers items #1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12, 14, and 16 and was derived by the researcher (see Appendix B). Subscale (b), Job Attitude, includes both positive and negative feelings about different aspects of work and includes items #2, 4, 6, 9, ll, 13, 15, 17, and 18. Items 2-13 reflect positive work attitude and will be referred to as "job satisfaction.“ (See Appendix C) Subscale (c), Attitudes towards students, is composed of eight items, #19-26, five of which represent the Depersonalization sub- scale used by Maslach and Jackson. Here, items #19 and 21-24 64 describe negative feelings towards working with people, and the term "student" has been substituted for the term "recipient". Subscale (d), items #27-35 measure generalized physical and emotional manifestations of burnout and uses the Emotional Ex- haustion subscale designed by Maslach & Jackson. The Depersonali- zation items and the Emotional Exhaustion subscale (d) were found to reflect high degrees of burnout when they were used in the Maslach Burn-out Inventory (1980). (See Appendix D) Maslach and Jackson subjected the entire inventory and each of the subscales to tests of reliability. They found that the measures of internal consistency of the Emotional Exhaustion subscale were .89 in terms of "frequency" of the feelings and .87 for the "intensity" of the feelings experienced. For De- personalization, the Cronbach's alpha coefficients were .76 (frequency) and .75 (intensity). In this study, only the "intensity" dimension was used in the response choices. They also obtained test-retest measures on a group of graduate students and health care agency administrators over a period of 2-4 weeks. The reliability coefficients were .82 (frequency), .53 (intensity) for Emotional Exhaustion and .60 (frequency and .69 (intensity) for Depersonalization. The internal consistency sample size was approximately 1,000, while the test-retest was based on 53 subjects. Extensive measures of the scale, includ- ing both content and construct validity were quite positive (Maslach & Jackson, 1980). The tests of reliability and validity for the items designed by this researcher will be described in the report on the results of the pilot study. Part II - Demographic Data. This section is designed to obtain information on the fellowing variables: (a) characteristics of the faculty member; characteristics of their work responsibilities and work history, and (b) initial attitude and orientation to- wards teaching and the community college. This section contains 23 items using fill-in, check-off, and some scaled items on a continuum of response choices. PART III - Attribution Scale. This instrument consists of 17 items designed by the researcher to reflect individual attribu- tional style and is an independent variable in this study. The items are presented in a forced choice format to identify an internal or external orientation on the dimensions of locus of causation, control and achievement measures for various aspects of teaching. The attribution scale will be scored by adding up 65 the choices which reflect external loci for causation, control and achievement. The cluster of items #1-5 and 17 represent locus of causation; items #6-8 represent locus of control over teaching (see Appendix E), and items #9-16 represent achievement orientation. While the Rotter Locus of Control scale will be used as a separate measure of external locus of control, these items will provide a useful index of whether or not generalized control orientation would be operative in relation to teaching activities. Personal Life Events Check-list is an addendum to the attribu- tion scale in Part III of the questionnaire. These 13 items have been taken from the Holmes-Rahe Social Readjustment Rating Scale. They represent life events involving change, or a psycho- social adjustment which, when experienced in combination with each other, have been found to be necessary, but not sufficient precipitants of physical illness (Holmes and Rahe, 1967). While the actual scale consists of 43 items, the ones selected for in- clusion in this study represent those most heavily weighted in magnitude of impact 0r stress imposed. They are included in the questionnaire as a means of assessing whether or not the experience of personal stressors, rather than or in combination with other variables will contribute to a high score on the burnout scale. The magnitude of the items on the scale have been subjected to a number of statistical tests to determine the reliability of the weighting system. Masuda and Holmes (1967) report con- sistent support for the accuracy of the magnitude variations of the life events. For this study, the number of life event changes will be recorded but the assigned weights will not be used. Part IV - Rotter Locus of Control Scale. This scale serves as a measure of one of the major independent variables: locus of control, i.e., one's perception of control over reinforcements and events in one's life. The scale uses a forced choice for- mat and is scored by assigning a point to each of 23 items if the choice picked is "external." The Rotter scale has been subjected to a variety of tests of reliability and validity. Phares (1976) reports that internal consistency for the scale ranges from .64 to .79 with the lower end of the range likely to be due to the non-comparability of the items. Various test-retest measures have been performed by Rotter (1972) and Hersch and Scheibe (1967) ranging from 66 .49 to .83. Hersch and Scheibe analyzed the scale's validity by comparing it to the Adjective Check List and the California Psychological Inventory and found a high degree of relation- ship between scores on those three instruments. A pilot study was conducted in order to assess the combined in- struments as a viable means of data collection, as well as to obtain measures of reliability and validity for the newly designed subscales. Pilot Study A small nonrandom sample of faculty was selected from a cross- section of departments and divisions at a large, urban community college on the basis of representativeness of the faculty population for gender and subject areas. A total of 26 questionnaires were distributed through the campus mail; four were handed directly to faculty at the conclusion of a college-sponsored workshop on stress and burnout. While the study focuses upon full-time faculty, three of the 26 questionnaires were given to part-time faculty in departments which are almost en- tirely staffed by part-timers so that the subject area could be repre- sented. The questionnaires were distributed during the middle of the summer term close to the end of a 45-week work year. The response rate was approximately 69% (18) with one of those 18 returned only partially completed. The follow-up reminders were used for approximately eight of the respondents. At the first administration of the questionnaire, faculty were asked if they would participate in a retest of the question- naire for statistical purposes: 13 of the respondents agreed to be 67 retested and did complete the burnout and attribution scales after an interval of two to four weeks. Faculty were asked to fill out the questionnaire in terms of their own personal responses to each item as well as to comment upon the items and each of the separate scales. Responses to the overall scales were generally favorable and all felt that the items were re- levant to their own personal experiences. The most consistently negative comments related to a discomfort with the forced-choice for- mat used on the Attribution and Rotter scales. Respondents also noted that some of the items in the burnout scale did not fit the response choices defined by the researcher. Those comments and suggestions which coincided with the comments and suggestions made by the judges used in the validity analysis were used to revise some of the items and the organization of the scales. A Cronbach coefficient alpha was calculated for each of the subscales and entire scale for the Burnout and Attribution scales. A Pearson product moment correlation was used to measure the test-retest reliability of the burnout and attribution scales for 13 respondents. The following Table 4 indicates the coefficients for each reliability measure for the subscales and the entire scale. Validity of the scales. A panel of judges was selected from Michigan State University, Lansing Community College, and a nearby public school district for their collective expertise in the areas of 68 Table 4 Reliability Coefficients for Instruments Used in the Pilot Study Reliability Test Used Number Internal Scale Name of Items Test Retest Consistency Cronbach's Pearson p_ alpha Burnout 34 .7087 .9022 Subscales: Attitude Towards Students 6 .5174 -.4750* Attitude Towards Community College 5 .5274 .4390 Attitude Towards Teaching 6 .7251 .7293 Emotional Exhaustion 9 .8353 .8026 Negative Job Attitude 3 .8146 .5609 Depersonalization 5 .1303 .7528 Attribution: 28 .5952 due to zero variance of two items, no alpha reported *Due to the extremely small number of cases, between 12 and 18, and nega- tively correlated items in the subscale, the coefficient may be negative and/or greater than one; derived from Scott (1968). the community college, burnout, and survey research. The judges were re- quested to rate each item in each scale for content validity on a three 69 point scale: -1— = unsatisfactory, -2- = satisfactory, -3- = good. The judges were given a description of each instrument and the purpose for each of the subscales, as well as the overall scale, and they had to evaluate each item in terms of whether the item adequately and appro- priately measured the intent of the subscale. The criterion used to eliminate poor items was a mean rating of less than two by the four judges. All of the judges were quite positive about the content of the items in relation to the purpose of each scale. All of the items re- ceived an average rating of two or higher. Some of the items in the attribution subscales were criticized on the basis that the items either did not include choices which delimited the universe of choices. or that the item lacked clear cut dichotomous choices. The critical comments of the judges were used to revise and refine these items. Despite the average rating of -2- for all of the items, some of them were eliminated because they did not precisely represent the theme of the subscale. The judges were also asked to react to the entire questionnaire including demographic questions, length, clarity of instructions, and organization. The main concern of one of the judges was the combination of "frequency" with "intensity" in the response choices of the burnout scale. Suggestions were also made to improve the content by eliminating some redundant items in the burnout scale, and by enlarging the job atti- tude subscale in order to include more positive items. 7D The comments of the judges, the respondents and the reliability tests were consulted in the revision of the original questionnaire used in the pilot. The main alterations were: elimination of some of the redundancy, enlargement of the job attitude scale to increase the positive items, and redefinition of the response choices in the burnout scale to concentrate upon "intensity" of feelings using the same seven point scale used by Maslach & Jackson (1980). For a better distribution of the items, it was decided that some of the items in the attribution scale were not truly representative of the dichotomous concept of the scale and were relocated into the section of the questionnaire containing demographic and attitudinal items. The demographic section was enlarged to include items which measured initial attitude and orientation towards teaching which could provide a useful baseline for comparison of current attitudes measured in the burnout scale. Other items in the demographic section were rewarded for greater precision. In conclusion, the pilot study made use of judges' evaluations of content validity, respondents' comments on the validity of the items as they reflected the work issues faced by faculty, as well as statis- tical measures of the reliability, both internal consistency and test- retest, of the scales from the responses of the pilot sample. 71 Analysis of the Data Descriptive statistics (mean, median and standard deviation) were calculated on all variables described in each of the seven research questions as well as on each item in the scales. While it is apparent that more elaborate analyses were possible, it seemed that a more de- scriptive approach was warranted because of the exploratory nature of the study and the nonrandom selection of the colleges used to obtain the sample of teachers. Hypotheses were tested for each of the seven research questions with the .05 significance level used throughout the analysis. The instrument used to measure the dependent variable, the Burnout scale and its subscales, and the instruments used to measure the independent variables, the Attribution scale and the Rotter Locus of Control scale were subjected to a measure of their internal consis- tency using the Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient. Since the major part of the Burnout scale and the entire Attribution scale were designed by the researcher for this study, it was necessary to report the reliability of the scales as an important issue for evaluating the findings of the study. Question #1. Are community college faculty experiencing burnout? Hypothesis: la) It was hypothesized that community college teachers are experiencing burnout. It was predicted that the mean score for the com- munity college teachers would be equal to 3.33 on the 35 item burnout scale. 72 This estimated measure of the degree of burnout of community college teachers was based on the mean score of large samples of health and service workers on the Emotional Exhaustion subscale. A one sample g test was used since the population parameters were known. Hypothesis: lb) It was hypothesized that the mean for the community college teachers would be equal to the mean for the sample of human service workers. In order to compare the degree of burnout in community college teachers with other human service workers, an independent two-tailed tytest was used to compare the means of the two groups on the Emotional Exhaustion subscale, and another two-tailed t:test was used to compare the means of the two groups on the Depersonalization subscale (Maslach & Jackson, 1980) which is contained within this researcher's Attitude Towards Students subscale. A frequency distribution of the mean burnout scores was obtained along with the mean, median and standard deviation. A determination of the categories of "high" and "low" (including no burnout) was made by using the predicted mean of 3.33 as the cut-off point. The "high" group consisted of mean scores above 3.33 and the "low" group of mean scores below 3.33. Question #2. Does the burnout reported by community college faculty resemble burnout described in other human service workers? Hypothesis: It was hypothesized that there would be a positive relationship between the scores on the Emotional Exhaustion subscale (d)- the generalized measure 73 measure of burnout, with two of the other subscales: Disillusionment (a), and Attitudes Towards Students (c), and a negative relationship with the subscale Job Attitude scored for the positive items, i.e., Job Satisfaction (b). A correlation matrix was calculated to measure the degree of relation- ship between each of the subscales with Emotional Exhaustion measure. Qgestion 3. Is there a greater degree of burnout of academic faculty than of occupational faculty? Hypothesis: It was hypothesized that the mean score on the 35 item burnout scale for the academic faculty would be greater than the mean score for the occupational faculty. An independent t:test was performed in order to determine if a signifi- cant difference exists between the means for the two groups. In addi- tion, the frequency of "high" burnout scores as compared to "low" for each of these two subgroups was compared, using the Chi Square test to determine if a significant relationship existed. Question #4. Is there any relationship between attributional style and burnout? Hypothesis: It was hypothesized that there would be a positive relationship between the attributional style, and locus of control and burnout. Pearson Product Moment Correlations were calculated to measure the degree of relationship between attributional style and burnout, as well as locus of control with burnout. _Question #5. Does teaching load, number of course preparations, per- centage of required courses taught, and perceived pro- portion of students lacking in basic skills have any relationship to burnout? From the raw data, the median 74 was used to determine the categories of "high" (above the median) and "low" (below the median) for each one of these variables. Hypothesis: It was hypothesized that there would be a greater frequency of high burnout for respondents who had high teaching loads, high number of course prepara- tions, or high percentage of students who lack basic skills to do the coursework than those in the low category for each of those variables. Four contingency tables were prepared to compare the frequency of scores on each of these four work condition variables in relation to degree of burnout. The Chi Square test was used to test this hypothesis. Question #6. It was questioned if gender, number of years in the same position, and/or the experience of personal life stress are related to burnout. Hypothesis: It was hypothesized that people who have experienced one or more life stressors during the past year will have higher mean scores on the 35-item burnout scale than people who have not experienced these stressors. A one-tailed EftESt was used to determine if the means for the groups of "no stress" and "stress" were significantly different. As for the question of gender, a two-tailed trtest was performed between the mean scores on the 35-item burnout scale for males and females to determine if a significant difference exists between gender and degree of burnout. A contingency table was prepared to observe the relationship be- tween degree of burnout and the number of years in the same job. A two by two table for "high" and "low" burnout with "high" (above the median 75 number of years in the same position) and "low" (below the median years) was set up. A Chi Square test was used to determine if the relation- ship was significant. Question #7. Are people who start out with a strong commitment to educating students and to the community college con- cept of Open Admissions more likely to experience burnout than people who had little or no commitment to educating students and to the community college concept? Hypothesis: It was hypothesized that each of these two independent variables would be positively related to burnout, i.e. there would be a greater frequency of people in the "high" burnout category who initially began with a strong commitment to the community college and with a strong investment in educating students than those low in commitment and not highly invested in teach- ing. A Chi Square test was used to measure the relationship between these two variables. CHAPTER IV RESULTS This descriptive study assessed the degree of burnout and variables previously associated with burnout in a selected sample of community college teachers. A mailed survey was used to administer the data collection instruments which had been designed to address the seven basic questions of the study: 1) 2) 3) 4) 6) 7) Are community college faculty experiencing burnout? Does the burnout experienced by community college teachers resemble burnout experienced by other human service workers? 15 there a greater degree of burnout in academic faculty than in faculty who teach in occupational subject areas? Is there any relationship between attributional style and burnout? Do demanding work conditions such as heavy teaching load and other factors in teaching have any relationship to burnout? Are there any demographic and personal life events which contribute to the experience of burnout? Are people who showed an initial high commitment to teach- ing and to the community college more likely to experience burnout than people who were less committed? 76 77 The results of each of the questions will be reported on separate- ly after a description of the respondents and the data on the research instruments is provided. Demographics of the Respondents A total random sample of 200 faculty selected from the full-time faculty of three mid-Michigan community colleges were mailed the question- naire. One hundred and four completed, or partially completed, question- naires were returned. The actual number of cases for each statistical analysis varies from procedure to procedure due to missing information. An evaluation of the representativeness of the group of respondents was done by comparing them to the non-respondents on the basis of the gender and program area, i.e., academic or occupational. A Chi Square test for the Goodness of Fit was used for each characteristic. The respondents consisted of 61 males and 40 females; the non-respondents consisted of 37 females and 62 males. The Chi Square value was .105 with one degree of freedom at the .05 level of significance. It was concluded that the model fits, the respondents were equivalent to the non-respondents for gender. The Chi Square was also significant for the program area, the Chi Square value was .65 with one degree of freedom at the .05 level of significance; the model fit here also, the two groups were similar. Frequency distributions were obtained in order to describe the demographic characteristics of the respondents. Table 5 indicates the age distribution of the subjects. 78 Table 5 Distribution of Respondents by Age Group and Gender Percent Age Group (Adjusted Frequency) N under 30 3.9 4 (3 male, 1 female) 31-39 16.5 17 (12 male, 5 female) 40-49 32 33 (17 male, 16 female) 50-59 36.9 38 (24 male, 14 female) 60 and above 10.7 11 (7 male, 4 female) Total N = 103 The greatest frequency of males was in the 50-59 age category, and the greatest frequency of females in the 40-49 age category. The majority of the respondents were married/living with partner, 82%, and 57% of the respondents had children living with them. The highest degree earned for 81% of the respondents was the Master's degree, with only 9% holding a doctorate. In response to the item regarding previous teaching experience, 79 respondents indicated that they had taught prior to their current job with the majority having taught in the K-12 system. Table 6 shows the distribution of respondents across the areas of teaching. 79 Table 6 Distribution of Respondents by Areas of Previous Teaching (N=79) Percentage Area of Teaching of Respondents* K-12 (predominantly high school) 61.4 Community College 14.3 University 4.3 Other (military, diploma nursing school 4.3 *(of the total group) The mean number of years in a previous teaching job was 7.2 years with a standard deviation of 5.02. There were also 69 respondents who indicated that they had worked in another occupation in addition to teaching for an average of six to seven years. As for the distribution of respondents by subject(s) taught, Table 7 displays the distribution of the respondents across nine subject categories; there were a total of 32 different subjects reported which were then collapsed into nine areas by the researcher. Table 7 Distribution of Respondents by Subject Categories (N=97) Subject N 'Subject N Health Careers 14 English/Composition 12 Business 9 Science 12 Vocational/Technical 17 Social Science 12 Physical Education 5 Humanities 8 Mathematics 80 The Vocational/Technical category consisted of subjects like welding, drafting, automotive and machine trades, etc.; the Health Careers cate- gory was predominantly nursing. A majority of those responding had taken courses in teaching methods, but only a small number had had any courses on the community college. Table 8 summarizes the responses to the questions on when they had taken courses and if they had been a student in a community college as an undergraduate. Table 8 Frequency of Responses to Items re: Preparation for Teaching If, and when they took course Before & Type of Preparation Before After Never After Course(s) in teaching methods 61% 9% 20% 12%* Course(s) on the community college 14% 11% 74% 4%* Attended community college as an undergraduate 62% *Discrepancy in row totals due to rounding off of percentages. From this table it is apparent that the majority of teachers in the group of respondents (74%) had no preparation for the community college, and 20% of the respondents had never taken any courses in teaching methods. 81 The remainder of the responses to the questionnaire will be presented within the context of the basic questions of the study. A separate section will first describe the measures of reliability and validity for the major scales used in the study. Research Instruments Since the Burnout scale had not been previously used in its current form, and the Maslach subscales had not been used for community college teachers other than in the pilot study, the reliability of the Burnout scale and subscales were measured using the Cronbach alpha. The following Table 9 lists the alphas for the whole scale and each subscale. Table 9 Reliability Coefficients for the Burnout Scale (N=79) Number Cronbach Scale Name of Items alpha Burnout 35 .8246 (a) Disillusionment 9 .7422 (b) Job Attitude 9 .6900 (c) Attitude Towards Students 9 .7906 * "Depersonalization" 5 .7300 (d) Emotional Exhaustion 9 .9134 *Contained within the 8 items of the subscale (c). The overall scale appears to have strong internal consistency, with the lowest alpha obtained by the Job Attitude subscale. This subscale 82 contained items that represented both positive feelings (job satisfaction) as well as negative feelings about the job; the values of the items were reversed depending upon the need for a positive or negative measure of job attitude. As a check on the validity of the three key subscales: Emotional Exhaustion, Disillusionment, and Attitude Towards Students, a contingency table was prepared to look at the relationship between the level of self-reported burnout, Item #35, and the means on the subscales. It was assumed that if the subscales were valid measures of the burnout experience they should demonstrate a relationship to the self-reported levels of burnout. The mean scores on each of the three subscales were collapsed into seven levels of mean scores, ranging from zero to one representing level 1 to means between six and seven for level 7. The means were less divergent on the Disillusionment and Attitude Towards Students subscales; therefore, there were only five levels of response for each of these subscales (level 2 to level 6) that were used in the Chi Square analysis. The Chi Square tests were significant for each of the three subscales matched with the self-report at the .0001 level of significance in the predicted direction. In the following Table 10, the Chi Square values for the subscales with Item #35 are reported. A Pearson Product Moment correlation was also used to measure the degree of relationship between responses to Item #35 with the means on the Burnout scale, and the two subscales, Emotional Exhaustion and 83 Table 10 Chi Square Values for Burnout Subscales with the Self-Reported Measure Chi Subscale Square 9F N Cramer's V_ Emotional Exhaustion 174.11 36 (97) .5469 Disillusionment 79.868 24 (90) .4710 Attitude Towards Students 90.494 24 (94) .4908 p_= .0001 for all Disillusionment. The strongest correlation was between Item #35 and the total Burnout scale, a p_of .79; with Emotional Exhaustion, a p_of .70, and a p_of .58 with Disillusionment, all at the .0001 level of signifi- cance. In summary, these two analyses measuring the relationship of the total scale and subscales of burnout with the self-report of feeling burned out appear to strengthen the validity of the scale. Both the Rotter Locus of Control scale and the Attribution scale were also subject to a measure of their internal consistency using the Cronbach alpha formula. Both of these scales have a forced choice for- mat. The following Table 11 lists the alphas obtained for these two scales. Of the three major scales used in the study, the Attribution scale appears to have the lowest reliability. Since it has been hypothesized that attribution (an external orientation) would be positively correlated with burnout, scoring the 84 Table 11 Reliability Coefficients for Attribution and Rotter Scales Number Cronback Scale of Items alpha N Attribution 16 .5649 59 locus of causation 5 .5542 locus of control 3 .5325 locus of achievement 8 .3011 Rotter Scale 23 .7062 62 scale for internal choices should be negatively correlated with burnout. As predicted, there was a negative correlation between internal attri- butional style and burnout at the .001 level of significance with p_= -.45. It was also found that when scoring the items making up the "locus of causation" section of the scale for the internal choices, they were nega- tively correlated with the mean scores on the Disillusionment subscale, a p_of -.31, p_= .001. Some of the items from the Attribution scale were also used as categorical data to compare the groups in relation to their burnout scores in an effort to build support for the validity of the Attribution scale. These will be presented in the Post Hoc analysis section. In the following table, the means and standard deviations for the scores on each of the major scales used in the study are reported. On the Burnout scale, the higher the mean score, the higher the burnout, except 85 in the case of the Job Satisfaction subscale which measures positive job attitude and has been assumed to be inversely related to burnout. The scores on both the Attribution and Rotter scales indicate the degree of external locus; total score possible on the Attribution is 16, and the total score possible on the Rotter is 23. Table 12 Scale Means and Standard Deviations Scale Name Mean SD N Burnout (35 items) a mean score 2.494 .831 (79) (b) Job Attitude (Satisfaction) 5.270 .918 (91) (c) Attitude Towards Students 2.133 .834 (94) (a) Disillusionment 2.946 1.012 (91) (d) Emotional Exhaustion 2.192 1.143 (97) Attribution (l7) (l6 scored additively)* 6.731 3.085 (104) Rotter Locus of Control (29) (23 scored additively)* 7.03 3.956 (104) *Each external choice receives one point. Since the Burnout scale was based on seven intervals with a (1) meaning "not at all" burned out, the data indicated that a relatively low degree of burnout was found in comparison to a relatively high level of job satisfaction. The responses to the Attribution and Rotter scales are somewhat more difficult to interpret by inspection alone since they used a 86 different format and scoring system. There are no norms for the Attri- bution scale since this is its first application, but previous uses of the Rotter scale on a number of different samples, primarily college students report scores ranging from means of 7.73 (§g_= 3.82) to 9.22 (§g_= 3.88). A somewhat lower mean was obtained for a sample of Peace Corps volunteers, a mean of 5.94; §g_= 3.36 appears to be at the lower end of the normative samples available for college students (Rotter, 1972). While the mean of the respondent's scores in this study, 7.03; §Q.= 3.96 appears to be lower than the norm for college students, it is not dissimilar to the mean obtained by the respondents in the Pilot study, mean of 6, §g_= 2.9, H_= 18. In summary, the tests of reliability and validity of the scales used in the study have been positive. The researcher assumes confidence in the scales' ability to serve as a means of data collection and as measures of the concepts under investigation in this study. Hypotheses Tested Question 1. In response to the question, Are community college faculty experiencing the feelings associated with burnout? there were two measures of burnout: Item #35 in the Burnout scale measured the presence of burnout in the subjects, and the 35-item Burnout scale measured the degree of burnout experienced. Table 13 summarizes the responses to Item #35, "I feel burned out from my work. (Burnout: a progressive loss of idealism, energy and purpose)." 87 Table 13 Responses to Self-Reported Measure of the Presence of Burnout (N=100) Percent of Response Choice (Value) Respondents Not at all (1) 59 Very mildly (2) 20 Mildly (3) 9 Mixed, sometimes mild, sometimes strong (4) 5 Moderately (5) 2 Strongly (6) 1 Very strongly (7) 4 The mean for this item was 1.900; §g_= 1.494 The distribution of responses was skewed; more than half indicated that they had not experienced feeling burned out, yet there were a few who had ex- perienced the highest degree of burnout on the scale. Hypothesis: la) It was hypothesized that the null hypothesis would be supported, that the mean for the community college teachers on the 35-item Burnout scale would be equal to the population mean of 3.33. A one sample g_test resulted in a ;_= -4.91, since the g_value was signi- ficant below the .05 level, the null hypothesis could not be supported. The actual mean on the 35-item scale for the respondents was 2.494 with a standard deviation of .831. The results of the g_test indicated that the degree of burnout in the respondents was not equal to the degree of burnout in the population. 88 In both hypothesis la) and lb), the researcher's interest was in accepting the null hypothesis. Hypothesis lb) It was hypothesized that the mean score on the Emotional Exhaustion subscale for the community college teachers would be equal to the mean for a group of human service workers, i.e., that the means would be equivalent. The t:test was used to evaluate the difference between the means. In this hypothesis, the rejection of the null hypothesis indicates that hypo- thesis lb) has not been supported; in effect, the t_value indicates that the difference between the means is statistically significant at the .05 level; therefore, they are not equivalent (see Table 14). An additional inquiry was made comparing the groups on another subscale, Depersonalization, the items from the Maslach Burnout Inventory; the tftest computed also indicated that the means were, in fact, different; therefore, in rejecting the nul hypothesis, the hypothesis was actually not supported. Table 14 reports the means for each group and the results of the two t-tests. It appears that community college teachers are not experiencing the degree of Emotional Exhaustion that human service subjects reported, but the groups differ less on their responses to the Depersonalization subscale which is a measure of negative attitude towards "recipients" of service, in this study, "students" than they do on the Emotional Exhaustion measure. 89 Table 14 Means for Community College Teachers and Human Service Workers on Two Burnout Subscales; and t:values for the Difference Between the Means Community College Group Human Service Group Scale Name Mean SD, N Mean SD. N Emotional Exhaustion 2.192 1.143 (79) 3.48 1.44 (149) t_= 8.66; g:_= 244; p_= .05; significant Depersonalization 2.034 .933 (99) 2.36 1.54 (149) t_ 2.203; g:_= 246; p, .05; significant Question 2. In order to answer the question, If burnout exists, do the elements of burnout in the community college teacher resemble the burnout described in the experience of burnout in other human service workers? a Pearson Product Moment correlation was used to measure the relationship between the responses to the generalized measure of burnout, i.e., Emotional Exhaustion with the other dimensions of burnout repre- sented by the other three subscales. Hypothesis: It was hypothesized that there would be a positive relationship between emotional exhaustion and dis- illusionment, and attitude (negative) towards students; with a negative relationship to job satisfaction. Table 15 reports the correlations between the scores on the Emotional Exhaustion subscale with the other three subscales. 90 Table 15 Correlations for Mean Scores on the Emotional Exhaustion Subscale with Means on Three Other Subscales Subscale Pearson p_ p_= .001 for all Disillusionment with Emotional Exhaustion .5716 Attitude Towards Students with Emotional Exhaustion .5115 Depersonalization with Emotional Exhaustion .4817 Job Satisfaction with Emotional Exhaustion -.5521 The hypothesis was supported at the .001 level of significance. The data indicated that Emotional Exhaustion was positively correlated with Dis- illusionment, and (a negative) Attitude Towards Students, and that positive feelings towards work, i.e., Job Satisfaction was negatively correlated with Emotional Exhaustion. Question 3. Is there a higher degree of burnout in academic faculty than in occupational subject matter faculty? Among the respondents, there were 53 who identified themselves as teachers of subjects classified as "academic/transfer type courses"; and 40 indicated that the subjects they taught were “occupational/terminal degree" type subjects. Hypothesis: It was hypothesized that the mean score on the Burnout scale would be higher for academic faculty than for occupational faculty. 91 While the actual group mean was higher, EftESt was performed, but the difference was not found to be significant at the .05 level. The hypo- thesis was not supported. Table 16 reports the means for each group and the tyvalue. Table 16 Burnout Scores for Academic and Occupational Faculty Groups and trtest Results Division Mean .SQ. N Academic 2.5441 .846 (45) Occupational 2.3490 .658 (28) p_= 1.10; g:_= 67.36*; 1-tai1ed probability; p_= >.05. *In the use of the t-test with unequal n's, a test of the equality of the population variances has been done; in such cases, an approximation to 3_ may be computed. Therefore, an f_ratio test of the sample variances is used to determine if a "pooled variance estimate" or a "separate variance estimate" should be used for the degrees of freedom. In all cases where df is not an integer, the "separate variance estimate" has been used (Nie, et al., 1975. pp- 269-270). A Chi Square test was also used to find out if there was a greater proportion of high burnout of academic faculty than occupational faculty, but no significant relationship was identified. Another contingency table was set up to assess the relationship between the respondents grouped by the subjects they teach and the degree of burnout, "high" or "low". The Chi Square test was not significant for a relationship between subject taught and degree of burnout. Table 17 92 reports the results of the two Chi Square tests for the relationships be- tween curriculum division and degree of burnout, and subject taught with degree of burnout. Table 17 Chi Square Values for Test of Relationship Between Curriculum Division and Subject Taught With the Degree of Burnout Chi Square Groupings Value g:_ Obtained p a) Academic/Occupational/Both 1.02 2 .5997 n.s. (2 x 3) b) Subject Taught 6.53 8 .5875 n.s. (2 x 9) The data indicate that the work condition, or teaching role does not appear to show a relationship to the experience of burnout. Question 4. Is there any relationship between attributional style and burnout? Hypothesis: 4a) It was hypothesized that there would be a positive relationship between the total scores on the Rotter Locus of Control scale and the mean scores on the Burnout scale. The Pearson g was used to measure the relationship between the respondents' mean score on the 35-item Burnout scale with the total score on the Attri- bution scale. The scores on the Attribution scale ranged from one to 13 out of a possible 16 points, with each "external" choice receiving one point. The hypothesis was supported at the .001 level of significance with a r = .5420. As stated in the previous section, an "internal" score on the Attribution scale (mean of 7.5; §g_= 3.0) was negatively correlated with the mean scores on the Burnout scale, with r = -.45 at the .001 level of signi- ficance. 93 Hypothesis: 4b) It was also hypothesized that there would be a posi- tive relationship between the total scores on the Rotter Locus of Control scale and the mean scores on the Burnout scale. A Pearson p_was also used to measure the degree of relationship between the scores on the two scales. The Rotter score was also computed by assigning one point for every "external" choice selected, with a positive total of 23 points. The mean for the respondents on the Rotter scale was approximately seven, with a standard deviation of four points. The hypothesis was support- ed at the .031 level of significance with p_= +.2115. The data indicate that there is a significant relationship between attributional style and burnout. The specific measure represented by the attributional scale appears to have a stronger relationship with burnout than the generalized measure obtained with the Rotter scale. Question 5. Do teaching load, number of course preparations, per- centage of courses taught that are required for students, and perception of the proportion of students lacking the ability to do the course work have any relationship to burnout? There were seven items in the demographic section of the questionnaire which pertained to work conditions. The follow- ing Table 18 reports the responses to the work condition variables which have been hypothesized to be related to burnout. Table 18 Descriptive Statistics on Three Key Work Condition Variables Variable Mean Median Mode I§Q Hours (per week) Required to Teach 16.2 15.8 16 3.8 Number of Preparations (different courses taught each term) 3.2 2.9 3 1.6 Percentage of Required vs. Elective Courses Taught Each Term 77.9 89.6 99 26.4 94 Table 19 reports the frequency of responses to each of the categories for the item, . . . "What percentage of your students appear to lack the skills to do the work in your courses?" Table 19 Responses to Item re: Percentage of Students Lacking Skills Absolute Item Response Choice Value Frequency Mean SD None are Lacking (OO) 5 27.6 (9.8) 20% or less (20) 52 30% (30) 29 40% (40) 8 50% (50) 10 Note: Median, 24.5. Hypothesis: It was hypothesized that there would be a greater frequency of respondents with "high" teaching load; "high" number of course preparations; "high" per- centage of required courses; and "high" percentage of students who lack skills in the "high" burnout category. A separate contingency table (2 X 2) was prepared for each of the four work condition variables with the degree of burnout broken into the "higher" and "low" categories. No significant relationship between any of the work condition variables and burnout was indicated. The hypothesis was not supported. Table 20 reports the Chi Square values and Pearson pfs for each of the four variables tested in relationship to burnout. 95 Table 20 Chi Square Values and Pearson p_Values for the Relationships Between Each of the Work Condition Variables and Burnout Test Variable Pearson 5_ Chi Square Hours required to Teach . -.12; p = .30 it: 511 2 per week 0 1 1.00 Percentage of Required Courses Taught -.01; p = .91 .08 l .76 Number of Course Preparations +.O4; p = .74 O l 1.00 Number of Students Who Lack Skills (not tested)* 2.34 1 .13 *Exact percentage not reported (see Table 19). Question 6. Are there any demographic and personal life variables which contribute to the experience of burnout? The relationship between gender, years in the same job, and personal life stress and burnout were assessed. While three different variables have been identified here, a formal hypothesis has been stated for only one. The literature review yielded a limited and equivocal basis for assuming any gender differences, and/or job longevity as related to burnout. Therefore, since this has been an exploratory study, no formal hypotheses have been made. The hypothesis regarding the influence of personal life stressors has been formally stated in order to provide a clear measure of a variable 96 considered to be outside of the researcher's conceptual assumption about the nature of burnout. Hypothesis: It was hypothesized that people who have ex- perienced one or more life stressors during the past year will have a higher mean score on the burnout scale than people who have not experienced any life stressors. A t:test was performed and the hypothesis was supported at the .01 level of significance. Table 21 shows the means for the "Stress" and "No Stress" groups and the p_value; the mean for the "stress" group was significantly higher than the mean for the "No Stress" group. Table 21 T-Test for Difference Between the Means for Stress and No Stress l-tailed Group Mean §p_ N I_Value df Prob. No Stress 2.226 (.531) (31) -2.38 77 .01 Stress 2.668 (.136) (48) A t:test was also used to measure the difference between the means of male and female respondents on the 35-item Burnout scale. The difference between the means was significant at the .02 level; the mean for the men was significantly higher than the women's mean score. Table 22 reports the means and the p_value for men and women on the Burnout scale. 97 Table 22 Mean Scores on the Burnout Scale for Men and Women, and t-Value 2-tai1ed Group Mean §Q_ N I_Value df Prob. Males 2.656 .915 (50) 2 34 77 02 Females 2.215 .577 (29) In order to look at the question of the relationship between the number of years in the job and burnout, a contingency table was prepared using a 2 x 2 format for "high" and "low" burnout with "high" (more than 14, the mode) and "low" (less than 14) years in the job. The Chi Square test did not indicate a significant relationship between the two variables. Chi Square value was 0 (.00001) with one degree of freedom. Using the actual number of years in the job correlated with the mean score on the Burnout scale, a Pearson Product Moment correlation found a p_of .17 (p = .14), thus it was not significant at the .05 level. The mean number of years in the job for the respondents as a group was 12.85, §g_= 5.99; median 13.71; mode, 14, with a range of from one to 27 years. Question 7. Are people who start out with a strong commitment to teaching and to the community college more likely to experience burn- out than people who had little commitment or indifference to the com- munity college and to teaching? There were three questions which tapped 98 initial attitude toward teaching. Table 23 reports the frequency of responses to each of the choices measuring initial commitment to the community college. Table 23 Initial Degree of Commitment to the Open Admissions Concept (N-5 100) Absolute Frequency Response Choice of Responses Didn't give it any thought 51 Mild Commitment 9 Mixed Feelings 21 Moderately Committed 9 Very Strongly Committed 10 Hypothesis: It was hypothesized that there would be a greater frequency of respondents in the "high" category of burnout who initially had a strong commitment to the Open Admissions concept of the community college, and a greater frequency of respondents in the "high" burnout category who had a strong initial investment in teaching. Table 24 displays the responses to the item measuring early attitude towards "educating" students. A 2 x 2 contingency table was constructed for the "high" and "low" responses to each of these two items (i.e., "high" above 3, and "low" equal to or below the middle value, 3) with the "high" and "low" burnout scores. The Chi Square was used as a test of significance, 99 Table 24 Initial Degree of Commitment to "Educating" Students (N=102) Response Choice Absolute Frequency Not at all invested, mainly interest in subject area (1) Mildly invested (2) Mixed; teaching and subject area (3) 36 Moderately invested (4) 9 Very highly invested (5) 51 but the hypothesis was not supported for either variable at the .05 level of significance. For commitment to the community college con- cept, the Chi Square was equal to .02 (l pf; p_= .894) and for in- vestment in "educating" students, the Chi Square was equal to .l (l pf; p = .756). In fact, it was observed that nine of the cases of higher degrees of burnout were in the "low" commitment group and only one of the ten cases of higher burnout had indicated a "high" degree of commit- ment to the community college concept. In view of the observed high number of cases in the "low" cate- gory of burnout, a trtest was computed for the difference between the means on the Burnout scale for people who (1)"didn't give it any thought," i.e., Open Admissions, (H, of 2.5; §g_of .820), and the people who chose (5) "very strongly committed," '(H_ of 1.88; pH, of .533). The two-tailed 100 t:test was significant at the .02 level. t = 2.63; 11.55 pf, The small N for the group choosing (5) should be noted; there were only seven in that group for the computation. Post Hoc Analysis In addition to the major questions of the study, there were other issues addressed in some of the items in the demographic section of the questionnaire. In response to the question about the way in which Open Admissions is implemented, i.e., with or without restrictions on students, it was noted that 51 of the respondents were teaching courses which had some kind of academic or skill level requirement; and 46 respondents indicated that they taught classes which had no academic or skill levels required of students. The burnout literature describes frustration in the face of unrealistic goals or intractable problems. The heterogeneous student population in most community college classes may represent a work en- vironment which breeds such frustration. The question was asked, "Do the classes that you teach usually include students of very different levels of ability?" The vast majority (92%) said “yes". Table 25 reports the responses to the question which followed: "How do you feel about teaching such groups?" Table 25 displays the responses to this item and reports the Chi Square value for a test of the relationship between the responses to this item with the self-report burnout. The Chi Square test yielded a significant relationship. 101 Table 25 Responses to Item #18, Feelings About Teaching Mixed Classes (N=93) Adjusted Choice Frequency Very stimulated by it (1) 18% Moderately stimulated (2) 22% Mixed feelings (3) 40% Frustrated (4) 16% Frustrated and drained (5) 4% Chi Square of 64.01; df = 24; p_= .0001; N=90 Due to the modest alpha on the internal consistency measure of the Attribution scale and the possible questions about its use as a quantitative measure, the researcher took out some of the items from the scale and analysed the responses in relation to the responses to the burnout scale. Four of the items which best represented the purpose of the scale were analysed and three of them demonstrated a relation- ship to burnout. Two are reported here. Table 26 shows the responses to Item #15 reflecting achievement orientation from the Attribution scale, "As far as the non-monetary rewards go in teaching, I feel that . . .". This item was singled out because it was thought to re- flect the issue of unrealistic goals and expectations, or inability to perceive rewards; feelings associated with burnout. The mean for 102 Table 26 Results of trtest for Item #15 on the Attribution Scale Adjusted Frequency Mean Group of Responses (on Burnout scale) Group 1: I am not receiving the rewards that I expected when I started teaching. (N=ll) 17% 3.3325; §g_= .879 Group 2: I am receiving the rewards that I thought I would receive. (N=64) 83% 2.3393; _s_u_ = .729 t value = 3.54; g: = 12.48; l-tailed prob. = .004. Group 1, "feeling unrewarded," or not sufficiently rewarded, obtained a mean which places those respondents in the "high" category of burnout. Another item from the Attribution scale which may reflect the feelings of "powerlessness" described in the experience of burnout is, "I think that there is a direct relationship between, a) how much time and effort I put into class preparation and having a good class b) the moods and attitudes of the students and having a good class." Table 27 reports the responses to this item, taken from the locus of control section of the Attribution scale and the results of the Chi Square test based on a cross-tabulation of the responses to this item with the degree of burnout reported, i.e., "high" or "low". 103 Table 27 Response to Item #8, Controllability of Good Classes, and the Results of the Chi Square Test for Item #8 with Degree of Burnout Choice Absolute Frequency (a) Controllable 64 (b) Outside of Teachers' Control 34_ N = 98 Chi Square value = 6.47; with 1 degree of freedom; p = .01. The data indicated a relationship between these two variables in the predicted direction; there was a greater frequency of "high" burnout for those who regarded the "good class" as outside of their control. Summar This chapter contained a description of the respondents, the instruments used in the analysis of the data and a report on the statis- tical procedures and findings for each of the seven research questions. Three of the seven major hypotheses of the study were supported, and four of them were not supported. The hypotheses related to questions 1, 3, 5 and 7 were not supported. It was found that community college faculty are not experiencing the degree of burnout equivalent to the burnout predicted, nor is the degree of burn- out equivalent to the burnout found in groups of human service workers (question #1). Teaching in a particular curriculum division, occupational 104 or academic, did not indicate a significant relationship to burnout, question #3. As for demanding work conditions, there were no signifi- cant relationships between any of the four work condition variables and a high degree of burnout, question #5. Lastly, the respondents' initial degree of commitment to the community college and to educating students did not appear to be significantly related to a high degree of burnout, question #7. Hypotheses related to questions 2, 4 and 6 were supported. There appeared to be a relationship between the cognitive dimensions of burnout as measured by the Disillusionment, Attitude Towards Students, and Job Attitude subscales with the generalized measure of burnout, the Emotional Exhaustion subscale, question #2. The hypotheses of question #4 were supported; there did appear to be a relationship between attributional style and bhrnout, and a weaker relationship between the general measure of locus of control, the Rotter scale and burnout. Question #6 was also supported, in that relationships were identified between gender and burn- out, and personal life stress and burnout. Chapter V will present a discussion and interpretation of the findings, along with suggestions for further research. CHAPTER V SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION, AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH Summary This study was designed to assess and describe the presence and degree of burnout in community college teachers. It was also in— tended to describe the relationship among personality factors, personal and work situational variables, and burnout. The original sample con— sisted of 200 faculty members from three community colleges in Michigan. From the 200 people who received the mailed questionnaire, 104 responses were returned. One 35-item scale was the primary measure of the dependent variable, burnout, which included a specific item which explicitly stated, "I feel burned out." There were also two scales measuring personality variables and a set of items measuring personal and work demographics. Since this was an exploratory study, there were no empirical findings on burnout in community college teachers which could be used as a basis for comparison. As a result, research on human service 105 106 workers was substituted as the best source of estimating an expected degree of burnout. The following summarizes the interpretation of the findings for each of the major hypotheses of the study. Question 1. Are community college teachers experiencing burnout? Hypothesis: la) Community college teachers, as measured in this group of respondents, were not found to be experiencing the degree of burnout pre- dicted. Therefore, the hypothesis was not supported. Hypothesis: lb) The mean score on the Emotional Exhaustion subscale for the faculty group was not equal to the mean score for the human service workers group. The hypothesis was not supported. The actual means for the faculty group on the Emotional Exhaustion and Depersonalization subscales were both within one standard deviation be- low the means of the human service workers on those two subscales. Taking the slight difference in the weighting of the response choices into consideration, Maslach and Jackson defined (1) as "very mild, barely noticeable," and this researcher defined (1) as "not at all"; the faculty group may be on a par with the human service group if one corrects for the high degree of emotional intensity likely in the other groups' work settings like nursing, mental health, and social welfare which were used by Maslach and Jackson (1980) in obtaining normative samples. While the degree of burnout was not equal to the degree of burn- out in Maslach and Jackson's normative sample, there was some evidence that the proportion of faculty in this study who had experienced feelings 107 of burnout was similar to the proportion in a sample of public school educators. A comparison of the responses to Item #35 on the burnout scale (the explicit statement of feeling burned out) to the responses made by public school educators in a survey (Metz, 1979) yielded similar findings. Metz asked respondents to rate themselves on a five-point scale ranging from feeling "renewed" to "undecided" to "burned out;" 40% of her respondents, N=lOl, rated themselves as burned out. In this study, 41% of the respondents, N=104, rated themselves somewhere along the burnout continuum from (2) "very mildly" to (7) "very strongly." From these two teacher samples, it would appear that burnout is not all pervasive, but affects a sizeable proportion of educators to a mild to moderate degree, and a very small proportion to a high degree (5%). Question 2. The hypothesis that there would be a positive re- lationship between Emotional Exhaustion and Disillusionment, as well as Attitude Towards Students was supported at the .001 level of signi- ficance, with p_= .57 and p_= +.51, respectively. The hypothesized negative relationship between Emotional Exhaustion and Job Satisfaction was also supported at the .001 level with p_= .55. These findings are supportive of the researcher's intent to design a scale suited to the work setting of college teachers which could measure the dimensions of burnout and its sequellae. While the measure of job satisfaction in this study is specific to the nature of teaching, a general measure of job satisfaction, the Job Diagnostic Survey used by Maslach and 108 Jackson (1980) also indicated a negative correlation with Emotional Exhaustion, p_= .35; p_= .001. The replication at a greater magnitude is encouraging. Of all of the subscales used in the study, the Job Satisfaction items received the highest item means. 'The item, "I find interacting with my students quite enjoyable," obtained a mean of 5.922 (7 point scale; §g_= 1.348). The second highest mean was for the item, "I would be happy doing what I am doing five years from now." (mean 5.030; §g_= 1.908) The responses to these job satisfaction items appear to confirm the findings of previous studies of job satisfaction of community college teachers. In fact, the responses to a number of items in the demographic section of the questionnaire lead the researcher to regard the respondents as fairly representative of the population they were drawn from by the similarity of their characteristics to profiles of community college faculty. Similarities exist in terms of highest degree earned, previous areas of teaching, and job satisfaction (Cohen & Brawer, 1982; Kelly & Wilbur, 1970). A study by Bushnell (1973) reported by Cohen and Brawer (1982) found that 78% of a nationwide sample of community college teachers in- dicated positive feelings about continuing in the same job five years from the time of the study. In this study, 79.8% of the respondents selected alternatives to this statement indicating "mixed" (mild png_ strong) to "very strongly" felt identification with the statement about 109 continuing in their same job. The response to this item appears to provide further support for an inverse relationship between job satis- faction and burnout, with low degrees of burnout appearing to be con- sonant with job satisfaction. Since there have been no previous measures of the relationship of disillusionment to burnout, questions about the validity of the Disillusionment subscale may be raised. This led the researcher to analyse the responses to some of the items and their relationship to other items in the scale. For example, items #5 and #8 were designed to reflect feelings classified under the category of Existential issues: #5: I doubt that Open Admissions does anything for people who lack basic reading and writing skills. (item mean, 4.480; §g_= 2.057) (#8: Students don't seem to respect teachers in the way that I respected my teachers when I was a student. (item mean, 4.162; §g_= 1.093) These items may not purely differentiate those who have held "illusions" about students and the capability of Open Admissions to serve under- prepared students from those who never held such beliefs. The items do, however, appear to be basic to the concerns of college faculty and were frequently mentioned at the First National Conference of Faculty Burnout: Faculty Renewal, held in New York, March 1982. Another item in the Disillusionment subscale which is regarded as basic to the experience of burnout, is the item on 'powerlessness', "I feel a sense of powerlessness over much of what happens in the class- room." This item correlated well with the self-report of burnout and 110 with another item on the emotional exhaustion measure; it also corre- lated well with another Disillusionment item, #24, III feel like I haven't accomplished what I had hoped I could accomplish in teach- ing," (with pfs ranging from +.55 to +.62). The researcher interprets the findings related to question 2 to be both supportive of the researcher's assumptions about the dimen- sions of burnout, as well as providing empirical confirmation of previous findings on community college teachers, and findings about burnout. Question 3. There was no significant difference between the mean scores on the burnout scale for the academic and occupational faculty. The hypothesis was not supported. While the difference be- tween the means was not statistically significant, there was some evidence of differences. The distribution of "high“ burnout cases across subject areas taught showed that there were cases of"high" burnout in all subject categories except two occupational ones, Health Careers and Business, and Physical Education. It has already been noted that different attitudes and frame of reference are held by teachers of the two major curriculum division areas; recent research indicates that there may also now be a difference in the student body and the ways that the curriculum is structured (Cohen & Brawer, 1982). If occupational faculty are dealing with a more motivated and committed student body, inferred by the reports, there may be less strain in 111 teaching and, therefore, lower degrees of burnout. It should be noted that all but one of the Health Careers teachers in the sample drawn were female. The issue of gender may be confounding the response analysed by subject area. Question 4. The hypothesis was supported. A significant re- lationship between attributional style (i.e., locus of causation, con- trol and achievement orientation) and burnout was found. A correlation of p_= +.54 at the .001 level of significance was found. The relation- ship between the scores on the Rotter scale, the generalized measure of locus of control was also significant at the .03 level, but it demonstrated a weaker relationship with the burnout scores, p_= .21. While the Rotter scale has previously been established as a valid and reliable scale, it is not surprising that it demonstrated a weaker re- lationship to burnout since a generalized measure may not be as relevant in this phenomenon as a specific measure of control over teaching. Lefcourt states, "If one wishes to use the percept of locus of control as a powerful predictor, one should design one's own assessment devices for the criterion of interest; one should always add a 'of what" after perception of control" (1976, p. 153). The Attribution scale has been an attempt to follow through on Lefcourt's admonishment. It may also be important to point out that there were frequent negative comments in the margins of the questionnaire about the format and content of both the Attribution and Rotter scales. Respondents re- garded the forced-choice format as over-simplifying matters and they 112 were uncomfortable with the dichotomies presented. There was a greater amount of missing data on these two scales than on the Likert format of the burnout scale and the other sections. Due to the possible arti- fact of the design of the two scales and the moderate degree of internal consistency of the Attribution scale, further refinement of the scale may result in a stronger relationship between attributional style and burnout. Question 5. The hypothesis was not supported. There was not a significant relationship in this study between each of the work con- dition variables and burnout. This failure to reject the null hypo- thesis for the work variables of hours required to teach, number of different preparations taught each term, percentage of required classes taught, and percentage of underprepared students is an interesting find- ing. It may be interpreted that the work conditions of college teachers are far less demanding than the conditions of other human service jobs; or an artifact in the method of defining high workload may have inter- fered with the results. The use of the median to separate high and low may have diluted the extreme conditions. However, since a Pearson pro- duct moment correlation was also used to measure the relationship of these variables (and no significant relationship was found) the researcher concludes the former, that the work condition by itself does not signi- ficantly influence burnout. 113 Question 6. The major hypothesis of this question was supported. A relationship was found between the number of life stressors (1 or more) a respondent had experienced and the mean score on the burnout scale. This particular variable of stress outside of the job has not been addressed in any of the empirical studies of burnout. It may be very useful in refining the conceptual understanding of burnout and its re- lationship to stress. A discussion of this finding will follow the report of the remaining research questions. It was also found that the male respondents had a statistically significant higher mean score on the burnout scale than did the female respondents. Metz's (1979) survey of public school educators found that a greater proportion of the males in the survey (67%) reported feeling burned out than did the females (50%). The researcher has not seen any- thing in the burnout literature focusing on gender differences. The sex-role literature and explanations of male socialization would indicate that males are less expressive in communicating emotions than women and that males tend to have fewer outlets for dealing with emotionally stress- ful work situations. One psychologist believes that men are likely to become more dispirited as a result of disappointment and stress (Jourard, 1974). If the issue of communication style is related to gender, Maslach and Jackson (1982) have found that lower scores on the Emotional Exhaustion scale are associated with feedback and sharing, "turning towards others" for support. Of interest, in their normative sample, Maslach and Jackson 114 (1980) found the reverse effect on Emotional Exhaustion; females were higher than males, but males were higher on the Depersonalization sub- scale. It is possible that males in the primary human service fields are atypical in their communication and empathic skills. As far as the question of longevity in the same position, both the Pearson Product Moment Correlation, p_= .17 and a Chi Square value of zero were not significant at the .05 level. This supports other studies of a qualitative nature which reveal that burnout may occur within the first year of work (Chernis, 1980), and that it is not necessarily related to the time in the same position; in fact, some respondents indicated that the repetition was challenging and stimu- lating. Question 7. There was no relationship between the predicted high commitment to "educating" students and a high degree of burnout. Of special note is the fact that there appeared to be a trend in the opposite direction; there were almost no cases of "high" burnout for people who initially had a very strong commitment to the Open Admissions concept of the community college. While they were in the minority, 10%, they clearly had the lowest levels of burnout. If this finding is re- presentative of other teachers, it would refute the assumptions made in the burnout literature that people with higher commitment and idealism are more vulnerable to burnout than those less committed. 115 Conclusions The findings have confirmed the researcher's conceptual under- standing of the manifestations of burnout, primarily the cognitive dimensions of disillusionment, a negative job attitude, and a negative attitude towards the recipients of service, i.e., students. It is also concluded that the majority of the respondents were not experiencing severe burnout and, for those who were, it appeared that their burnout was more significantly related to personal, rather than situational, variables. While the overall degree of burnout re- ported was low, some individuals (4) reported the highest degree of burnout possible on the scale used. Of the five categories of causes and correlates of burnout, the "Personality characteristics" category contained most of the variables found to be highly related to the higher degrees of burnout. The most unexpected finding of the study was the positive relationship between the experience of life events regarded as stressors, and a higher degree of burnout. It was surprising because the burnout litera- ture has not attended to the possible influence of the experience of personal life stressors on the susceptibility to develop burnout; only the converse, i.e., burnout negatively affecting one's personal life. This element may provide a "missing link" to explaining why some people experience burnout given the same work situation and the similar per- sonality traits which people who choose service occupations tend to 116 share. While the relationship between negative cognitions about job and "clients" was confirmed in relation to burnout, perhaps the key factor which precipitates burnout may be the occurrence of an emotional drain external to the job's demands which ultimately depletes one's ability to deal with the job. It has been granted that community college teachers do not have to work under the same degree of emotionally intense conditions that medical, nursing, and social welfare workers have to in their work. Therefore, variations of emotional exhaustion in these respondents, college teachers may be discovered to be more reactive to experiences outside of the job itself. It is difficult to isolate one category from another in sorting out the influences of the variables on burnout. For example, males were found to demonstrate a higher degree of burnout and this could be ex- plained by communication style. Since the job role structure tends to set up the teacher in a solitary work role, and to offer no ongoing super- vision, it is likely that the role structure compounds the communication issue. The conditions of the job by themselves, i.e., the work load variables, were not sufficiently influential in the high degrees of burn- out. It should also be recognized that college teaching provides a built- in "respite" or "time-out" in the vacation periods which occur at the end of every term; "time-out" was found to reduce feelings of burnout (Maslach and Jackson, 1976). 117 The nature of the work, in and of iteself, once again did not seem to account for the feelings of burnout. For example, while 92% of the respondents indicated that they teach classes of students with mixed abilities, only 20% of them found the situation to be frustrating and/or draining. The significant positive correlation between disillusionment and emotional exhaustion would also lend support to the presence of variables from the existential issues category of the causes and corre- lates of burnout. If the respondents are representative of the population of the community colleges sampled, and a number of elements lead the researcher to the assumption that they are, the teachers most at risk to experience burnout are males; people who have experienced stress in their personal lives; people who feel frustrated by the task of teaching mixed groups of students; who view teaching success as outside of their control; and who feel that their rewards have not met their expectations. Recommendations for Further Research The researcher notes that while the community college has been described as experiencing many problems similar to those problems ex— pressed by human service fields where burnout has been reported, "burn- out" may indeed be a phenomenon uniquely related to work that is more draining than college teaching. It is possible that the constructs of "morale" and "job satisfaction" are better measures of job attitudes than burnout. 118 It is recommended that more definitive comparisons be made among the three work constructs to determine which of the three is best suited to measure the work experience of college teachers. In view of the problematic times for higher education, it would be use- ful to continue to monitor how faculty are responding to these stressors. Future studies should also enlarge the sample to include part-time as well as full-time faculty, since the current figures indicate that 56% of community college faculty are part-time (Cohen & Brawer, 1982). The community college problems may actually be per- vasive throughout all of higher education and so faculty in four year colleges and universities should also be studied. By enlarging the sample to include all work roles in all areas of higher education, it may be possible to begin to identify better measures of who is burned out and what degree of burnout is critical in work functioning. Qualitative studies would be useful in conjunction with the di- mensions measured in the burnout scale in order to better define the nature of burnout in a college teacher. A follow-up of the respondents in this study who indicated a willingness to be interviewed would provide a greater depth of understanding of the elements in these teachers' work and personal lives which have contributed to their feelings of burnout or job satisfaction. In view of the positive finding of a higher degree 119 of burnout in people who have experienced stressors in their personal lives, like a death in the family, it is possible that what appears as burnout may, in fact, be a more personal affective problem. It would be instructive to use a measure of depression in conjunction with the burnout scale in order to determine if the positive response to the Emotional Exhaustion subscale of the burnout scale is actually measur- ing depression or grieving. The researcher also recommends that more work be done to improve the reliability and validity of the scale designed to measure attri- butional style since a specific measure of locus of control and causation may prove to be more appropriate than Rotter's generalized scale. Since perceptions so strongly influence behavior and may be critical in ex- plaining the differences in teachers' feelings of success and failure, a good scale would be useful for further research whether or not used in conjunction with the phenomenon of burnout. Implications of the Study There are two findings of the study which have implications for community college administrators as to what may be done to deal with and/or prevent burnout. The higher degrees of burnout were associated with (1) people who indicated feelings of frustration in relation to teaching classes of students with very mixed abilities and (2) people who indicated that they were not receiving the non-monetary rewards that 120 they had expected. If the frustration comes from the lack of "tools" or teaching skills necessary to cope with the teaching task, then work- shops must be designed to recognize the dilemma of teaching hetero- geneous classes, and realistic methods and supports must be provided to help the teacher deal with this kind of situation. Secondly, the frustration may become draining or emotionally exhausting if no rewards are perceived and there is no opportunity for the kind of psychological renewal or reinforcement for effort which occurs when one feels re- warded. Administrators need to be more sensitive to the need for both recognition as well as providing assistance to the teacher in perceiv- ing the indicators of effectiveness and a rewarding experience. Lastly, the elements affecting the faculty that have been labeled Existential issues should be explicitly discussed in burnout workshops so that what is experienced as a personal conflict and distress may be looked at objectively and in the process the faculty member is likely to be helped by the opportunity to share a common experience with peers. In conclusion, the researcher generally encourages further re- search on burnout in college teachers even though the presence and degree of burnout found in the respondents was lower than the degree predicted, and lower than that of human service workers. Burnout, as a negative and insidious phenomenon warrants attention, even for small proportions of a given group. LIST OF REFERENCES LIST OF REFERENCES Abramson, L., Seligman, M. & Teasdale, L. Learned helplessness in humans: Critique and reformulation. Journal of Abnormal Psycho- logy, 1978, 81, 49-74. An Analysis of 1978-79 Faculty Contracts in Michigan Community Colleges, May, 1979. A special report prepared by the Michigan Community College Association, Lansing. Bardo, P. The pain of teacher burn-out: A case history. Phi Delta Kappan, 1979, 61,_40l-403. Bailey, S. Human resource development in a world of decremental bud- gets. Planning for Higher Education, 1974, 3, 1-5. Bentley, R., Rempel, A. Teacher morale: Relationship with selected factors. Journal of Teacher Education, 1970, 21, 534-539. Bess, J. New life for faculty and their institutions. Journal of Higher Education, 1975, pp, 313-325. The motivation to teach. Journal of Higher Education, 1977, 48, 243-258. Academic work-doing it well, doing it better. Paper presented at Teacher's College Columbia University, New York City, April 14-15, 1978. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 180 289) Blocker, C., Richardson, R. Twenty-five years of morale research: A critical review. Journal of Educational Sociology, 1963, go, 200- 210. Brawer, F. The humanities in two-year colleges: Trends in curriculum. Los Angeles, California: Center for the Study of Community Colleges, Fall, 1975. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 111 469) Personality Characteristics of college and university faculty-- implications for the community college. Monograph #3, 1968, Wash- ington, D.C. American Association of Community and Junior Colleges. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 026 048) 121 122 Brodsky, C., M.D. Long term work stress in teachers and prison guards. Journal of Occupational Medicine, 1977, 19, 133-140. Bronx Community College, Office of Institutional Research. The impact of open admissions on college environment. New York: City University of New York, 1972. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 071 666) Brooks, J. An analysis of community college faculty morale and selected factors. (Doctoral dissertation, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, 1970) Dissertation Abstracts International, 1971, 31, 5744-A University Microfilms #71-10, 268. Brocklehurst, N. College enrollment in the 1980's. Academe, 1980, pp, 16-18. Cassel, J. Psychosocial processes and "stress': Theoretical formulation. In C. Garfield, ed. Stress and Survival, St. Louis; C. V. Mosby, 1979. Centra, J. Faculty development in higher education. Teachers College Record, 1978, 89, 188-201. Chernis, C. Professional burnout in human service organizations. New York: Praeger, 1980. Clagett, G. Teacher stress at a community college: Professional burnout in a bureaucratic setting. Largo, Maryland: Office of Institutional Research, Prince George's Community College, 1980. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 195 310) Clark, 8. The open door college: A case study. New York: McGraw Hill 1960. Clay, R. The relationship of democratic governance to the needs satis- faction of instructors in four selected North Carolina community colleges. Raleigh, 1976. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 116 742) Cohen, A. Work satisfaction among junior college faculty members. Paper presented to the annual meeting of California Edficatibnal Research Association, Los Angeles, University of California, November 28-29, 1973. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 081 426) Cohen, A., Brawer F. Confronting identity: The community college in- structor. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1972. The humanities in two year colleges: The faculty in review. Los Angeles, University of California. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 111 469) 123 The American community college. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1982. Cohen, A., Friedlander, J. What do instructors want? Community College Review, Winter, 1980, 66-71. Cosand, J. Perspective: Community colleges in the 1980's. Washington, D. C.; American Association of Community and Junior Colleges, 1979. Cross, K.P. Community colleges on the plateau. Journal of Higher Educa- tion, 1981, §§, 113-123. Daley, M. Burnout: Smouldering problem in protective services. Journal of the National Association of Social Workers, Social Work, 1979. 24, 375-379. Eckert, R., Stecklein, J. An exploratory study of factors influencing the choice of college teaching as a career. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota: ,Cooperative Research Program, 0.5. Office of Educa- tion, 1958. Eckert, R., Williams, H. The career motivation and satisfactions of junior college teachers - a second look. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1971. (ERIC Document Reproduction No. ED 054 773) Edelwich, J., Brodsky, A. Burn-Out, New York: Human Sciences Press, 1980. Forsyth, D., McMillan J. Attributions, affect, and expectations, a test of Weiner's three dimensional model. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1981, 1;, 393-403. Frankel, J. Junior College faculty job satisfactions, Los Angeles, University of California, 1973. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 081 425) Freudenberger, H. Staff Burn-out. Journal of Social IsSues, 1974, 39, 159-165. Friedman, N. Career stages and organizational role decisions of teachers in two public junior colleges. Sociologyuof Education, 1967, 49, 231-245. Gann, M. The role of personality factors and job characteristics in burn-out: A study of social service workers. (Doctoral dissertation, University of California, 1979). Dissertation Abstracts International, 1979, 49, 3366-8. (University Microfilms No. 8000351) 124 Garrison, R. Effective administration for superior teaching. Junior College Journal, 1962, 32, 517-525. Junior College Faculty - Issues and problems, a preliminary national appraisal. Washington, D.C.: American Association of Junior Colleges, 1967. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 012 177) Geiger, R. The college curriculum and the marketplace. Change, 1980. 12, 17-23; 53-54. Gleazer, Edmund J., Jr. This is the communityucollege. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1968. Gloster, E. A faculty morale study in a community college. Appalachian State University, 1975. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 111 453 Grant, 6., Riesman, D. Theuperpetual dream. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978. Gross, T. How to kill a college. Saturday Review, February 4, 1978. Inside room 307 - teaching: A profession of possibility. Change, 1980: E, 32'38. Hagman, M. The burn-out syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 1979, 3, 111-126. Hawley, R. Teaching as failing. Phi Delta Kappan, 1979, §Q_597-600. Help! Teachers can't teach, the multi-faceted crisis of America's public schools, Time, June 16, 1980, 54-63. Hendrickson, 8. Teacher burn-out, how to recognize it: What to do about it. Learning, 1979, §§_l6-22. Hersch, P. D., Scheibe, K. E. On the reliability and validity of inter- nal external control as a personality dimension. Journal of Consulting Psyohology, 1967, 31, 609-614. Higher Education Faculty: Characteristics and opinions. Washington, D.C.: National Education Association, June 1979. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 174 154) Hogan, R. Some notes on hunting for mushrooms in the slough of despond. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the South Eastern Conference on English in the Two Year College. Orlando, Feb. 1979. (ERIC Docu- ment Reproduction Service No. ED 170 774) 125 Holmes, T.S., Holmes, T. Short-term intrusions into the life style routine. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 1969, 14, 121-129. Holmes, T. S., Rahe, R. The social readjustment rating scale. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 1967, 14, 213-218. Howard, H. The human dimension: Balancing people needs and resources. Paper presented at the Annual Association for Institutional Research Forum, Texas, May, 1978. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 161 363) Hughes, E. How colleges differ. In, E. Hughes, The Sociological Eye: Selected Papers, Chicago: Aldine-Atherton, 1971. Jarvis, F. W. Teacher as servant. Phi Delta Kappan, 1979, 39, 504-505. Jourard, Sidney. Some lethal aspects of the male role. In J. Fleck and J. Sawyer (Eds.), Men and masculinity, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1974. Justice, F. Faculty resource renewa1--an important agenda item for the 1980's. Paper prepared for Northwest Association of Community and Junior Colleges, Portland, Oregon, Dec. 3, 1979. Reviving the burnt out practitioner. Slide/tape workshop presenta- tion presented to National Conference of the National Council For Staff, Program and Organizational Development, Denver, Oct. 28, 1979. Kelly, M. F., Connolly, J. Orientation for faculty in junior colleges. Monograph #10, Washington, D.C.: American Association of Community and Junior Colleges, 1970. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 043 323) Kelly, W. & Wilbur, Leslie. Teaching in the community - junior college. New York: Appleton-Century Crofts, 1970. Kreigel, L. Culture and the classroom. Change. 1973/74, 3, 44-48. Kuhn, T. The structure of scientific revolutions, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, second edition, 1970. Kurth, E. L., Mills, E. R. Analysis of degree of faculty satisfactions in Florida community/junior colleges. Gainesville: Florida Univer- sity, 1968. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 027 902) 126 Lamb, H. R. Staff-burnout in work with long term patients. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 1979, 39, 396-398. Lefcourt, H. Locus of control - current trends in theory and research. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Association, 1976. Lortie, D. Schoolteacher: A sociological study, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1975. Maslach, C. Burned-out. Human Behavior, 1976, 3, 16-22. The burn-out syndrome and patient care. In C. Garfield, ed. Stress and Survival, St. Louis: C. V. Mosby, 1979. Maslach, C., Jackson, S. Lawyer Burnout. Barrister, 1978, 3, 52-54. The measurement of experienced burnout. Berkeley, University of California: Biomedical Sciences Support Grant 5-SO7-RRO706-12), 1980. Burnout in health professions: a social psychological analysis. In G. Sanders & J. Suls (Eds.), Social Psychology of health and illness. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, in press. Maslach, C., Pines, A. The burn-out syndrome in the day care setting. Child Care Quarterly, 1977, 3, 100-113. Masuda, M., Holmes, T. H. Magnitude estimations of social readjust- ments. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 1967, 11, 219-225. Medsker, L., Tillery, & Dale. Breakingythe access barriers. New York: McGraw Hill Book Co., 1971. Metz, P. An exploratory study of professional burnout and renewal among educators. (Doctoral dissertation, University of Colorado at Boulder, 1979) Dissertation Abstracts International, 1980, 4Q, 4308-A University Microfilms No. 8002998. Mirabeau, R. Administration and the challenge of open enrollment. Paper presented at the National Humanities Conference on Two Year Colleges, Boston, Nov. 1977 (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 152 358) Moe, D. A prescription. . . Today's Education, 1979, 33, 35-36. Moore, W. Against the odds. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc., 1970. Nie, N., Hull, C., Jenkins, J., Steinbrenner, K., & Brant, D. Statistical package for the social sciences. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975. 127 O'Bannion, T. Teachers for tomorrow. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1972. Paul, C., Gross, A. Increasing productivity and morale in a municipality: Effects of organization development. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 1981, 11, 59-78. Phares, E. J. Locus of control in personality. Morristown, New Jersey: General Learning Press, 1976. Phares, E. J., Wilson, K. G., Klyver, N. W. Internal external control and the attribution of blame under neutral and distractive condi- tions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1971, 13, 285-288. Pines, A. Burnout. New York: The Free Press, 1981. Pines, A., Maslach, C. Characteristics of staff burnout in mental health settings. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 1978, 23, 233-237. Purvis, J. Schoolteaching as a professional career. British Journal of Sociology, 1973, 24, 43-57. Reader's Report on the tragedy of burnout. Learning, 1979, 33, 76-77. Rotter, J. Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. In Rotter, J., Chance, J., & Phares, E. eds., Appli- cations of a social learning theory of personality, New York: Holt, Rinehart, Winston, Inc., 1972. Sawhill, J. C. Curriculum priorities for the 80's: Beyond retrenchment. Current Issues in Higher Education, 1980, 13-22. Scott, W. B. Attitude measurement. In G. Lindzey & E. Aronson (Eds.), Handbook of Social Psychology, vol. II, 2nd ed., Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1968. Scrivens, R., The big click. Today's Education, 1979, 33, 34-35. Selye, H. The relationship of social and psychological factors to ill- ness. In C. Garfield, ed. Stress and Survival, St. Louis: C. V. Mosby, 1979. Shubin, 5. Burnout: The professional hazard you face in nursing. Nursing, 1978. §, 22-27. 128 Shull, F. A. Professional stress as a variable in structuring faculty roles. Educational Administration Quarterly, 1972, 3, 49-65. Sparks, 0. A teacher center tackles the issue. Today's Education, 1979, §§, 37-39. Storlie, F. Burnout: The elaboration of a concept. American Journal of Nursing, 1979, 23, 2108-2111. Taylor, J., Bowers, D. The survey of argonizations: A machine scored standardized questionnaire instrument. Ann Arbor: Institute of Social Research, 1972. Teacher Burnout. Instructor, Jan., 1979, 56-62. Tiedman, D. 8. Burning and capping out of counseling. Personnel and Guidance Journal, 1979, 32, 328-330. Toombs, W. Productivity: Burden of success. Washington, D.C.: American Association for Higher Education, Higher Education Report #2. 1973. Tyler, R. W. The impact of students upon colleges. In K. Yamamoto, ed., The college student and his culture. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1968. Veninga, R. Administrator burn—out: Causes and cures. Hospital Pro- gress, 1979, 33, 45-52. Walsh, 0. Classroom stress and teacher burnout. Phi Delta Kappan, 1979, .91, 401-402. Warnath, C. Counselor burnout: Existential crisis or a problem for the profession? Personnel and Guidance Journal, 1979, 31, 325-328. Weiner, B. Theories of motivation, Chicago: Markham Publishing Co., 1972. A theory of motivation for some classroom experiences. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1979, 11, 3-25. APPENDICES APPENDIX A PART I. BURNOUT SCALE Part I For each of the statements below, circle the number on the right which corresponds to the degree to which you feel what the statements below describe. -1- not at all; -2- very mildly; -3- mildly; -4- mixed degrees, sometimes mild, sometimes strong; -5- moderately; -6- strongly; -7— very strongly. _—————-——.-——-.—————-—_—__-——-_—_—__—__.—.—_.--—_.—_— l. I have become disillusioned about the community I 2 3 4 S 6 7 college's ability to educate everyone who enrolls. 2. I find interacting with my students very enjoyable. I 2 3 6 5 6 7 3. I just teach my subjects, I don't try to educate my 1 2 3 A 5 6 7 students. 6. My interest in educating students has grown stronger l 2 3 b S 6 7 over the years I have been in teaching. 5. I doubt that Open Admissions does anything for people 1 2 3 6 5 6 7 who lack basic reading and writing skills. 6. I think that Open Admissions is a very valuable l 2 3 A 5 6 7 aspect of the community college. 7. I think that the idea of 'democratizing higher edu- 1 2 3 A 5 6 7 cation' is a lot of 'hogwash'. 8. Students don't seem to respect teachers in the way 1 2 3 4 S 6 7 that l respected my teachers when I was a student. 9. I find the repetetion of teaching the same courses I 2 3 A 5 6 7 each term to be an enjoyable challenge. 10. I have lost my enthusiasm for teaching. 1 2 3 4 S 6 7 11. I feel good about my ability to have an impact on 1 2 3 A 5 6 7 what goes on in my college department/division. 12. I wonder if I am a competent teacher. 1 2 3 6 5 6 7 l3. 1 would be happy doing what I am doing five years I 2 3 4 5 6 7 from now. 14. I feel like I haven't accomplished what I had hoped l 2 3 A S 6 7 I could accomplish in teaching. 15. i am depressed by the thought that I might be in the 1 2 3 A 5 6 7 same position five years from now. 16. I feel a sense of powerlessness over much of what 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 happens in the classroom. 129 130 -I- not at all: -2- very mildly; -3- mildly; -4- mixed degrees, sometimes mild, sometimes strong; —5- moderately; -6- strongly; -7- very strongly. 17. I take a day off for minor ailments and just to get 1 2 3 4 S 6 7 a breather quite regularly. 18. I think about getting out of teaching all together. 1 2 3 4 S 6 7 19. I feel students blame me for some of their problems. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 20. Students who do poorly shouldn't waste the time of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 their instructors. 21. I worry that this job is hardening me emotionally. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 22. I feel I treat some students as if they were imper- l 2 3 4 5 6 7 sonal objects. 23. I don't really care what happens to some students. 1 2 3 4 S 6 7 24. I've become more callous toward students since I l 2 3 4 5 6 7 began teaching. 25. I find many things to criticize in my students. 1 2 3 4 S 6 7 26. I am easily irritated by students demands. I 2 3 4 S 6 7 27. I feel I'm working too hard on my job. 1 2 3 4 S 6 7 28. I feel emotionally drained from my work. I 2 3 4 S 6 7 29. Working with people all day is really a strain for me. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 30. I feel used up at the end of the workday. 1 2 3 4 S 6 7 31. I feel frustrated by my job. I 2 3 4 5 6 7 32. I feel fatigued when I get up in the morning and have I 2 3 4 5 6 7 to face another day on the job. 33. Working directly with students puts too much stress I 2 3 4 5 6 7 on me. 34. I feel like I'm at the end of my rope. I 2 3 4 S 6 7 35. I feel burned out from my work. 1 2 3 4 S 6 7 (Burnout: a progressive loss of idealism. energy and purpose.) 13] PART II. DEMOGRAPHIC SECTION Part [1 Please check the appropriate category and fill in a response when necessary. l6. —---——-—.———-_.—_——————————-.————_—_——_—_— age: ____30 or under; ____3l-39; ____60-69; ____50-59; ____60 and above sex: ____female; ____male current marital status: ___“married (or close partnership); ____not married do you live with children: ____yes; no highest degree earned: ____high school; ____bachelor's; ____master's; ____doctorate; ____vocationa1/technical degree; ____pther number of years in current teaching position: number of years in another teaching position: . which level of teaching? number of years in another occupation. if any? subject(s) you usually teach: would you classify these subjects as primarily: a) _occupational/terminal degree. or b) _“__academic/transfer type course of the courses that you teach each year, what percentage of the courses are: elective type courses for students; required courses? number of hours per week that you are required to teach: number of preparations you usually teach each term: Did you take any course(s) on the history and mission of the community college? _ _before you began teaching in the community college I! H I. H .0 0' N ____aftcr “8V0?" As an undergrad. were you ever a student at a community college? . _ves; no Did you take any courses in teaching methods? ___ before you began teaching in the community college; after you began; __ never . Which kind of Open Admissions policy pertains to the courses you teach? students do not have to meet any academic or skill requirement _ students have to demonstrate a certain academic or skill level 20. 2]. 22. 132 In the classes you teach. what percentage of your students appear to lack the skills to do the work in your courses? a) none are lacking; b) 202 or less; c) 301; d) 602; e) _502 or more . Do the classes that you teach usually include students of very different levels of ability? yes; no. If they do, how do you feel about teaching such mixed groups? a) very stimulated by it; b) moderately stimulated; c) mixed feelings; d) frustrated; e) frustrated and drained by it . As far as your colleagues are concerned. how helpful do you find them when it comes to the frustrations and problems you may encounter in teaching? a) extremely helpful; b) moderately helpful; c) mixed (sometimes helpful, sometimes not; d) rarely helpful; 2) never helpful When you began teaching (first year) in the community college. how committed were you to the Open Admissions concept (sometimes referred to as the 'demo— cratization of higher education)? a) didn't give it any thought; b) mild commitment; c) mixed feelings; d) moderately committed; e) very strongly committed When you began teaching, how invested were you in 'educating' students, that is, helping students grow intellectually and/or occupationally? a) not at all invested. I was mainly interested in my subject area; b) mildly invested; c) mixed, I was interested in my subject area and helping students; d) moderately invested; e) very highly invested in educating students When you began teaching. how much did you enjoy interacting with students? a) not at all; b) a little; c) sometimes yes, sometimes no; d) _ rmoderately enjoyed; e) a great deal 133 PART III. ATTRIBUTION SCALE AND PERSONAL LIFE EVENTS CHECK-LIST Part III Please circle the letter in front of the statement which best describes your own view. While both choices may somwtimes apply, or neither may be exactly your view, please select the alternative that comes closest to your own view. I. When students don't seem to understand the material I'm teaching, a) it's probably because the students lack the basic skills. b) I wonder if I have been lacking in my teaching skills. 2. When students complain about the questions, or tasks on my tests, a) I think that students are trying to justify their own confusion. b) I tend to think that l was at fault in putting the test together. 3. When students look bored in my classes. a) I'm reminded that students of today want to be entertained. b) I think that if I were a better teacher, they would not be bored. 5. When students do poorly in my classes, I usually think, a) that it's a sign of how ill prepared they are for college. b) that I failed to teach them well enough so that they could do better. 5. I feel that, a) I am responsible for how much my students learn. b) how much a student learns is mostly due to the student's ability. 6. I think that, a) it's impossible to please all of the students, so why bother to try. b) if a teacher works hard enough, it is possible to please all students. 7. Over the years that I have been teaching, a) l have found methods of teaching classes that have a large mixture of student abilities. b) I have yet to find an approach that works in classes that are so mixed. 8. I think that there is a direct relationship between, a) how much time and effort I put into class preparation and having a good class. b) the moods and attitudes of the students and having a good class. 9. I measure my success in teaching by. a) how much students like me and my class. b) how well I develop and carry out new ideas and methods in class. 10. When students give me a good evaluation, a) I feel really fantastic. b) I just pass if off, I don't think that students are the host judges. ll. When students give me a poor evaluation, a) I feel really crummy. b) I just pass it off. I don't set much store in student evaluations. l2. Everytime I stand in front of a class to teach. a) I recognize that I leave myself open for the possibility of being criticized and rejected by my students. b) I am absorbed in the material I teach, and I don't think much about what students feel about me. 134 13. My mood during the workday is usually more influenced by, a) how well things go in my classes. b) how well things are going in my personal life. 14. When I think about the time and energy that I put into my teaching, a) I am quite pleased about the achievements that I have made. b) I am dissatisfied with what I have achieved. 15. As far as the non-monetary rewards go in teaching, I feel that, a) I am receiving the rewards that I expected when I started. b) I am not receiving the kinds of rewards that I thought I would receive. 16. I would say that the greatest source of stress that I experience. a) comes from trying to please and meet the needs of my students. b) comes from trying to please and meet the demands of administration. 17. If there are occassions when you feel really crummy (incompetent) as a teacher. why do you think these feelings arise? a) I never feel crummy about my teaching ability. b) I think it's due to the lack of help and support from the administration. c) I think it's because I never had formal training in how to teach. d) I think that students have unrealistic expectations of the teacher that are impossible to meet. e) I think that I set impossibly high goals for myself and then I feel bad when I don't reach them. f) other ...... Sometimes events in one's personal life have an impact on work life. Please put a check next to any, or all. of the following life events which you may have experienced during the past year. ———--———-_—---—_——_—-——_—--_—_-——-—-“-—w—.. l. ____dcath of a spouse/partner 12. ____sexual difficulties 2. _"_vdivorce 13. ___»a change in your living situation 3. _____separation 4. ____death of someone close 5. ___"personal injury or illness 6. ____dllness/iniury of someone close 7. ____marriage 8. _____pregnancy 9. ____addition of baby/children to family IO.___"_marital reconciliation ll. __’*rhange in financial status (increase or decrease) 135 PART IV. ROTTER LOCUS OF CONTROL SCALE Part IV Please select the alternative which best fits your own views. While both may de- scribe your feelings at different times. please try to select the one which tends to describe yobr views most of the time. Please circle (a) or (b). .————-——..-.—.-——.—_——-————a————————_——————.—— l. a) Children get into trouble because their parents punish them too much. b) The trOuble with most children nowadays is that their parents are too easy with them. 2. a) Many of the unhappy things in people's lives are partly due to bad luck. b) People's misfortunes result from the mistakes they make. 3. a) One of the major reasons why we have wars is because people don't take enough interest in politics. b) There will always be wars. no matter how hard people try to prevent them. 5. a) In the long run people get the respect they deserve in this world. b) Unfortunately. an individual's worth often passes unrecognized no matter how hard she/he tries. S. a) The idea that teachers are unfair to students is nonsense. b) Most students don't realize the extent to which their grades are influ- enced by accidental happenings. 6. a) Without the right breaks one cannot be an effective leader. b) Capable people who fail to become leaders have not taken advantage of their opportunities. 7. a) No matter how hard you try some people just don't like you. b) People who can't get others to like them don't understand how to get along with others. 8. a) Heredity plays the major role in determining one's personality. b) It is one's experiences in life which determine what they're like. 9. a) I have often found that what is going to happen will happen. b) Trusting to fate has never turned out as well for me as making a decision to take a definite course of action. IO. a) In the case of the well-prepared student there is rarely if ever such a thing as an unfair test. b) Many times exam questions tend to be so unrelated to course work that studying is really useless. II. a) Becoming a success is a matter of hard work. luck has little or.nothing to do with it. b) Getting a good job depends mainly on being in the right place at the right time. 12. a) The average citizen can have an influence in government decisions. b) This world is run by the few people in power. and there is not much the ordinary person can do about it. l3. a) When I make plans, I am almost certain that I can make them work. b) It is not always wise to plan too far ahead because manv things turn out to be a matter of good or bad fortune anyway. lb. a) b) 15. a) b) 16. a) b) 17. a) b) 18. a) b) 19. a) b) 20. a) b) 21. a) b) 22. a) h) 23. a) b) 24. a) b) 25. a) b) 26. a) b) 27. a) b) 28. a) b) 29. a) b) 136 There are certain people who are just no good. There is some good in everybody. In my case getting what I want has little or nothing to do with luck. Many times me might just as well decide what to be by flipping a coin. Who gets to be the boss often depends on who was lucky enough to be in the right place first. Getting people to do the right thing depends upon ability; luck has little to do with it. As far as world affairs are concerned. most of us are the victims of forces we can neither understand nor control. By taking an active part in political and social affairs the people can control world events. Most people don't realize the extent to which their lives are controlled by accidental happenings. There really is no such thing as "luck". One should always be willing to admit mistakes. It is usually best to cover up one's mistakes. It is hard to know whether or not a person really likes you. How many friends you have depends upon how nice a person you are. In the long run the bad things that happen to us are balanced by the good ones. Most misfortunes are the result of lack of ability, ignorance, laziness. or all three. with enough effort we can wipe out political corruption. If is difficult for people to have much control over the things politicians do in office. Sometimes I can't understand how teachers arrive at the grades they give. There is a direct connection between how hard I study and the grades I get. A good leader expects people to decide for themselves what they should do. A good leader makes it clear to everybody what their jobs are. Hany times I feel that I have little influence over the things that happen to me. It is impossible for me to believe that chance or luck plays an important role in my life. People are lonely because they don't try to be friendly. There's not much use in trying too hard to please people. if they like you. they like you. There is too much emphasis on athletics in high school. Team sports are an excellent way to build character. What happens to me is my own doing. Sometimes I feel that I don't have enough control over the direction my life is taking. Most of the time I can't understand why politicians behave the way they do. In the long run people are responsibile for bad government on a national as well as on a local level. APPENDIX B DISILLUSIONMENT --I have become disillusioned about the community college's ability to educate everyone who enrolls. --I just teach my subjects, I don't try to educate my students. --I doubt that Open Admissions does anything for people who lack basic reading and writing skills. --I think that the idea of "democratizing higher education' is a lot of 'hogwash'. --Students don't seem to respect teachers in the way that I respected my teachers when I was a student. --I have lost my enthusiasm for teaching. --I wonder if I am a competent teacher. —-I feel like I haven't accomplished what I had hoped I could accomplish in teaching. --I feel a sense of powerlessness over much of what happens in the class- room. l37 APPENDIX C JOB ATTITUDE SUBSCALE JOB SATISFACTION --I find interacting with my students very enjoyable. --My interest in educating students has grown stronger over the years I have been teaching. --I think that Open Admissions is a very valuable aspect of the community college. --I find the repetition of teaching the same courses each term to be an enjoyable challenge. --I feel good about my ability to have an impact on what goes on in my college department/division. --I would be happy doing what I am doing five years from now. --I take a day off for minor ailments and just to get a breather quite regularly. --I think about getting out of teaching altogether. --I am depressed by the thought that I might be in the same position five years from now. 138 APPENDIX D MASLACH BURNOUT INVENTORY SUBSCALES* Emotional Exhaustion --I feel emotionally drained from my work. --I feel used up at the end of the workday. --I feel fatigued when I get up in the morning and have to face another day on the job. --Norking with people all day is really a strain for me. --I feel burned out from my work. --I feel frustrated by my job. --I feel I'm working too hard on my job. --Norking directly with people puts too much stress on me. --I feel like I'm at the end of my rope. Depersonalization --I feel I treat some recipients as if they were impersonal objects. --I've become more callous toward people since I took this job. --I worry that this job is hardening me emotionally. --I don't really care what happens to some recipients. --I feel recipients blame me for some of their problems. *Copyright by Christina Maslach and Susan E. Jackson. All rights reserved. Reporduced by special permission of the authors, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission of the authors. 139 II. APPENDIX E ATTRIBUTION SCALE Items from the locus of causation cluster: I. When students don't seem to understand the material I'm teaching, (a) it's probably because the students lack the basic skills. (b) I wonder if I have been lacking in my teaching skills. When students complain about the questions or tasks on my tests, (a) I think that students are trying to justify their own conclusion. (b) I tend to think that I was at fault in putting the test together. Choice (a) represents an external, outside of oneself, style; (b) represents an internal, within oneself, style. Item from the locus of control cluster: 6. I think that, (a) it's impossible to please all of the students, so why bother to try. (b) if a teacher works hard enough, it is possible to please all students. Choice (a) external; (b) internal. I40 III. 141 Items from the locus of achievement orientation: 9. I measure my success in teaching by, (a) how much students like me and my class. (b) how well I develop and carry out new ideas and methods in class. l2. Everytime I stand in front of a class to teach, (a) I recognize that I leave myself open for the possibility of being criticized and rejected by my students. (b) I am absorbed in the material I teach and don't think much about what students feel about me. Choice (a) external, and (b) internal orientation. APPENDIX F COVER LETTER FOR SURVEY Dear Faculty Member: As a teacher in the community college for the past seven years, I have noticed changes in my feelings about students, teaching, and the com- munity college. There has been a lot of talk about job stress in teachers in the K-l2 system, and I have wondered whether or not community college teachers are showing any indications of stress reactions. I have designed a set of questionnaires based on my readings and my own experiences. I am hoping to find out how other community college teachers think and feel about some of these work and life issues. I realize that I am asking you to respond to sensitive and private matters in some of the items in the questionnaire, and I have made every effort to insure that your returned questionnaire will be anonymous. Please be assured that re- turned questionnaires will be regarded as confidential information and will not be communicated to anyone in your college. Please return the completed questionnaire as soon as possible. (It appears to take about twenty minutes to fill it out). I have enclosed a stamped, self-addressed envelope for use in returning the completed questionnaire. Please mail the postcard separately when you return the questionnaire; this will insure that your response remains anonymous and also help me to know who to send reminders to. I hope that you will find these questionnaires interesting and thought provoking. Please let me know if you would like a summary of the research findings at the completion of my study. Your cooperation in filling out the questionnaire will be extremely helpful to me and will allow me to com- plete the research for my doctoral degree in higher education. In all honesty, I cannot claim that you will be making a contribution to 'science', but you would be doing me a great favor. Thank you. Sincerely yours, (Ms.) Marion DiFalco, n.s.w. 1946 H Hamilton Road Okemos, Michigan 48864 142 T43 SAMPLE OF POSTCARD ENCLOSED WITH QUESTIONNAIRE Please check off or fill in where indicated. Name: College: I have returned the questionnaire. I do not intend to return the questionnaire; please don't send me any reminders. Yes, I would like to receive information about the study. Yes, I would be willing to talk to you about my reaction to your questionnaire. S ullfllllllflflllllfllilllwill]m