Defense Date

3-14-2024

Graduation Date

Fall 5-11-2024

Availability

One-year Embargo

Submission Type

dissertation

Degree Name

PhD

Department

Counseling, Psychology, & Special Education

School

School of Education

Committee Chair

Matthew Joseph

Committee Member

Jered Kolbert

Committee Member

Debra Hyatt-Burkhart

Keywords

counselor wellness, burnout, work engagement, priming, expectancy effects, social contagion, Job Demand-Resource (JD-R) model

Abstract

Though clinician wellness is a “hot topic” in the field of counseling, the current models of examining counselors’ levels of burnout and engagement do not account for the likely role that perception plays the subjective experiences of these constructs. This project attempts to synthesize methodology from the fields of social and cognitive psychology with the latest in industrial-organizational theory on burnout and engagement by applying a priming methodology to the study of mental health professionals’ experiences of work-related burnout and engagement. One hundred sixty-two clinicians participated in a priming experiment disguised as a workplace perceptions survey in an attempt to influence their self-reported measures of burnout and engagement. Initial findings did not indicate an effect of priming group, but further exploratory analyses indicated that participants agreement with their prime did significantly moderate an effect of priming on burnout and engagement scores. The implications of this study can provide a nuanced lens to better understand clinicians’ experiences of their work-related wellbeing. This study also provides critical insights to the study of future burnout research and intervention for counselors.

Language

English

Download

Share

COinS