Title: A systematic review of the relationship between occupational stress, professional
burnout in teachers and the use of coping strategies.
Aims: In this project, the aim would be to investigate the relationship between the
occupational stressors’ teachers (both primary and secondary) and displays of professional
burnout. To conclude this project, coping strategies to help teachers maintain a good level
of mental wellbeing will be suggested.
Background: Teachers are in the group of professions who are particularly at risk of
professional burnout (an occupational syndrome that is the result of chronic workplace
stress when an individual does not have effective coping strategies). Teachers are at an
increased risk due to the demanding socio-emotional nature of their job (Alsalhe et al.,
2021; Oliveria et al., 2021). Burnout is characterised by emotional exhaustion,
depersonalisation and reduced professional effectiveness which would affect the extent to
which teachers would be able to deal with the socio-emotional requirements of the
profession (Chirico et al., 2019). While the occupational stressors and burnout in teachers is
well-researched, as far as this author is concerned, there is no systematic review looking at
occupational stressors and burnout in teachers.
Methods: This review will use the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and
Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines to review the all existing articles on the relation of the
teaching profession to occupational stress and professional burnout up to December 2022.
The databases will include EBSCO, PsycARTICLES, PsycINFO with additional literature being
identified in a manual search using reference lists from key studies and grey literature (e.g.
Google Scholar). Key terms to assist the search and identify relevant studies will include
teacher* OR educator*, words relating to occupational stress such as stress* and stressors*
and professional burnout such as burnout* and exhaustion*. This study will also present
potential coping strategies supported by research that will be identified in a secondary
review from the same sources with key words such as coping strategies* OR wellbeing* OR
stress management*
Contribution: This study presents multiple potential conclusions including a new
understanding of the stressors teachers face at work, and how they may lead to professional
burnout, supporting the theoretical understanding of the phenomenon in the ‘helping’-type
of profession. Moreover, in a more practical application, the results of this review would be
able to be applied supporting teachers in their profession. Promoting the understanding of
what stressors could be affecting teachers’ lives would help them be targeted by
interventions and identified key strategies that can be used to support teachers with chronic
stress and recovering from professional burnout. These strategies can be promoted to
teachers and could potentially be part of common CPD programmes to improve teacher
wellbeing.
Keywords: teachers; occupational stress; professional burnout; coping strategies;
systematic review
References:
Alsalhe, T. A., Chalghaf, N., Chalghaf, N., Guelmami, N., Guelmami, N., Azaiez, F., Azaiez, F.,
Bragazzi, N. L., & Bragazzi, N. L. (2021). Occupational Burnout Prevalence and Its
Determinants Among Physical Education Teachers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2021.553230
Oliveira, S., Roberto, M., Veiga-Simão, A., & Marques-Pinto, A. (2021). A Meta-analysis of
the Impact of Social and Emotional Learning Interventions on Teachers’ Burnout
Symptoms. Educational Psychology Review, 33(4), 1779-1808. doi: 10.1007/s10648-021-
09612-x
Chirico, F., Taino, G., Magnavita, N., Giorgi, I., Ferrari, G., Mongiovì, M. C., & Imbriani, M.
(2019). Proposta di un metodo per la valutazione del rischio di burnout negli insegnanti: il
VA.RI.B.O (VAlutazione RIschio Burn-Out) [Proposal of a method for assessing the risk of
burnout in teachers: the VA.RI.B.O strategy]. Giornale italiano di medicina del lavoro ed
ergonomia, 41(3), 221–235.
Moher D, Shamseer L, Clarke M, Ghersi D, Liberati A, Petticrew M, Shekelle P, Stewart LA.
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P)
2015 statement. Syst Rev. 2015;4(1):1. doi: 10.1186/2046-4053-4-1
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