Association for Behavior Analysis International

Burnout can be the result of extended job-related stress, resulting in cynicism, depersonalization, and emotional exhaustion. Within healthcare and special education, burnout may be caused by the presence of student challenging behavior, lack of administrative support, and demands of the position. Additionally, demographic factors such as age of employees, relationship status, and level of education can contribute to likelihood of burnout. It has already been reported that behavior analysts experience high rates of job burnout and work-related stress. The long-term effects of burnout affect both the individual and the organization, resulting in poor work quality, long-term stress, absenteeism, job turnover, and ultimately service disruption. Due to the importance of the role of RBTs and paraprofessionals in the service provision of ABA, it is critical that burnout predictors and factors are identified to allow service agencies to intervene and create systems to reduce likelihood of burnout.

Instruction Level: Basic

Target Audience: Any behavior analytic practitioner or student.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the presentation, participants will be able to: (1) describe measures of burnout; (2) list factors that contribute to burnout; (3) describe strategies to assess burnout as a supervisor.