NCJ Number
220203
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 51 Issue: 5 Dated: October 2007 Pages: 510-522
Date Published
October 2007
Length
13 pages
Annotation
The goal of this article is to research and find out the reasons why drug abuse treatment staff within the correction setting experience job burnout.
Abstract
The findings revealed that there were a number of reasons for the job burnout but the main reasons were the ages of the counselors, gender, lower adaptability, poorer clarity of agency mission, higher levels of stress, and some staff attributes/organizational factors. The researcher set out to look at the stress and burnout level of drug abuse treatment staff in a correctional setting for several reasons (1) because these social service professionals had been overlooked in the enormous amount of literature that exists on burnout in the social service professions, and (2) because of budget constraints, many drug treatment facilities were forced to operate for long periods of time and well beyond their capabilities which results in pressure and stress on the treatment staff. The research study was conducted by collecting sample data from 151 drug treatment counselors from across all 8 State-run correctional-based treatment programs in a southwestern State in the United States. The response rate was 77.30 percent. From April to July 2005, a clinical supervisor from each treatment program distributed assessment packets to each drug treatment counselor, and the counselors mailed the preaddressed postage paid envelope directly back to the researcher. Limitations of the study are discussed. Tables, references