A Path Analysis of Burnout of Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors

Burnout of rehabilitation counselors has a negative impact on counselor’s well-being and the quality of service delivered to clients. Understanding the process of counselor burnout is critical as it can illuminate intervention development. Conceptual models of burnout exist within the literature; however, these are not unique to the counseling profession. To fill this gap, we tested and verified a model of counselor burnout (given five key dimensions in the Counselor Burnout Inventory) using path analysis based on responses from 147 rehabilitation counselors working at U.S. state Vocational Rehabilitation agencies. The findings described an interesting picture through which a negative work environment could progressively lead to various burnout symptoms in rehabilitation counselors. Moreover, the results revealed that one’s personal life could be negatively influenced by multiple elements in the model. Implications of the findings are discussed.