Occupational Stress, Burnout and Teacher efficacy in teachers, special educators and habilitation professionals with and without formal ABA training
Abstract: Research suggests a correlation between high levels of stress and burnout, and low levels of self- efficacy, in school and habilitation professionals. These findings are also prominent in practitioners in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) such as teachers, psychologists and Board-Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs). This current study aimed to examine the levels in self-reported stress, burnout, and self-efficacy reported in the Ohio State Teacher Efficacy Scale (OSTES), in a Swedish-speaking sample consisting of sixty-seven participants based in school settings, and twenty-five participants based in habilitation settings. All participants were divided into two subgroups: one group who have stated participation in formal post-graduate ABA-training (n = 31), and a group without formal ABA training (n = 61). The hypotheses formulated from previous research were: 1) Teacher Efficacy levels are higher in professionals with ABA-training; 2) Stress-levels are lower in professionals with ABA- training; 3) Burnout levels are lower in professionals with ABA-training; 4) Stress-levels are lower in professionals working in habilitation settings; 5) Burnout levels are lower in professionals working in habilitation settings. Analyzes showed that stress correlated highly positive with burnout, and that teacher efficacy had a negative correlation with stress and burnout. Furthermore, no differences in stress and burnout levels were found between participants from school and habilitation, but the levels in Self-reported Stress and Self-reported Burnout were lower in the ABA group, which therefore confirmed the predictions. Reported OSTES-levels were higher in the ABA-group, but at non- significant levels (except in the sub-item “Efficacy for instructional strategies” where significant levels were found). The conclusion was that educators high in teacher efficacy may be less likely to suffer from stress and burnout, than low-efficacy educators. To address the growing problem of stress-related diseases among Swedish school and habilitation staff, the current teacher efficacy-levels in these occupations must be further highlighted.
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