Effective Burnout Prevention Program

Burnout, decreased life satisfaction, and depression are sometimes a challenge for Extension professionals and clientele. An inability to appropriately respond to rapid change in their lives places individuals and families at risk of family disruption and dislocation. Those "at risk" include farm and ranch families in economic trouble, unemployed workers, and professionals in people-related occupations with high demands. According to a recent national study, 89% of Americans "report feeling high levels of stress on a regular basis....Continual stress strikes hardest among the educated, affluent, professional, and executive-type persons."1

Several studies have found Extension professionals to be at risk of high stress and burnout levels. Burnout has been identified as an important occupational hazard in at least 25 different people-related fields.2 The need for effective time and stress management educational programs and research-based information is evident from national news stories.

The authors collaborated to develop and test the impacts of full-day "Balancing Personal, Work, and Family Life" (BPWFL) training workshops with Florida county Extension agents, who had asked for help in addressing the problem. The objectives were: (1) to reduce work and family stress, depression, and burnout levels and (2) to help participants be their own best therapist by incorporating clinically tested stress, depression, and time management strategies into their lives.

Prospective participants received a needs assessment asking them to rate almost 30 BPWFL issues according to personal need.3 Both six-hour programs were then tailored to participants' priority needs. Much of the program included concepts found in Time Management for Busy People.4 We asked participants to complete a pre-test at the beginning of the workshop and a post- test five months later.

For the 70 professionals participating in the program: (1) personal life satisfaction levels increased (p = .02), (2) depression levels decreased (p = .03), and (3) burnout levels decreased (p = .00). Work environment satisfaction levels increased at a level that approached significance (p = .06). Although the change wasn't statistically significant, stress levels also decreased.

According to the ECOP Futures Task Force Report,5 "the Cooperative Extension System must convey to its publics the vision of a contemporary, progressive, and forward-looking organization." The growing American problem of high stress levels and burnout is an opportunity for Extension to provide educational programs that make a difference in professionals' lives. We recommend that programs like those described in this article be offered and tested with professional and lay audiences.

1. G. O. Jenson and R. T. Daly, Family and Economic Well-Being Environmental Scan (Washington, D.C.: U. S., Department of Agriculture, Extension Service, May, 1988), p. 6.

2. C. Maslach, Burnout: The Cost of Caring (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1982).

3. R. J. Fetsch and J. Pergola, Balancing Personal, Work and Family Needs Assessment (Available from first author, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, 119C Gifford Bldg., Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, 1990).

4. R. J. Fetsch, Time Management for Busy People, Bulletin 549A (Fort Collins: Colorado State University Cooperative Extension, 1991).

5. M. Geasler and others, Extension in Transition: Bridging the Gap Between Vision and Reality (Blacksburg: Virginia Cooperative Extension Service, 1987), p. 5.