Connection between job demands and burnout and quality of life among social workers in Serbia

Received: 16.4.2025                        DOI:

Social workers are committed to the protection and empowerment of populations at risk; they help these populations improve their physical and mental well-being within a society characterized by great economic inequality and a high potential for vulnerability (Bateman, 2002). However, the high demand for their services and functioning in emotionally intense environments with limited resources - can present significant challenges for social workers (Tartakovsky, 2016, Lloyd, King, Chenoweth, 2002). Due to the stressful conditions of their work, social workers are vulnerable to burnout.

Burnout was initially defined by Freudenberger (1974) as a phenomenon found among professionals who experience intense contact with their clients and who express an inability to cope with stressors at work. Freudenberger (1974, 1980) described their conditions as including fatigue, depleted physical and mental strength, and a sense of being worn out as a result of exaggerated goals and unrealistic expectations imposed by the workers themselves or by the society.

Today, the most widely accepted definition of burnout is that suggested by Maslach and her colleagues who define burnout in human services work as a prolonged response to chronic emotional and interpersonal stressors on the job (Maslach, Schau-feli, Leiter, 2001). Job burnout is a psychological syndrome composed of three dimensions: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment (Maslach, Schaufeli, Leiter, 2001). Exhaustion refers to feelings of strain, particularly chronic fatigue resulting from overtaxing work. Depersonalization refers to an indifferent or a distant attitude towards work in general and the people with whom one works, losing one’s interest in work and feeling for work has lost its meaning. Reduced professional accomplishment refers to reduced feelings of competence, successful achievement, and accomplishment both in one’s job and the organization.

This increased individual responsibility for work, combined with high workload and job demands and insufficient resources, have been found to be an important reason for burnout of social workers (Lizano, Mor Barak, 2012, Astvik, Melin, 2012). Research suggests that social workers are at a higher risk of work-related stress, burnout, and a lower quality of life compared to the general population and other health professionals (Lloyd, King, Chenoweth, 2002). The consequences of burnout are potentially very serious for social workers, their clients, and service agencies. Burnout of social workers may increase susceptibility to chronic diseases, such as physical and mental health conditions, and reduce overall quality of life (National Association of Social Workers, 2016). The literature suggests that social workers experiencing burnout have an increased risk of depression (Evans, Huxley, Gately, Webber, Mears, Pajak, 2006, Siebert, 2004, Stanley, Manthorpe, White, 2007), and physical health problems (Kim, Ji, Kao, 2011). Studies showed that symptoms of burnout result in their impersonal treatment of service users, and undermine the quality of their performance and the effectiveness of their interventions (Deckard, Meterko, Field, 1994, Gaba, Howard, 2002). Studies also showed relationship between burnout of social workers and job satisfaction (Lizano, Mor Barak, 2015, Smith, Clark, 2011, Hombrados-Mendieta, Cosano-Rivas, 2011) and increased turnover (DePanfilis, Zlotnik, 2008, Williams, Nichols, Kirk, Wilson, 2011, Kim, Solomon, Jang, 2012, Kim, Stoner, 2008, Mor Barak, Nissly, Levin, 2001).

This study examined predictors and consequences of burnout among social workers in Serbia. This research examined the relationship between job demands, burnout and quality of life among social workers.

The Job Demands–Resources Model

This study is contextualized within the Job Demands - Resources (JD-R) explanatory model of burnout. According to the JD - R model (Bakker, Demerouti, Boer, Schaufeli, 2003, Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, Schaufeli, 2001), every occupation may have its own specific risk factors associated with burnout, these factors can be classified into two broad categories of work characteristics: job demands and job resources.

Job demands refer to those physical, psychological, social, or organizational aspects of the job that require sustained physical and/or psychological (i.e., cognitive or emotional) effort and are therefore associated with certain physiological and/or psychological costs (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, Schaufeli, 2001). Although it has been suggested that job demands might measure the challenges in work rather than the stressful aspects (Steenland, Johnson, Nowlin, 1997), job demands may become stressors in situations which require high effort to sustain an expected performance level, consequently eliciting negative responses, including burnout. Job resources refer to those physical, psychological, social, or organizational aspects of the job that may 1. reduce job demands and the associated physiological and psychological costs, 2. are functional in achieving work goals, and 3. stimulate personal growth, learning, and development. A lack of job resources may have negative effects on employees’ well-being, that is, increase levels of burnout.

A second proposition of JD-R theory is that job demands and resources instigate two very different processes: 1. an energetic process of wearing out in which high job demands exhaust employees’ mental and physical resources and may therefore lead to

burnout, and eventually to ill health; and 2. a motivational process in which job resources foster work engagement which in turn leads to positive organisational outcomes (Schaufeli, Bakker, 2004). Taken together, the JD-R model proposes that high job demands and a lack of job resources form the breeding ground for burnout and for reduced work engagement, respectively.

The energetic process from high job demands through burnout to ill health can be illuminated using Hockey’s (Hockey, 1997, 2000) compensatory regulatory-control model. According to this model, employees under stress face a trade-off between the protection of their primary performance goals (benefits) and the mental effort that has to be invested in the job (costs). When job demands increase, regulatory problems occur; that is, compensatory effort has to be mobilized in order deal with the increased demands and to maintain performance levels, and this is associated with physiological and psychological costs (e.g., increased sympathetic activity, fatigue, loss of motivation). Continuous mobilization of compensatory effort drains the employee’s energy and might therefore lead to burnout and, in the long run, to ill health (Hockey, 2000, Frankenhaeuser, Johansson, 1986, Gaillard, 2001).

The aim of study (Zubić, 2022) was to examine the relationship between elements of the JD-R Model in a sample of teachers from the Republic of Serbia. The sample consisted of 119 teachers who have been working in primary and secondary schools. The results showed statistically significant correlations between work overload and emotional demands, on the one hand, and burnout and job commitment, on the other hand.

Statistically significant correlations were found between colleague support and supervisor support, on the one hand, and burnout and job commitment, on the other hand. A statistically significant negative correlation was found between burnout and job commitment, The results confirmed the assumptions of the JD-R model, the energetic process of exhaustion, i.e. the effect of job demands (job overload and emotional demands) on burnout, as well as the motivational process, the effect of job resources (social support from colleagues and supervisors) on job commitment.

Several studies conducted in the context of the JD-R model have found that job burnout mediates the relationships between different types of job demands and ill health. For example, the research conducted by Hakanen et al. has indicated that job burnout mediated negative impact of job demands on self-rated mental problems in a group of Finnish teachers (Hakanen, Bakker, Schaufeli, 2006).Mediating function of the job burnout was supported also in study, in which emotional demands, quantitative workload and poor working conditions led to depression through increasing high job burnout in the group of dentists (Hakanen, Schaufeli, Ahola, 2008). In the

Dutch study on workers of service organizations, Schaufeli and Bakker (2004) have found that workload and emotional demands lead – through a high job burnout – to psychosomatic symptoms, including headaches, cardiovascular problems and gastric problems. Results the study on Polish teachers (Baka, 2015) showed that the negative impact of job demands on mental and physical health were mediated by the increasing job burnout (Penezić, 2021).

Results of the longitudinal study (Lizano, Mor Barak, 2012) on the sample of public child welfare workers confirmed assumptions of JD-R model. Therefore, it was confirmed the impact of workplace demands and resources on the development of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. This research is an attempt to verify the JD-R model of burnout in Serbian conditions. The central aim of the present study is to examine connection between job demands and burnout and quality of life among social workers in Serbia.

Based on previous empirical findings on job burnout among employees and social workers, the theoretical postulates of Job Demands–Resources model of job burnout, this study tests the following hypotheses:

H1. Job demands (workload, emotional demands) are positively correlated to burnout

H2. Job demands (workload, emotional demands) are negatively correlated with quality of life

H3. Job burnout is a negatively correlated with quality of life

Methods

Sample

Ten social services departments from different cities in Serbia were originally approached. Due to a variety of reasons only six were able to co-operate in the study. Having obtained permission from the six respective Directors of Social Services, team leaders and social workers were asked for co-operation in filling in the research questionnaire. In some cases, by request, the researcher attended staff meetings to administer the questionnaire. In other cases, respondents were handed the questionnaire (and a covering letter) by their team leader and asked to return it, completed, in a sealed envelope direct to the researchers or to an agreed collection point. The confidentiality of the answers was emphasized. In this way, a total of 150 questionnaires were distributed and 106 were returned, and 102 were fully completed and used for the data analysis purposes.

The sample population consisted of 102 social workers working in Serbia. The sample included 16 men (15,7%) and 86 women (84,3%). Respondent age ranged from 24 to 63 with a mean sample age 38.73 (SD=10.67). Agency tenure in the sample ranged from a one year to 37 years with an average tenure of 12,08 (SD=9,872). Average weekly working time of the participants was 41,95 (SD=4,28).

Measures

Job demands. Two job demands were included in the present research: workload and emocional demands. Workload represents a job demand consistently found to be a major predictor of burnout (Schaufeli, Enzmann, 1998, Lee, Ashforth, 1996). Workload was measured with the Workload scale (Shirom, Nirel, Vinokur, 2010). Respondents rated their workload using a five-point scale that ranged from 1 (Do not agree) to 5 (Very much). The nine-item measure included items gauging quantitative overload (worked too many hours), and qualitative overload (found it difficult to divide his or her available time between work and family). Cronbach’s Alpha of this scale is 0.88.

Emocional demands was assessed with scale Emotional demands from The Job Demands - Resources Questionnaire (Bakker, 2014) and included six items (e.g., Is your work emotionally demanding?). High scores on scale indicate high emocional demands. Items were scored on a scale ranging from (1) ‘‘never” to (5) ‘‘very often”. Cronbach’s Alpha of this scale is 0.77.

The job burnout was measured with Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI). The CBI is a public domain questionnaire and consists of three scales measuring personal burnout, work-related burnout, and client-related burnout. Burnout is a state of prolonged physical and psychological exhaustion (nineteen items; e.g., How often do you feel tired?). High scores indicate high burnout. Items were scored on a scale ranging from (0) ‘‘never” to (4) ‘‘always”. Cronbach’s Alpha of this scale is high 0.92

The quality of life was measured with The World Health Organization Quality of Life-WHOQOL-BREF (The WHOQOL Group, 1996). Quality of life is defined as individuals' perceptions of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns. WHOQOL-BREF contains 26 items (e.g., To what extent do you feel your life to be meaningful?) and covers four different domains of quality of life: physical health, psychological health, social relationships and environmental domain. Each individual item of the WHOQOL-BREF is scored from 1 to 5 on a response scale, high scores indicate high quality of life. Cronbach’s Alpha of this scale is 0.82.

Statistical analysis

IBM SPSS Statistics v. 21 was used for data processing. Among the descriptive parameters, the arithmetic mean and standard deviation were used, and in order to register connection among variables, correlation was conducted. The level of significance is p<.05.

Results

Table 1. shows the means, standard deviations, and correlations between the variables.

Table 1. Descriptive statistics and correlations of the study variables

Variables	Mean	SD	1	2	3
1. Workload	3,56	,79	1
2. Emotional demands	3,27	,61	0.61***	1
3. Burnout	3,24	,69	0.59***	0.63***	1
•        4. Overall Quality of Life	3,52	,62	-0.42***	-0.44***	-0.57***

* p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001.

All the significant relationships between the variables were in the expected direction. Job demands were negatively related to quality of life, and positively related to burnout. In addition, burnout was negatively related to quality of life.

Discussion

The JD-R model has been the theoretical framework of the study. The aim of the current study was to study connection between job demands and burnout and quality of life among social workers in Serbia. First, the findings indicate a positive relationship between job demands and burnout. This is consistent with previous empirical studies examining the relationship between job demands and job burnout (Steenland, Johnson, Nowlin, 1997, Upadyaya, Vartiainen, Salmela-Aro, 2016, Xanthopoulou, Bakker, Demerouti, Schaufeli, 2007). Results of this study showed negative relationship between burnout and quality of life. The findings also indicate a negative relationship between job demands and quality of life among social workers which is congruent with the theoretical understandings (National Association of Social Workers, 2016).

This is consistent with previous empirical studies examining the mediating role of burnout in the relationship between job demands and ill health (Hakanen, Bakker, Schaufeli, 2006), and depression (Hakanen, Schaufeli, Ahola, 2008), mental and physical health problems (Baka, 2015) and psychosomatic symptoms, including headaches, cardiovascular problems and gastric problems (Schaufeli, Bakker, 2004).

This study lends support to the JD-R model in predicting burnout among social workers. This is consistent with previous study among public child welfare workers which also confirmed JD-R model of burnout development (Lizano, Mor Barak, 2012).

It should be also noted that this research contains certain limitations which weaken its external validity and call for caution in the interpretation of the results.

Because of the cross-sectional design of the current study, the postulated relationships between job demands and burnout dimensions cannot be interpreted causally. Nevertheless, longitudinal studies and quasi-experimental research designs are needed to further validate the hypothesized causal relationships in the JD-R model. Both job burnout and quality of life are usual dynamic processes which evolve being subjected to a long-term impact of job demands therefore it is crucial to reflect their gradual development. This can be achieved only through longitudinal research with a several month break between test and retest.

Unequal sex ratio in the sample with 84,3% female participants is one of the limitations. The data may apply to men to a lesser extent. What is more, the research has taken into consideration only one (and quite specific) occupational group – social workers. Job resources have not been taken into account in the presented analyses but their beneficial functions are distinctly emphasized by the authors of the JD-R model. Numerous studies have concluded that job resources may buffer the adverse impact of job demands on poor health (Bakker, Demerouti, Taris, Schaufelli, Schreurs, 2003).

Job demands play a central role in the hypothesized energetic process that might lead to burnout and health problems, but also to potential negative organizational outcomes such as the intention to leave the organization. Study results can help inform management strategies for the prevention of job burnout development among social workers. Our results indicate that organizations of social work should aim to decrease job demands when feasible. Many organizational based strategies exist to tackle high job demands, such as job redesign, flexible work schedules, and goal setting (Quick, Quick, Nelson, Hurrell, 1997).Since burnout plays a key role in the model, individual-based interventions to reduce burnout symptoms might also be an avenue to explore (Schaufeli, Enzmann, 1998). The meta-analysis (Van der Klink, et al., 2001) showed that particularly stress management programs that use a cognitive behavioral approach are effective in reducing stress reactions, including burnout. Clearly, such individual-based programs should be supplemented by organization-based programs in order to be effective in the long run. We hope that with the proposed model we have contributed to a better understanding of burnout traditional issue in occupational health psychology.