Vocational rehabilitation counselor burnout profiles and mindfulness

Abstract

Burnout of vocational rehabilitation (VR) counselors can not only lead to decreased job satisfaction and turnover but also damage the quality of VR services provided to clients with disabilities. It is an ethical obligation for VR counselors to engage in self-care practices to prevent burnout. The current study surveyed 147 VR counselors from two State VR agencies about their current level of burnout and mindfulness related facets. Based on the latent profile analysis, four unique counselor burnout profiles were identified. These were well-adjusted-counselor, type I preserving-counselor, type II preserving-counselor, and disconnected-counselor. Moreover, the results of multivariate analysis of variance tests disclosed that VR counselors with different counselor burnout profiles varied significantly on the mindfulness measure, especially in the facets of acting with awareness and non-judging. The results have unique research and practice implications for the prevention and treatment of burnout of VR counselors.