Emotional Burnout in the Higher Education Teachers as a Health Risk Factor and a Cause for Leaving the Profession

Introduction: Emotional burnout occurs more often in people employed in altruistic professions, including teaching. Purpose: Carry out research to identify emotional burnout in higher education teachers and its influence on their health. Methods: Psychological, statistical and analytical. With the questionnaire of V. Bojko “Emotional burnout”, 637 people were surveyed, including a group of 60 teachers. Data gathered were processed and analysed using descriptive and analytical statistics. Results: Among teaching staff, the phase of stress was determined in every fourth teacher (26,6 ± 5,7 %). For 8,3 ± 3,5 % of teachers, the phase of stress was already developed, while for 18,3 ± 4,9 % of teachers it was still in development. The symptom “Reduction of professional responsibilities” was identified in half of the teachers (50,0 ± 6,4 %), which is 3,5 times more frequent than for the whole sample (14,4 ± 0,4 %), p < 0,05. The symptom “Expansion of emotion saving” was also more frequently observed in teachers: 31,6 ± 6,0 % and 11,5 ± 0,4 %, p < 0,05 respectively. Particular emphasis should be placed on the symptom “Psychosomatic and psychovegetative disorders”, which was identified in every tenth examinee (13,3 ± 4,3 % in teacher sample and 9,7 ± 0,3 % in total sample, p > 0,05), which can affect their somatic well-being and their work capacity. Conclusion: Emotional burnout should be considered as a health risk factor, especially for higher education teachers, which requires development and implementation of measures to prevent the loss of highly qualified human resources.