ABSTRACT
The importance of highly qualified and effective school staff is unquestionable, but so is the problem of turnover schools. The nature and relation between burnout and turnover intentions in our nation's schools is unclear and interventions thus far ineffective. Thus, the current study aimed to examine this relation testing demoralization, organizational barriers, and mindful self-care as moderators. It was hypothesized that across participants burnout, as measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI-ES;Maslach, Jackson, & Schwab, 1986), would be higher than the normative sample. It was also hypothesized that burnout would significantly positively predict turnover intentions, as measured by the Turnover Intention Scale (TIS-6;Roodt, 2004). Lastly, it was hypothesized that demoralization, as measured by the Teacher Disposition Scale (TDS;Carlson-Jaquez, 2016), organizational barriers, as measured by the Organizational Barriers in Schools Scale (OBSS;De Oliveira, 2020), and mindful self-care, as measured by the Mindful Self-Care Scale (MSCS-Standard;Cook-Cottone & Guyker, 2017) would moderate the relation between burnout and turnover intention. In a cross-sectional design, participants completed scales through an anonymous online survey link. A one-sample z-test comparing sample means to the normative sample revealed current participants to have significantly higher levels of emotional exhaustion, significantly lower levels of depersonalization, and significantly higher levels of personal accomplishment than the normative sample. School leaders reported more personal accomplishment and school clinicians reported more organizational barriers. Correlational analyses revealed burnout, demoralization, organizational barriers, and mindful self-care to significantly correlate with turnover intentions. A multiple hierarchical regression analysis suggests the relation between burnout and turnover intentions is not dependent on demoralization, organizational barriers, or mindful self-care. Each emerged, however, as strong individual predictors of turnover intentions. While the impact of COVID-19 emerged as a significant predictor, it only accounted for 3% of the variance. Exploratory mediation analysis found emotional exhaustion to mediate the relation between self-care and turnover intentions. This study is the first to explore burnout across school roles as well as to introduce the variables of demoralization and organizational barriers in schools. Recommendations for future research and implications for schools is discussed with emphasis on practical tips to better support those who keep schools thriving. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)