The relationship between spiritual well-being, burnout, and job satisfaction among mental health professionals working with trauma in community settings

Burnout presents a potential risk to mental health professionals in high-demand work settings. Mental health professionals (MHPs) who work in community settings with traumatized populations are at risk of physical and emotional exhaustion resulting from increased caseloads, management responsibilities, organizational policies and procedures, and limited resources. The current study examines the extent to which the variance in burnout is accounted for by MHPs’ sense of spiritual well-being after controlling for job satisfaction. In addition, the study examines the relationships between spiritual well-being and job satisfaction. The results show that there was a statistically significant relationship between burnout and job satisfaction. There was no correlation between burnout and spiritual well-being. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis was performed to assess the degree to which spiritual well-being and job satisfaction predict levels of burnout, after controlling for job satisfaction. Spiritual well-being did not make a unique contribution when included, explaining 16% of the variance in burnout.