Burnout is a ubiquitous concept in the social sciences, education and business administration. The concept has been evoked to account for any negative attitude about a role, a relationship, or a line of activity. In fact, a generation ago, Time magazine declared the existence of the “burnout of almost everybody” (Morrow, 1981, p. 84). Burnout has been cited as the cause of loss of interest and enthusiasm about a job, a marriage, a life style, or recreational activities. However, a more precise application of the concept of burnout is usually applied to the work of human service professionals and their loss of enthusiasm toward their work and an increased desire on their part to quit. The concept was coined by the clinical psychologist H. J. Freudenberger (1974) to describe the “wearing out” of human service professionals whose clients, patients, or students seem not to improve, recover, or learn. The malady is characterized by emotional exhaustion and a lost sense of personal accomplishment. The workers no longer perform their roles effectively and sometimes even become hostile or uncaring about those with whom they are charged to serve.
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Dworkin, A.G. (2009). Teacher Burnout and Teacher Resilience: Assessing the Impacts of the School Accountability Movement. In: Saha, L.J., Dworkin, A.G. (eds) International Handbook of Research on Teachers and Teaching. Springer International Handbooks of Education, vol 21. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-73317-3_32
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