Burnout level in Iranian teachers and its related factors: A health promotion approach

Promoting the well‑being of students and teachers should be the goal of school mental health programs. A large body of evidence has highlighted that there is an emerging concern regarding the increasing stresses that teachers are dealing with. Burnout is a psychophysical state that is characterized by emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP), and low sense of personal accomplishment (PA). We aimed to assess burnout level in teachers’ population and its correlation with demographic characteristics because it not only can be affected teachers’ health promotion but also student well‑being promotion.

In the present cross‑sectional study, 322 high‑schoolteachers from the second district of Tehran were randomly selected and were asked to complete the standard Maslach Burnout Inventory questionnaire to evaluate the three areas of burnout. In addition, participants were interviewed for their demographic status (IR.TUMS.MEDICINE.REC.1397.473).

The results of this study showed that male teachers exhibit significantly lower score compared with female ones in all three indicators of burnout including EE, DP, and PA (P < 0.05). The number of children teachers and income level in men also influenced all three indices (P < 0.05). Regarding the impact of spouse’s job status on burnout in men and women, PA was the only unaffected area (P > 0.05). Nevertheless, none of the demographic characteristics effected burnout domains in female teacher population.

Considering the results of this study that shows the higher burnout level in male teachers and its association with several demographic characteristics such as income level and number of children, special attention should be paid to this gender to reduce possible stress and mental illness.