Relationships among therapists' absenteeism, caseload and perceptions of change, satisfaction and burnout.

The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship of stress as measured by the variables of perceived change, type of caseload and the existence of symptoms of burnout, on job satisfaction, absenteeism and burnout. The investigator wished to determine if reported institutional variables were significant in outpatient mental health center settings. The sample consisted of 74 community mental health center staff employed in six units. Data analyses included descriptive statistics on all the questionnaire items with selected correlations being performed. The results of the study showed the predicted inverse relationship between burnout measures and job satisfaction. A moderate correlation between self-reported job satisfaction and episodes of unscheduled absenteeism was obtained. In addition, a similar relationship was found between job satisfaction and self-reports of feeling burned out.