Abstract
This convergent mixed-methods study examined the distinct burnout profiles of novice school counselors and their respective professional experiences. A cluster analysis yielded a three-factor solution revealing unique burnout profiles. Qualitative analyses identified job-related challenges and resources impacting the work performance of novice school counselors. We provide recommendations for school counselor training.
School counseling can be a demanding, albeit meaningful, profession, and induction into the field can often be accompanied by early on-the-job experiences that expose novice school counselors to persistent emotional and interpersonal job stress, leaving them vulnerable to burnout (Cook, Fye, et al., 2021a; Cook, Fye, & Wind, 2021b). Researchers have identified both the burnout vulnerability school counselors experience in their early career stages (Fye et al., 2020; Mullen et al., 2018; Wilkerson & Bellini, 2006) and the job conditions that are implicated with novice school counselor burnout. These conditions involve facing multiple professional duties and unclear job requirements, all while navigating new school environments and organizational structures and resources (Cook, Fye, et al., 2021a; Curry & Bickmore, 2012; McCarthy et al., 2010; Mullen et al., 2018). School counseling researchers have urged that this phenomenon be systematically addressed (Mullen et al., 2018) due to the deleterious effects of burnout on school counselors’ work-related attitudes such as commitment and job satisfaction (Bardhoshi et al., 2014; Mullen et al., 2018), and on their personal lives and wellness (Bardhoshi et al., 2014; Mullen et al., 2018). Because effective school counselors have a significant impact on meeting the mental health needs of their students (Griffin & Farris, 2010), an engaged, competent, and vital school counseling workforce is of critical importance.
Previous school counselor literature has described counselor burnout as experienced both individually and within the largest context of the school counselor’s work environment. Individually, burnout is experienced through feelings of emotional exhaustion, lack of professional efficacy, and detachment from one’s clients. Contextually, burnout is experienced through a perception of a negative work environment (Lee et al., 2007) and detrimental carryover effects in the counselor’s personal life (Lee et al., 2007). Therefore, effectively addressing school counselor burnout at this critical early period is dependent on a nuanced grasp of both personal and organizational factors impacting the development of burnout. Identifying the distinctive training and work experiences school counselors are exposed to is also worthwhile; these can be quite distinctive and varied, and can embody both protective and risk functions. The interest in understanding counselor burnout has led researchers to explore and identify distinct profiles of burnout and relevant constructs (Ko & Lee, 2021; Lee et al., 2010). Indeed, counseling research that explores complex phenomena by trying to clarify individual differences into meaningful profiles can create a deeper understanding of the phenomenon and guide customized interventions (Bardhoshi et al., 2021).
The understanding of counselor burnout profiles can be particularly pertinent for counselor education programs. Programs can prevent the burnout of future counselors by both emphasizing wellness (Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Educational Related Programs [CACREP], 2018) and imparting essential competencies for effectively meeting future job responsibilities (Curry & Bickmore, 2012; Fye et al., 2020; Holman et al., 2018). Especially salient for counselor educators focused on preventing burnout is understanding which aspects of early training and professional experiences are considered most impactful by the practicing school counselors themselves and taking into account their lived professional experiences. Early professional development experiences can have a crucial impact in the career development of school counselors, especially as they are exposed to unique work experiences and gain practical insight (Rønnestad & Skovholt, 2003). Expanding current research to include not only quantitative data but also qualitative data from in-service professionals (Hultell et al., 2013) could be of unique value to the profession.
Counselor Burnout Profiles
Developing optimized solutions in counselor burnout research often rests on understanding the unique characteristics of a population and identifying specific typologies, or profiles, that can drive targeted intervention (Bardhoshi et al., 2021). Regarding school counselor burnout, Lee and colleagues (2010) classified counselors based on their scores across all five dimensions, or subscales, of the Counselor Burnout Inventory (CBI; Lee et al., 2007), with higher scores indicating higher burnout. Subscales included the core burnout dimensions of Emotional Exhaustion, Feelings of Incompetence, and Devaluing Client, which is characterized by reduced empathy and interest toward client concerns. Lee at al. (2007) also added two new subscales to capture contextual dimensions of burnout: (a) experiencing a Negative Work Environment and (b) subsequent Deterioration in Personal Life. From a cluster analysis in that study, a three-factor solution revealed unique counselor burnout profiles, including well-adjusted counselors, persevering counselors, and disconnected counselors. The study identified patterns among the CBI subscales, with Exhaustion, Negative Work Environment, and Deterioration in Personal Life scores hovering around similar levels, while Incompetence and Devaluing Client scores tended to move reversely (Lee et al., 2010). In a recent CBI study based on item response theory, Cook, Fye, and Wind (2021b)Cook, Fye, and Wind (2021) found that higher scores in Devaluing Client items represented higher burnout. Although these studies focused on counselors with diverse specializations, including school counselors, exclusively identifying the unique burnout profiles of novice school counselors with a national sample of practitioners, while also examining the role of variables frequently featured in school counseling burnout literature, presents an important next step.
Factors Impacting Burnout Based on the Job Demands Resources Model
One of the most frequently used theoretical models of burnout is the job demands-resources model (JDR; Demerouti et al., 2001). The JDR conceptualizes burnout as a function of an imbalance between job demands made on an individual and the resources available to them to meet those demands, achieve work goals, and promote professional and personal growth. The JDR proposes that extreme job demands lead first to sustained heightened effort and then to eventual exhaustion. A lack of resources to deal with those demands further leads to withdrawal, eventual disengagement from work, and negative personal effects (Demerouti et al., 2001).
Based on the JDR framework, researchers have examined factors functioning either as risks (i.e., job demands) or protectors (i.e., job resources) for burnout. The primary organizational risk factors for novice school counselor experiences of stress and burnout can include a high caseload (Bardhoshi et al., 2014; McCarthy et al., 2010), noncounseling duties such as excessive administrative work (Bardhoshi et al., 2014; Moyer, 2011), and role ambiguity (Fye et al., 2020). Moreover, multiple studies have noted the lack of professional efficacy as a common issue among early-career educators, including school counselors, which can lead them to higher job-related stress and burnout (Caspersen & Raaen, 2014; Cook, Fye, et al., 2021a). In contrast, the burnout literature specifically points to the importance of job resources as protective factors that buffer the impact of school counselor burnout (Butler & Constantine, 2005; Bardhoshi et al., 2014). For instance, social support from supervisors, colleagues, and organizations is an important protective factor for school counselor burnout (Bardhoshi et al., 2014). Counseling researchers have also highlighted the influence of personal factors on ameliorating burnout, such as problem-focused coping, job satisfaction, and self-efficacy (Bardhoshi et al., 2021; Fye et al., 2020).
Studies have also investigated the influence of demographic factors such as gender, race/ethnicity, and years of experience on counseling professionals’ burnout (Lim et al., 2010; Lent & Schwartz, 2012). Finally, in terms of personal factors associated with counselor burnout, researchers have highlighted the detrimental role of maladaptive emotional coping and anxiety (Fye et al., 2020; Lent & Schwartz, 2012).
Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify the unique burnout profiles of novice school counselors and examine the job challenges and resources they experience in this critical stage of their professional journey, in order to obtain a comprehensive understanding of their work trajectory. The current study employed a convergent mixed-methods design to facilitate (a) an exploration of the distinct burnout profiles of practicing novice school counselors, (b) the potential contribution of personal and organizational factors identified through the literature on novice school counselor burnout profiles, and (c) the exploration of relevant professional experiences these school counselors themselves deem to be critical challenges and resources in this important stage in their career. Specifically, we aimed to address the following research questions: What are the unique burnout profiles of novice school counselors based on the five dimensions (exhaustion, incompetence, negative work environment, devaluing client, and deterioration in personal life) of the CBI? Do personal and organizational variables (gender, race/ethnicity, school employment settings, caseload, self-efficacy, and job satisfaction) explain resultant novice school counselor burnout profiles? What were the main job challenges and resources novice school counselors experienced in their first position as practicing school counselors?
Methods
Participants
The participants in this study were novice school counselors across the United States. We defined “novice” as having 0–5 years of work experience, based on reviewing relevant studies and concluding that this range was the most widely adopted criterion for classifying novice human service professionals (e.g., Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2019; Price & Reichert, 2017; Zahm et al., 2016). After obtaining institutional review board approval, we sent a recruitment e-mail to school counselor members (N = 9381) of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA). Participants completed an online survey using SurveyMonkey, which included a welcome screen with instructions, informed consent, and questionnaires. A criterion sampling procedure was used to identify whether individuals were eligible for participation, by verifying that they (a) held a current school counselor certification/licensure in their state of practice and (b) were actively employed in a K–12 setting. Out of a pool of 9381 contacted school counselors, 1069 participants completed surveys (11% response rate) and we selectively used the data from school counselors with 0–5 years of experience. The analysis included a total of 231 cases.
Instruments
Counselor Burnout Inventory (CBI)
The CBI is a 20-item self-report measure developed by Lee and colleagues (2007). It is specifically designed to assess burnout in professional counselors, using a 5-point Likert-type scale with responses from 1 (never true
School Counselor Self-Efficacy Scale (SCSES)
The SCSES is designed to measure school counselors’ self-efficacy and consists of 43 items (Bodenhorn & Skaggs, 2005). Employing a 5-point Likert-type scale from 1 (Not confident) to 5 (Highly confident), the SCSES involves five subscales: Personal and Social Development (e.g., “Model and teach conflict resolution skills”), Leadership and Assessment (e.g., “Develop school improvement plans based on interpreting school-wide assessment results”), Career and Academic Development (e.g., “Implement a program which enables all students to make informed career decisions”), Collaboration (e.g., “Consult and collaborate with teachers, staff, administrators, and parents to promote student success”), and Cultural Acceptance (e.g., “Counsel effectively with students and families from different social/economic status”). According to Bodenhorn and Skaggs (2005), Cronbach’s alphas for the SCSES subscales were between .72 and .91 and the structural validity of the five-factor model of SCSES was supported. In the present study, SCSES subscale alpha coefficients were .90 (Personal and Social Development), .89 (Leadership and Assessment), .87 (Career and Academic Development), .83 (Collaboration), and .75 (Cultural Acceptance); with .96 for the total scale.
Job Satisfaction
To measure school counselors’ job satisfaction, we used a global measure of job satisfaction (Scarpello & Campbell, 1983). Participants responded to a single item, “Overall, how satisfied are you with your job?” employing a 5-point Likert-type scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very much so). In terms of using a single item for assessing job satisfaction, Wanous and colleagues (1997) reported its usefulness and validity comparable to multiple-item measurements of job satisfaction.
Demographic and Organizational Information
All participants completed a survey designed to collect relevant demographic and organizational data, including participants’ gender, race/ethnicity, school employment setting, years of school counseling experience, and size of caseload.
Qualitative Questions
We included two open-ended questions about the early professional experience of school counselors. The questions read as follows: (a) “Reflecting upon your first position as a school counselor, what were some challenges you faced in meeting your job responsibilities?” and (b) “Reflecting upon your first position/year as a school counselor, what resources were you able to access in order to meet your job responsibilities?”
Research Design
Our study employed a convergent parallel mixed-methods research design, using two primary procedures for data analysis. This involved collecting quantitative and qualitative data simultaneously, equally weighing the two datasets during an independent analysis, and then merging them and interpreting the results holistically (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011). The convergent parallel mixed-methods design has been utilized in counseling research for a comprehensive understanding of complex issues and needs of counselors and clients (Rivers & Swank, 2017; Wester & McKibben, 2019). This design is ideal for counseling research seeking to better understand a complex phenomenon, allowing researchers to corroborate quantitative and qualitative data findings together (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011) to better examine the characteristics and factors that are implicated with the development of a complex phenomenon in education professionals (Demir & Pismek, 2018).
Analysis
For the final data from 231 novice school counselors, the results of Little’s test (χ 2 = 2839.89, df = 2789, p = .246) indicated any missing data were missing completely at random (Sterner, 2011). Based on the study of Lee and colleagues (2010), we transformed the CBI subscale scores to T scores (M = 50, SD = 10) to analyze the patterns of school counselor burnout across five subscales. We performed a hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis using SPSS 23.0. We used both Ward’s method and squared Euclidean distance, given their wide implementation in counseling research to minimize errors (Bardhoshi et al., 2021). The adequacy of the cluster solution was tested by the Silhouette index. We performed chi-square tests or analyses of variance (ANOVAs) with post-hoc Tukey tests for personal and organizational variables, because identifying the differences among the subgroups is one of the validation processes of cluster analysis (Bardhoshi et al., 2021). We used dummy-coded caseload values in the chi-square test to examine the potential impact of exceeding the ASCA-recommended caseload number on novice school counselor burnout profiles. Therefore, caseload data were dichotomously coded based on the 250:1 ratio recommended by ASCA [2022]), with 0 representing a caseload of 250 or less and 1 representing a caseload exceeding 250.
For the qualitative component, we systematically analyzed data from the two open-ended questions based on the principles of qualitative content analysis, which has been utilized for examining counselors’ perceptions and professional experience (e.g., Cook, Fye, et al., 2021a). Our analysis of the open-ended questions followed multiple steps recommended by Mayring (2014) that involved becoming familiar with the data and summarizing it, generating initial codes, reviewing and defining codes, expanding codes into themes by classifying them, and, finally, writing the results. Further, informed by recommendation from Hays and Wood (2011), we paid particular attention to causal conditions (i.e., challenges that school counselors face) and positive intervening conditions (i.e., accessible resources) in our dataset.
Qualitative content analysis is a deductive-inductive methodology that includes both open coding and categorization (Kansteiner & König, 2020). Compared to the content analysis based on quantitative methods, qualitative content analysis is oriented from interpretivism in that it allows more detailed and multifaceted understanding of a phenomenon (Kansteiner & König, 2020; Mingers, 2003). More specifically, following the qualitative content analysis techniques suggested by Mayring (2014), we started summarizing the extensive qualitative dataset to reduce the texts to core components. After determining the units of analysis, the text data were initially free coded for abstraction and generalization, and subsequently classified from emerged codes into larger categories based on similarities and differences. Comparing the emergent categories, we then combined meaningful categories to form larger themes. Established themes and subthemes were interpreted in alignment with quantitative results to form a more coherent picture and promote an in-depth understanding.
Research Team
The qualitative analysis team for this study consisted of four Counselor Education and Supervision doctoral students and two associate professors across three CACREP-accredited counselor education programs. Because researchers are instruments themselves, we regularly discussed the researchers’ personal and professional background and possible power dynamics in order to enhance trustworthiness (Yeh & Inman, 2007). The second author, who has 5 years of school counseling experience, open-coded qualitative data line by line using the emic codes based on participants’ responses, which promotes internal validity for data interpretation (Yeh & Inman, 2007). The fourth and fifth authors, who have years of clinical counseling experiences, scrutinized the initially coded data. The first author, who is a trained mixed-methods research methodologist and has worked as a school counselor educator for 10 years, audited the entire process and carefully examined the results on a regular basis. Consultation on the auditing process involved the sixth author, who is a school counselor educator with training in qualitative research methodology. Through weekly meetings, the authors consulted on the initial codebook and generated multiple rounds of revision through a constant comparative method, with coding disagreements resolved by consensus. For the researchers, becoming attuned to our own reactions to respondents and to each other was essential to practicing reflexivity and featured centrally in weekly meetings. To enhance the trustworthiness of the study, we adapted several strategies from mixed-method research in counseling literature (Cook, Fye, et al., 2021a; Interiano-Shiverdecker et al., 2021). First, an audit trail and reflective journals were kept by the first two authors, to document the sequence of analyzing data and the authors’ viewpoint. Second, we used thick description to enhance trustworthiness by providing detailed information about our analysis procedure and relevant findings. Third, the first author, in consultation with the sixth author, audited the entire process of the analysis, while the third author served as the final external auditor who reviewed the established codes, categories, and themes for capturing participant’s meaning, as well as reflecting casual and positive conditions documented in school counseling literature. To assist with systematic interpretation, we counted the frequency of each subtheme’s occurrence, thus enabling quantitative testing. The final step was integrating the qualitative and quantitative findings by examining the proportional pattern of major qualitative themes.
Results
School Counselor Burnout Typology
Results from the cluster analysis using Ward’s method and squared Euclidean distance resulted in a three-cluster solution (see Figure 1), indicating three distinct burnout profiles in our sample of novice school counselors. We used the Silhouette index to determine the optimal number of clusters and validate the results (Bardhoshi et al., 2021); a three-cluster solution indicated a fair mean value (M = .230) compared to other cluster solutions (M = .132–.190). Detailed participant demographics following the three-cluster solution are presented in Table 1. Novice school counselor burnout clusters based on five Subscale T scores of the counselor burnout inventory. Note. A total of 231 school counselors were divided into Cluster 1 (low-burnout novice school counselors; n = 66), Cluster 2 (moderate-burnout; n = 85), and Cluster 3 (high-burnout; n = 80). Personal and Organizational Variables by Burnout Clusters and Results of Chi-Square Test and ANOVAs. Note. Post-hoc Tukey test includes paired relationships showing significant differences (1, 2, and 3 indicate the number of each cluster). Chi-square tests were performed for gender, race/ethnicity, and caseload (dummy coded). Cluster 1 = low-burnout novice school counselors; Cluster 2 = moderate-burnout; and Cluster 3 = high-burnout. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
Cluster 1 comprised 28.6% (n = 66) of the participants, indicating lower scores across all five CBI subscales. The low-burnout novice school counselors represented in the first cluster were likely to show overall low levels of burnout. Next, Cluster 2 comprised 36.8% (n = 85) of participants and was characterized by a combination of higher scores in Exhaustion, Incompetence, Negative Work Environment, and Deterioration in Personal Life, but lower scores in Devaluing Client. The second cluster includes moderate-burnout novice school counselors, indicating higher Incompetence but lower Devaluing Client scores. Finally, 34.6% (n = 80) of participants comprised Cluster 3, which was characterized by high scores in both Incompetence and Devaluing Client, and moderate scores in Exhaustion, Negative Work Environment, and Deterioration in Personal Life. These high-burnout individuals are novice school counselors experiencing less competence and responsiveness to students, in a pattern similar to Cluster 1.
Sample Characteristics and Group Differences Based on Burnout Clusters
Based on the three resultant profiles of novice school counselor burnout, we performed chi-square tests for categorical demographic variables and ANOVAs with post-hoc Tukey tests for continuous variables to identify the relevance of the demographic and organizational variables collected for each profile. As shown in Table 1, gender (p > .05), race/ethnicity (p > .05), and school employment settings (p > .05) did not show any significant differences based on the cluster membership. Examination of descriptive data involving caseload revealed that Cluster 1 had the lowest caseload (M = 357.06; SD = 223.90), with caseload increasing with each cluster (Cluster 2: M = 374.89, SD = 194.64; Cluster 3: M = 426.28, SD = 250.47). We dichotomously coded caseload based on the 250:1 ratio recommended by ASCA (2022), with 0 representing a caseload of 250 or less (55 participants in our sample), and 1 representing a caseload exceeding 250 (176 participants). Caseload was significantly differentiated (p < .05, φ = .017) among the three clusters. More specifically, when we conducted chi-square tests for two groups separately, low-burnout novice school counselors represented by Cluster 1 and high-burnout participants represented by Cluster 3 indicated a significant difference in caseload (p < .05, φ = .020). This indicates that low-burnout participants were more likely to have a maximum of 250 students in their caseload compared to their high-burnout peers. Moreover, self-efficacy (p < .01, η2 = .053) was significantly higher in low-burnout novice school counselors than those with high burnout. Job satisfaction was significantly higher in low- and moderate-burnout novice school counselors than high-burnout participants (p < .001, η2 = .098).
School Counselors’ Early Professional Development Based on Burnout Clusters
Novice School Counselors’ Professional Experiences Promoting or Impeding Job Responsibilities.
Note. N = 231. Percentages in parentheses indicate the proportion that the code accounts for from all units of analysis.
Regarding the challenges novice school counselors faced in meeting job responsibilities, major themes across burnout profiles included organizational-specific barriers stemming from misalignment with school counseling best practices (e.g., being assigned noncounseling duties, high administrative duties, a high caseload) or specific aspects of organizational culture (e.g., an unsupportive school environment). One participant noted when discussing having to complete several inappropriate noncounseling duties: “I didn’t do much actually counselor-related. I was test coordinator, attendance clerk, enrollment personnel, maintained permanent records.” When discussing challenges inherent in the organizational culture and reflective of unsupportive school environment and systems, a participant highlighted “working with a school that would only allow me to pull students from very restricted times.” The second most frequently described challenges in meeting job responsibilities were those inherent to the demanding nature of the school counselor job, including, among others, dealing with emotionally demanding counseling duties like crisis management and navigating difficult relationships with students and parents. One participant highlighted the challenges inherent in serving as a school counselor to students with considerable emotional needs and learning to navigate those relationships, noting “earning the trust and respect of at-risk students, who came from broken families, sexual abuse situations, divorce, juvenile hall, drug abuse, etc.” Although endorsed less frequently, specific challenges during the initial job transition (such as adjusting to a new environment) and a lack of training were also noted.
With regard to the resources novice school counselors were able to access early on to meet job responsibilities, the biggest theme, consistent across clusters, was support from their professional network in the form of colleagues and other counselors, and from mentors and supervisors, followed by content knowledge and training provided by professional organizations and related professional membership, including ASCA and state school counseling organizations. One school counselor noted, “the other counselors in my school were very helpful and connected me to what I needed to be doing my job,” and another mentioned that “the ASCA website has a lot of useful information.” Access to content-specific resources, either on the internet or through material resources such as books, was also endorsed as a major source of support. Participants further found support in larger organizational systems such as the district and area education agencies, and from professionals in participants’ own schools. In the discussion section, we present an integration of quantitative and qualitative findings and implications for the profession.
Discussion
Because early career counselors are at high risk for experiencing burnout (Fye et al., 2020; Mullen et al., 2018; Wilkerson & Bellini, 2006), understanding the initial development of this phenomenon is essential for informing school counselor preparation programs, which are called to employ data-informed interventions to equip graduating school counselors with the tools necessary to be successful upon entering the workforce. Thus, the purpose of this mixed-methods study was to examine distinct novice school counselor burnout profiles based on their scores across five critical burnout dimensions and to identify specific job challenges and resources that impacted school counselors’ professional development in the early stages of their career. In terms of the first research question, results of our cluster analysis revealed not only that the majority of our sample experienced moderate to severe burnout, but that those experiences reflected three distinct burnout profiles. Those profiles represent low-burnout (Cluster 1), moderate-burnout (Cluster 2), and high-burnout novice school counselors (Cluster 3), partially echoing findings from Lee et al. (2010) with respect to the first (well-adjusted counselors) and third (disconnected counselors) clusters.
The resultant three clusters of novice school counselor burnout in this study appear partially consistent with the profiles identified by Lee et al. (2010). Specifically, Cluster 1 (low burnout) and Cluster 3 (high burnout) showed a similar pattern and level of burnout with Lee and colleagues’ (2010) first cluster (well-adjusted counselors) and third cluster (disconnected counselors), respectively. However, in our sample, Cluster 2 reported higher scores in Incompetence and did not form am W-shape as did Lee and colleagues’ (2010) second cluster (persevering counselors). Also, in our sample, the mean levels of burnout for each cluster did not overlap with other clusters, indicating three distinctive burnout profiles.
Our findings differed, however, with regard to Cluster 2 (moderate-burnout), which reflected the most endorsed profile in our sample. Compared to previously identified profiles, the Cluster 2 group of novice school counselors was unique in that it experienced higher Incompetence levels despite lower Devaluing Client scores. This was in contrast with the results reported by Lee and colleagues (2010), where the second cluster (persevering counselors) formed a W-shape, representing exhausted but responsive school counselors with perceived competence in their ability to be effective in their jobs. Previous studies with school counselors and teachers provide some rationale for this discrepancy, because a lack of work-related self-efficacy in novice school professionals can be a function of a lack of experience, and not necessarily a function of the reduced capacity to make a difference that is often experienced by burned-out professionals (Caspersen & Raaen, 2014; Cook, Fye, et al., 2021a). This finding is consistent with the extended social learning theory, which explains self-efficacy as one of the critical components of understanding the burnout syndrome (Leiter, 1992). Overall, the results of the present study provide additional evidence for the existence of distinct burnout profiles for novice school counselors and the importance of identifying such profiles early in school counselors’ professional development to design appropriate interventions, based on experienced severity across dimensions.
In terms of the second research question, our quantitative analysis identified significant differences in burnout clustering across some demographic or organizational variables representing demands and resources, including caseload, self-efficacy, and job satisfaction. When grouping school counselors into two groups, (a) having a caseload of 250 students or less and (b) having a caseload that exceeded 250 students, we noted a significant difference among burnout clusters, with the low-burnout novice school counselors including more individuals with caseloads below 250 students compared to the high-burnout group. This finding can provide evidence for the ASCA (2022) recommended ratio of 250 students per counselor, because novice school counselors who were assigned caseloads exceeding the 250 threshold experienced greater burnout. Counseling caseload seems to be uniquely implicated with the developmental progression of novice school counselor burnout, echoing studies that a higher caseload leads to more emotional exhaustion and depersonalization (Bardhoshi et al., 2014; McCarthy et al., 2010). It is perhaps not surprising that those in the high-burnout cluster reported significantly lower job satisfaction and self-efficacy, pointing to the corrosive nature of burnout as school counselors try to keep up with unsustainable demands like high caseloads, and the depletion of protective resources like self-efficacy and job satisfaction (Bardhoshi et al., 2021). This finding further demonstrates the critical importance of burnout prevention and early intervention with novice school counselors.
In terms of the final research question, we analyzed the challenges and resources of novice school counselors based on the job demands-resources framework (Demerouti et al., 2001). The qualitative responses of participants revealed several common themes regarding challenges they faced in their first professional setting, echoing some of our quantitative results. The main challenge across clusters, endorsed by the majority of our sample, pertained to organizational-specific barriers they encountered in the school environment. These included misalignment with school counseling best practices and an unsupportive organizational culture, which have been previously implicated with school counselor burnout (Bardhoshi et al., 2014; Moyer, 2011). Overall, endorsed themes revealing misalignment revealed specific demands unique to school counseling, such as dealing with noncounseling duties, high caseloads, and unclear job duties/expectations.
The relationship of challenges specific to organizational culture to experiencing a negative and unsupportive work environment is also astutely reflected in the construct underlying our measure of burnout. Furthermore, novice school counselors identified factors that were perceived as inherent challenges of the job, including navigating emotionally demanding duties and working in isolation. These themes are reflective of previous school counseling research and indicative of the challenges that school counselors persistently face regardless of their years of experience (Culbreth et al., 2005; McCarthy et al., 2010). School counselors’ perceptions of their work environment play a key role in their experiences of burnout (Bardhoshi et al., 2014) and negative work environments may be especially stressful for early-career school counselors who are still building their on-the-job experience and coping skills (Mullen et al., 2018). Negative work environment is an important dimension of counselor burnout, providing further evidence for the importance of using measures that capture burnout experiences that are specific to counselors. Thus, the CBI might be a more aligned measure to assess novice school counselor burnout than other available measures, and is not only psychometrically robust but also available free of cost (Lee et al., 2007; Bardhoshi et al., 2019).
With regard to job resources, novice school counselors across clusters emphasized the value of receiving support from their professional network in the form of colleagues and other counselors, and from mentors and supervisors, which mirrors extant literature (Bardhoshi et al., 2014; Duncan et al., 2014; Wilkerson & Bellini, 2006). Previous studies indicate that school counselors report an increased sense of support and encouragement and enhanced counseling skill development after participation in peer consultation and supervision programs (Crutchfield & Borders, 1997). Further, novice school counselors specified that they benefited from professional development opportunities provided by professional organizations and valued professional memberships, including ASCA and state school counseling organizations. Membership in counseling organizations (e.g., ASCA) and internal and external support systems were identified as major resources for school counselors, aligning with previous research (Griffin & Farris, 2010). As demonstrated in our quantitative results, the ASCA recommendation regarding caseload provided meaningful explanation of novice school counselor burnout, further highlighting the benefit of such vetted recommendations and guidance for school counselor practice, especially for those lacking extensive professional experience.
The findings indicate an opportunity for preventative strategies to be implemented in school counseling training to help future school counselors be better prepared for transitioning into the profession and to reduce the deleterious effects of burnout for novice school counselors. It remains critical that school counseling training is informed by the experiences of practicing school counselors, reflects voices from the field, and addresses the gaps between current and best practices. Understanding that burnout is a real occupational risk for early-career school counselors, and flagging corrosive demands they may face that reflect both organizational and professional challenges is a necessary step for protecting this vital workforce. Specific recommendations on what this might look like early on are provided below.
Implications for School Counselor Education and Training
The results of this study have several implications for training school counselors. First, burnout is a complex, progressive, and multidimensional phenomenon. Understanding school counselor burnout is dependent on grounding it in the school counselor context, looking at multiple dimensions and experiences that impact novice school counselor professional and personal experiences. Burnout may look different in school counselors early in their careers, and it may vary from one individual to the next. As Lee and colleagues (2007) asserted, identifying novice school counselor burnout profiles can contribute to recognizing relevant counselor characteristics that may inform differential experiences of burnout, while also helping develop individualized plans for preventing burnout and promoting wellness. Our findings regarding the burnout typology of novice school counselors provide concrete evidence of how this phenomenon may be experienced early on. Enhancing self-awareness among school counselors in training and incorporating burnout education and screening, especially for those in the clinical experience phase of their training, can be incorporated into the overall curriculum and is aligned with CACREP standards. For example, programs can be intentional by incorporating repeated assessment using the CBI, and addressing factors that combat the core dimensions of burnout. Those may include self-management to address emotional exhaustion; expanded clinical, supervision, and consultation experiences to combat feelings of incompetence; relational, leadership, and advocacy skills to combat negative work environments; exposure to systemic, cultural, and community perspectives to address devaluation of clients; and wellness and self-care strategies to combat deterioration in personal life.
Another implication of our findings is the necessity of adjusting the school counselor-to-student ratio, which has been consistently identified by several studies as a persistent and common challenge, with evidence linking it to the detrimental phenomenon of school counselor burnout (Bardhoshi et al., 2014; McCarthy et al., 2010). Although many factors are implicated with caseload numbers that may be beyond the control of the school counselor, educating future school counselors on appropriate caseload numbers and effective communication and negotiation skills that can be used during the job search and the transition to a new position, can empower novice school counselors to effectively advocate for manageable caseloads before burnout sets in. The impact of school counseling caseload on school counselor wellness should be widely communicated to district and school administrators to promote an understanding of the necessity of appropriate caseload assignment.
Subsequently, expanded strategies for combating burnout can be incorporated into counselor education course curricula. For instance, studies support the benefit of school counselors’ prosocial qualities for the reduction of burnout, including altruism (Limberg et al., 2016), mindfulness, and hope (Ender et al., 2019). Limberg and colleagues (2016) recommended the inclusion of service-learning opportunities in school counseling pedagogy to foster school counselor trainees’ altruism, strengthen their self-efficacy, and build relationships with their communities. Incorporating opportunities for preservice school counselors to engage in altruistic behaviors, mindfulness practices, hope-based interventions, or other wellness strategies may strengthen their resilience to burnout.
Counselor educators are ideally situated to orient future school counselors toward evidence-based strategies they can implement in their work environment to advocate for congruent school counseling roles and other common challenges from the outset of their professional trajectories (Havlik et al., 2019). For instance, counselor educators can provide school counseling practicum and internship supervisors with regular training to help ensure preservice school counselors have site guidance and support to effectively use advocacy skills in their clinical experiences and beyond. Although counselor education programs cannot address all experiences future school counselors will face in their professional settings, they can intentionally collaborate with those practicing in the field to enhance the quality and relevance of on-the-job training for preservice school counselors. A lack of preparedness and professional competence when entering the profession adds an additional stressor and leads to negative outcomes like burnout and job dissatisfaction, both of which can develop and extend over a period of time (Butler & Constantine, 2005; Pas et al., 2012). Adequate preparation for preventing school counselor burnout should therefore focus on strengthening professional competencies through content and skill development that encompass both counselor education and supervision, and specific on-the-job training (Fye et al., 2020; Kounenou et al., 2010).
Finally, counselor educators and supervisors can equip preservice school counselors with accessible resources for ongoing professional development and networking. Counselor educators and on-site supervisors can emphasize the multiplicitous benefits of belonging to professional organizations, including highlighting the mentoring, consultation, and ongoing professional development opportunities available, by increasing awareness of such organizations and actively facilitating involvement. Enabling school counselor trainees to access student and state chapters of national organizations as an inherent part of their academic and professional development allows future school counselors opportunities to activate some of the essential resources noted in our findings, including access to professional membership and evidence-based resources and information that can enhance competencies. Opportunities and scholarships to attend professional meetings and conferences, co-presenting opportunities, and conferring academic credit for such experiences might be effective ways to facilitate such activities.
Our findings highlighted the value of professional relationships including mentoring, supervision, and collegial support for novice school counselors, employing clinical supervision and consultation as a regular part of student conceptual and clinical skill development may be an effective strategy to activate protective factors for school counselor burnout. Studies have illustrated the gap between the value of clinical supervision for school counselor professional development and effective delivery of school counseling programs (Moyer, 2011) and its availability and frequency in the field (Mullen & Gutierrez, 2016; Duncan et al., 2014). Incorporating supervision theory and practices as a regular part of the school counseling curriculum can help make visible the structure and tools of clinical supervision, allowing school counselors to become both expert consumers and knowledgeable of the frameworks to deliver such services (Somody et al., 2008). Brott and colleagues (2021) asserted that peer clinical supervision for school counselors may be an effective solution for building professional networks that expand access to clinical knowledge, especially for rural school counselors or those with limited district resources (Duncan et al., 2014). Our findings also revealed the value that novice school counselors place on relationships with other school counselors. Counselor educators can facilitate strong professional relationships among students, their cohort members, and site supervisors, helping them practice relational and consultation skills that are central to navigating the process of building networks to support the induction into the profession.
Limitations and Future Directions
Although we took precautions to minimize internal and external validity threats in our study, there are several limitations. First, our reliance on self-report data may have impacted the reporting of burnout levels, potentially activating social desirability bias and possible underreporting of some the more professionally detrimental burnout dimensions such as devaluing clients. Considering the interaction of the five CBI dimensions in this study, and the higher Incompetence scores in our sample, future studies are needed to clarify the characteristics of novice school counselor burnout compared to other counselor samples. It is also possible that school counselors experiencing severe levels of burnout may have self-selected out of this study, potentially leading to underrepresentation of burnout in our sample. Since our sample consisted exclusively of novice school counselors who were members of ASCA, this population may share distinct characteristics when compared to the wider population of early-career school counselors, affecting the generalizability of our results. This could also have impacted the high endorsement of membership in professional organizations as a useful resource in the qualitative section of the study. Future studies should expand to practicing novice school counselors who are not ASCA members for a broader understanding of this population’s burnout profiles and relevant experiences. Despite our efforts to holistically examine study variables by collecting both quantitative and qualitative data with a large national sample, qualitative data emerged from written responses and did not allow for follow-up. Additional studies with novice school counselor samples will be helpful to support and validate the counselor burnout typology reported in this study, and to identify organizational factors that may differentially impact burnout profiles. In-depth qualitative studies can help better capture the unique experiences of novice school counselors and richly examine critical experiences in burnout development. These limitations notwithstanding, our findings provide support for the value of recognizing burnout profiles in novice school counselors and identifying salient training and professional experiences to support and enhance school counselors’ early professional trajectories.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
