SpringerLink
Log in

An Ecological Momentary Assessment of Burnout, Rejuvenation Strategies, Job Satisfaction, and Quitting Intentions in Childcare Teachers

  • Published:
Early Childhood Education Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Guided by affective events theory, the purpose of this study was to examine the temporal aspects of childcare teacher burnout, particularly as to how feelings of exhaustion throughout the day relate to perceptions of end-of-day job satisfaction and quitting intentions. A secondary purpose of the study was to explore the frequency and type of rejuvenation strategies childcare teachers use to relieve perceived stress throughout the day. Ecological momentary assessment procedures were employed for 1 week to assess exhaustion levels (3 times/day), frequencies and types of rejuvenation strategies (3 times/day), and end-of-day job satisfaction perceptions and quitting intentions (1 time/day) among 50 childcare teachers. Results indicated that childcare teachers’ quitting intentions were positively predicted by emotional exhaustion (β = 0.52) and negatively predicted by overall job satisfaction (β = −0.28). Short (≤15 min), infrequently used (one to two times/day) physical or cognitive health reprieve strategies were reported by 86 % of teachers as the most effective for reducing daily stress. Findings suggest that daily accounts of burnout and quitting intentions have both exhaustive and restorative properties.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Austin, V., Shah, S., & Muncer, S. (2005). Teacher stress and co** strategies used to reduce stress. Occupational Therapy International, 12(2), 63–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barr-Anderson, D. J., AuYoung, M., Whitt-Glover, M. C., Glenn, B. A., & Yancey, A. K. (2011). Integration of short bouts of physical activity into organizational routine: A systematic review of the literature. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 40(1), 76–93. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2010.09.033.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baumgartner, J., Carson, R. L., Apavaloaie, L., & Tsouloupas, C. (2009). Uncovering common stressful factors and co** strategies among childcare providers. Child and Youth Care Forum, 38, 239–251.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beal, D., & Weiss, H. (2003). Methods of ecological momentary assessment in organizational research. Organizational Research Methods, 6(4), 440–464.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borman, G. D., & Dowling, N. M. (2008). Teacher attrition and retention: A meta-analytic and narrative review of the research. Review of Educational Research, 78(3), 367–409.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brief, A. P., & Weiss, H. M. (2002). Organizational behavior: Affect in the workplace. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 279–307.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carson, R. L., Baumgartner, J. J., Matthews, R. A., & Tsouloupas, C. N. (2010). Emotional exhaustion, absenteeism, and turnover intentions in childcare teachers: Examining the impact of physical activity behaviors. Journal of Health Psychology, 15(6), 905–914. doi:10.1177/1359105309360697.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carson, R. L., Castelli, D. M., Beighle, A., & Erwin, H. (2014). School-based physical activity promotion: A conceptual framework for research and practice. Childhood Obesity, 10(2), 100–106. doi:10.1089/chi.2013.0134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carson, R. L., Weiss, H. M., & Templin, T. J. (2010). Ecological momentary assessment: A research method for studying the daily lives of teachers. International Journal of Research and Method in Education, 33(2), 165–182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Center for the Child Care Workforce. (2011). Wage data for early childhood educators. Retrieved April 10, 2013, from http://www.ccw.org/storage/ccworkforce/documents/all%20data_print_2011.pdf.

  • Cicchetti, D. V. (1994). Guidelines, criteria, and rules of thumb for evaluating normed and standardized assessment instruments in psychology. Psychological Assessment, 6, 284–290.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Bloom, J., Geurts, S. A. E., Taris, T. W., Sonnentag, S., de Weerth, C., & Kompier, M. A. J. (2010). Effects of vacation from work on health and well-being: Lots of fun, quickly gone. Work and Stress, 24(2), 196–216. doi:10.1080/02678373.2010.493385.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Durr, T., Chang, M. L., & Carson, R. L. (2014). Curbing teacher burnout: The transactional factors of teacher efficacy and emotion management. In P. W. Richardson, S. A. Karabenick & H. M. G. Watt (Eds.), Teacher motivation: theory and practice (pp. 198–213). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fishta, A., & Backé, E.-M (2015). Psychosocial stress at work and cardiovascular diseases: An overview of systematic reviews. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 88(8), 997–1014. doi:10.1007/s00420-015-1019-0.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frenzel, A. C., Becker-Kurz, B., Pekrun, R., & Goetz, T. (2015). Teaching this class drives me nuts!: Examining the person and context specificity of teacher emotions. PLoS One, 10(6), e0129630. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0129630.

  • Fritz, C., & Sonnentag, S. (2005). Recovery, health, and job performance: Effects of weekend experiences. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 10(3), 187–199.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fritz, C., Ellis, A. M., Demsky, C. A., Lin, B. C., & Guros, F. (2013). Embracing work breaks: Recovering from work stress. Organizational Dynamics, 42(4), 274–280.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gates, G. (2015). (Ed.). Research on stress and co** in education: Mindfulness for educational practice: A path to resilience for challenging work. Vol. 8. Charlotte: Information Age Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goddard, R., & Goddard, M., (2006). Beginning teacher burnout in Queensland schools: Associations with serious intentions to leave. Australian Educational Researcher, 33(2), 61–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goelman, H., & Guo, H. (1998). What we know and what we don’t know about burnout among early childhood care providers. Child and Youth Care Forum, 27(3), 175–199.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hale-**ks, C., Knopf, H., & Kemple, K. (2006). Tackling teacher turnover in child care: Understanding causes and consequences, identifying solutions. Childhood Education, 82(4), 219–226.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hobfoll, S. E. (1988). The conservation of resources: A new stress model. In The ecology of stress (pp. 24–57). Washington: Hemisphere.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobfoll, S. E., & Shirom, A. (2000). Conservation of resources theory: Applications to stress and management in the workplace. In R. T. Golembiewski (Ed.), Handbook of organization behavior (2nd ed., pp. 57–81). New York: Dekker.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jennings, P. A., Frank, J. L., Snowberg, K. E., Coccia, M. A., & Greenberg, M. T. (2013). Improving classroom learning environments by cultivating awareness and resilience in education (CARE): Results of a randomized controlled trial. School Psychology Quarterly, 28(4), 374–390. doi:10.1037/spq0000035.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994). Wherever you go, there you are: Mindfulness meditation in everyday life. New York: Hyperion.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klussman, U., Kunter, M., Trautwein, U., Ludtke, O., & Baumert, J. (2008). Teachers’ occupational well-being and quality of instruction: The important role of self-regulatory patterns. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100(3), 702–715.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuoppala, J., Lamminpaa, A., & Husman, P. (2008). Work health promotion, job well-being, and sickness absences: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 50, 1216–1227.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lauermann, F., & König, J. (2016). Teachers’ professional competence and wellbeing: Understanding the links between general pedagogical knowledge, self-efficacy and burnout. Learning and Instruction, 45, 9–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mamedova, S., & Redford, J. (2015). Early childhood program participation, from the National Household Education Surveys program of 2012 (NCES 2013-029.REV). Washington: National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved March 22, 2016 from http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2013/2013029rev.pdf.

  • Maslach, C. (2003). Burnout: The cost of caring. Cambridge, MA: Major Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maslach, C., Leiter, M. P., & Schaufeli, W. (2008). Measuring burnout. In C. L. Cooper & S. Cartwright (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of organizational well-being (pp. 86–108). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meiklejohn, J., Phillips, C., Freedman, M. L., Griffin, M. L., Biegel, G., Roach, A., et al. (2012). Integrating mindfulness training into K-12 education: Fostering the resilience of teachers and students. Mindfulness, 3(4), 291–307.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nett, U. E., Goetz, T., & Hall, N. C. (2011). Co** with boredom in school: An experience sampling perspective. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 36(1), 49–59. doi:10.1016/j.cedpsych.2010.10.003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nissen, J. M., Stetzer, M. R., & Shemwell, J. T. (2013). The experience sampling method: Investigating students’ affective experience. AIP Conference Proceedings, 1513(1), 294–297. doi:10.1063/1.4789710.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pines, A. M., & Aronson, E. (1988). Career burnout: Causes and cures. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prakhinkit, S., Suppapitiporn, S., Tanaka, H., & Suksom, D. (2014). Effects of Buddhism walking meditation on depression, functional fitness, and endothelium-dependent vasodilation in depressed elderly. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 20(5), 411–416.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richards, J. (2012). Teacher stress and co** strategies: A national snapshot. The Educational Forum, 76(3), 299–316.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roeser, R. W., Schonert-Reichl, K. A., Jha, A., Cullen, M., Wallace, L., Wilensky, R., et al. (2013). Mindfulness training and reductions in teacher stress and burnout: Results from two randomized, waitlist-control field trials. Journal of Educational Psychology, 105(3), 787–804. doi:10.1037/a0032093.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roeser, R. W., Skinner, E., Beers, J., & Jennings, P. A. (2012). Mindfulness training and teachers’ professional development: An emerging area of research and practice. Child Development Perspectives, 6(2), 167–173. doi:10.1111/j.1750-8606.2012.00238.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schutz, P. A., & Zembylas, M. (2009). (Eds.). Advances in teacher emotion research: The impact on teachers’ lives. New York: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Shirom, A. (1989). Burnout in work organizations. In C. L. Cooper & I. Robertson (Eds.), International review of industrial and organizational psychology (pp. 25–48). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shirom, A. (2003). The effects of work-related stress on health. In M. J. Schabracq, J. A. M. Winnubst & C. L. Cooper (Eds.), Handbook of work and health psychology (2nd ed., pp. 63–83). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shirom, A., & Melamed, S. (2006). A comparison of the construct validity of two burnout measures in two groups of professionals. International Journal of Stress Management, 13(2), 176–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shurnow, L., Schmidt, J. A., & Kackar, H. (2008). Reading in class & out of class: An experience sampling method study. Middle Grades Research Journal, 3(3), 97–120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skaalvik, E. M., & Skaalvik, S. (2011). Teacher job satisfaction and motivation to leave the teaching profession: Relations with school context, feeling of belonging, and emotional exhaustion. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27, 1029–1038.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stone, A. A., & Shiffman, S. (1994). Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) in behavioral medicine. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 16(3), 199–202.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taris, T. W., Le Blanc, P. M., Schaufeli, W. B., & Schreurs, P. J. G. (2005). Are there causal relationships between the dimensions of the Maslach Burnout Inventory? A review and two longitudinal tests. Work and Stress, 19(3), 238–255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teut, M. B. (2013). Mindful walking in psychologically distressed individuals: A randomized controlled trial. Evidence-Based Complementary & Alternative Medicine (Ecam), 1–7.

  • Thomason, A., La Paro, K (2013). Teachers’ commitment to the field and teacher-child interactions in center-based child care for toddlers and three-year-olds. Early Childhood Education Journal, 41(3), 227–234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vandell, D. L., Belsky, J., Burchinal, M., Steinberg, L., & Vandergrift, N. (2010). Do effects of early child care extend to age 15 years? Results from the NICHD study of early child care and youth development. Child Development, 81(3), 737–756.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wagner, S. L., Forer, B., Cepeda, I. L., Goelman, H., Maggi, S., D’Angiulli, A., Wessel, J., Hertzman, C., & Grunau, R. E. (2013) Perceived stress and Canadian early childcare educators. Child & Youth Care Forum, 42(1), 53–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weiss, H. M., & Cropanzano, R. C. (1996). Affective events theory. In B. M. Staw & L. L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior: (Vol. 18, pp. 1–74). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Louisiana State University’s Office of Research and Economic Development faculty research grant program. Authors sincerely thank Costas N. Tsouloupas and Loredana Apavaloaie for assisting with the processing and cleaning of the dataset.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Sport and Exercise Science, University of Northern Colorado, Gunter Hall, Box 39, Greeley, CO, 80639, USA

    Russell L. Carson & Ann Pulling Kuhn

  2. School of Education, Louisiana State University, 101 Peabody Hall, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA

    Jennifer J. Baumgartner

  3. Department of Child and Family Studies, Weber State University, Ogden, UT, 84408, USA

    Carrie L. Ota

  4. Department of Teaching, Learning, & Leadership, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD, 57007, USA

    Anthony Durr

Authors
  1. Russell L. Carson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jennifer J. Baumgartner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Carrie L. Ota
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ann Pulling Kuhn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Anthony Durr
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Russell L. Carson.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Carson, R.L., Baumgartner, J.J., Ota, C.L. et al. An Ecological Momentary Assessment of Burnout, Rejuvenation Strategies, Job Satisfaction, and Quitting Intentions in Childcare Teachers. Early Childhood Educ J 45, 801–808 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-016-0831-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-016-0831-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation