STRESSOGENIC FACTORS OF EMOTIONAL BURNOUT AMONG PENITENTIARY INSTITUTION STAFF

Abstract

The article presents the results of a theoretical and empirical substantiation of the influence of stressogenic factors on emotional burnout among staff of penitentiary institutions (penal institutions and pre-trial detention centers of the State Criminal-Executive Service of Ukraine in the North-Eastern, South-Eastern, Western, and Central-Western interregional departments for the execution of criminal penalties, as well as camps for prisoners of war). It is emphasized that the study of stressogenic factors of emotional burnout is especially important for penitentiary system employees, since their professional activity is carried out under conditions of increased psychological tension, responsibility, risk, strict regulation, and prolonged emotional load, which significantly increases vulnerability to professional exhaustion. The study is based on the method of bibliographic review of empirical sources on the stated problem; empirical methods using such diagnostic tools as R. McLean’s Organizational Stress Scale, the emotional state assessment method by A. Wessman and D. Ricks, the author’s questionnaire for determining job satisfaction, and methods of mathematical statistics. It was established that the stressogenic factors of the professional activity of penitentiary institution staff (job dissatisfaction, long work experience, the specific conditions of service, and gender-related characteristics of response to professional workload) have a complex nature and lead to an increase in organizational stress, depletion of adaptive resources, and the development of symptoms of emotional burnout. The importance of conducting such research for identifying groups at increased risk of emotional burnout is noted, and the need to develop effective psychoprophylactic and psychocorrective technologies is emphasized.