A Study Utilzing Concept Map on Burnout Experience of Low-career Elementary School Counselors and the Factors Affecting Burnout

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of low-career elementary schoolcounseling teachers on burnout experience and burnout factors through concept map method. Methods: From interviews with 10 low-career elementary school counselors, 25 statements on burnoutexperiences, 27 statements on factors affecting burnout were derived. Later, 20 low-career elementaryschool counselors including interview participants participated in the classification of statement similarity. The researcher used SPSS 29.0 to conduct multidimensional scale analysis and hierarchical clusteranalysis, and drew two conceptual diagrams by evaluating the similarity of each statement. Results: As a result, the experience of burnout turned out to be 5 clusters. Cluster 1 was found to be‘low efficacy and devotion in counseling’, Cluster 2 was ‘physical symptom’, Cluster 3 was ‘maximizationof negative emotions’, Cluster 4 was ‘difficulty in handling work’, and Cluster 5 was ‘depression-relatedpsychopathological symptoms’. The factors that promoted burnout were derived into 6 clusters. Cluster1 was found to be ‘lack of awareness of fellow teachers’, Cluster 2 was ‘lack of parental awareness’,Cluster 3 was ‘lack of awareness of school administrators’, Cluster 4 was found to be ‘lack of expertiseand competence’, Cluster 5 was ‘unestablished school counseling system’, and Cluster 6 was ‘schoolcounseling difficulty factors’. Conclusion: This study is meaningful in that it first studied the burnout of low-career professionalcounseling teachers in elementary schools and derived implications suitable for elementary school counselingthat have recently begun to activate. Based on the research contents, the limitations of this study andsuggestions for follow-up studies were discussed.