Influence of Demographic variables on Burnout in Christian Ministry among Catholic Religious Men and Women Working In Rural Areas: A Case of Lodwar Diocese in Turkana County, Kenya
- February 9, 2022
- Posted by: rsispostadmin
- Categories: IJRISS, Social Science
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume VI, Issue I, January 2022 | ISSN 2454–6186
Wambua Pius Muasa (PhD)
Institute of Youth Studies, Tangaza University College
Catholic University of Eastern Africa
ABSTRACT
Studies have shown demographic variables such as age, gender, educational level, type of vocation to have influence on Burnout among the helping professionals. The objective of study was to examine the influence of demographic variables on Burnout in Christian Ministry among the Catholic religious men and women working in Lodwar Diocese. The study adopted correlational research design. Using census, a sample size of 131 Catholic religious men and women were included in the study. The data was collected using standardized questionnaire. Pre-testing of the standardized instrument was carried out before the actual data collection to ensure its reliability and validity. The data was analyzed using independent sample t-test and One Way ANOVA with SPSS Version 32. The independent t-test and One Way ANOVA results showed that there were no statistically significant difference on demographic variables of age, gender, education level, vocation identity and country of origin on three domains of Burnout in Christian Ministry. However, there was a significant mean difference of age on the domain of Personal Accomplishment F (5,125) =2.635, p< 0.05.
INTRODUCTION
Globally, studies have shown demographic variables of age, gender, educational level and vocation identity has influence on burnout in Christian ministry among the Church ministers. For instance, a study by Doolittle (2010) revealed that senior clergy report less emotional weariness and depersonalization than younger clergy. The study discovered that senior clergy had a better ability to cope with the stressors of ministry, but younger clergy have a higher rate of burnout as a result of the early problems they have in adapting to the ministry and its responsibilities. The study focused only on male clergy, whereas the present study also included Catholic religious women who are part of Church ministers. Furthermore, Leslie (2018) study revealed that younger ministers are more emotionally exhausted than senior ministers. On contrarily, a study by Randall (2013) among Anglican clergy in England and Wales found chronological age, not years in ministry, has a negative relationship with the emotional tiredness and depersonalization subscales of burnout.
A descriptive cross-sectional study by Mohamed, et al. (2018) among physicians involved with primary health care in Qatar found that there was no significant association between gender and the prevalence of burnout. Similarly, the findings of Leslie (2018) study found that male and female ministers have similar degrees of emotional tiredness, according to the study. However, the study findings by Afulani et al. (2021) the among maternity practitioners working in western Kenya on self-reported stress and burnout found that female providers had higher levels of emotional depletion than male caregivers. Similarly, a study on emotion weariness among 735 Presbyterian Church (USA) pastors by Francis, et al. (2013), female pastors reported much higher degrees of emotional weariness and depersonalization than male pastors.
Kokonya et al. (2014) conducted a study to establish the influence of educational level on burnout. According to their findings, all of the respondents, regardless of academic degree, had high levels of burnout syndrome. The prevalence of burnout syndrome among people with a college diploma and a degree, in particular, was not statistically significant. The findings of Liorent and Calzado (2016) descriptive cross-sectional investigation on the incidence of burnout and its link to socio-demographic characteristics among education professionals working with persons with disabilities in Córdoba found no significant relationship between amount of education and total burnout (p = 0.647) using Levene’s test. When a post hoc multiple comparison test was used to determine which level of education category was most affected by burnout, the results revealed that professionals with only basic education were more affected by burnout than those with secondary (difference between means = 6.64; p = 0.020; d = 0.864) and higher education (difference between means = 7.62; p = 0.020; d = 0.864) education.
