Introduction: Debt counsellors work in close
contact with clients who are under extreme
material, psychological and social stress.
Given these job characteristics, it may be
assumed that debt counsellors – like other
employees in human services – bear an increased
risk of developing job burnout. The
study described here was carried out to determine
the frequency of job burnout among
debt counsellors in Rhineland-Palatinate. It is
the first systematic study of the health status
of debt counsellors in Germany. Other objectives
were to identify parameters influencing
the risk of job burnout and to derive useful
preventive measures.
Methods: A cross-sectional study involving
52 officially recognized debt counselling
services in the Rhineland-Palatinate was carried
out in October 2006 by means of a single,
anonymous and voluntary survey. The questionnaire
contained the revised German version
of the “Maslach Burnout Inventory” as
well as questions concerning working conditions,
social support and sociodemographic
factors. Cut off-points > 3.5 were used to define
high values on the three burnout scales.
Results: Altogether 63 (33 women) debt
counsellors aged between 25 and 59 years
answered all relevant questions, a participation
rate of 60.6 %. 26 debt counsellors
(41.6 %) reached relatively higher scores
(> 3.5) on the MBI-D’s emotional exhaustion
subscale. On the other two subscales, comparable
scores were reached by only one person
in each case. The prevalence of high values
for emotional exhaustion was lower for debt
counsellors with children or a cohabiting
partner, and for those who worked together
with another debt counsellor. On the other
hand, debt counsellors working full-time had
high values for emotional exhaustion more
frequently than debt counsellors working
part-time. In a multivariate analysis (binary
logistic regression) all these independent
variables revealed a constant trend, but none
of them reached statistical significance.
Conclusions: Debt counsellors are strongly
affected by emotional exhaustion, which can
be interpreted as both a serious symptom of
impaired health and a high risk of later development
of job burnout. Therefore, preventive
measures should be taken to minimize
the level of emotional exhaustion and stop
the development of job burnout. Possible
approaches are enhancing social support at
work, restricting workload and offering supervision.
