Abstract

POCINHO, Margarida  and  PERESTRELO, Célia Xavier. Um ensaio sobre burnout, engagement e estratégias de coping na profissão docente. Educ. Pesqui. [online]. 2011, vol.37, n.03, pp.513-527. ISSN 1517-9702.

Researchers throughout the world have started to worry about the phenomenon of burnout, identifying it mainly in professions that involve a relation of assistance or help, as in the case of medical doctors, nurses, and psychologists. However, it was not long before it was noticed that such phenomenon can also be present in the teaching profession in a very significant way. Teaching is nowadays one of the professions subjected to the highest levels of stress, which can lead to burnout when the situation becomes recurrent. Many teachers manage to adapt and to react in a functional way when faced with the difficulties inherent to their profession, becoming engaged professionals, that is to say, while some teachers experience the negative dimensions of burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and loss of professional fulfillment), others experience the three positive dimensions of engagement (vigor, dedication, and absorption in the profession). With the arrival of the so-called "positive psychology", there comes a new perspective of investigation, which seeks to give answers to certain forms of professional involvement. Thus, despite the fact that the phenomenon of engagement has still been little studied, to find teachers engaged with their profession is also a reality in many countries. Resorting to strategies of coping is one way of dealing with the difficulties inherent to the exercise of the teaching profession. Therefore, it is important to observe in which way the use of certain type of strategy of coping can lead to burnout or, preferably, to engagement.

Keywords : Burnout; Engagement; Coping; Teachers.

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