effects of post-traumatic growth and personal resources on burnout recovery

What is it about?

Background and Objectives: Because burnout cannot always be prevented, adequate recovery from burnout is important to understand. However, little is known about how workers who have experienced a burnout, recover and regain or renew their personal resources during this recovery process. In addition, little is known about how this recovery process affects levels of engagement and burnout. This study aims to address these knowledge gaps. We investigated whether posttraumatic growth (PTG) contributes to higher engagement and lower burnout symptoms and whether this process is mediated by personal resources. Design and Methods: In total 166 workers who fully recovered from a burnout were included in a cross-sectional survey design. Results: Fully recovered workers scored somewhat higher on current burnout level, but did not differ from norm group workers in their engagement level. Moreover, PTG appeared to have a beneficial effect on both higher engagement and lower burnout levels of fully recovered workers, which is fully mediated by personal resources. Conclusions: Posttraumatic growth reveals a beneficial effect in the recovery of burnout by enhancing personal resources. Several implications for further research are discussed.

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