The inadequacy of available foster homes frequently paralyzes the foster-care system and hinders agencies in meeting their most basic mandates. This examination of foster-parent recruitment discusses escaping the inoperable system cycle, a broad-based holistic recruitment approach, retention efforts initiated and maintained comparable to…

One group of professionals among whom stress and burnout are particularly prevalent is nurses. A study of inpatient nurses (n=20) and outpatient nurses (n=10) revealed that group team building was effective in improving both morale and job satisfaction while decreasing burnout among the higher-stress group of outpatient nurses. (JPS)

Tested the buffering hypothesis that negative effects of stressors (measured as burden, burnout, and perceived job pressure) on nursing assistants (n=245) in long-term care institutions are moderated by social support (at work and external to work). Buffering hypothesis was not confirmed, though some support for a main effects view was found.…

Describes a study to determine the burnout levels of coaches in two-year colleges. The sample consisted of coaches of women's volleyball and basketball (n=147). The female coaches in this study reported higher levels of burnout when compared to their male counterparts. Recommendations for recognizing and reducing burnout are included. (IAH)

An Australian principal who participated in an exploratory study to ascertain the extent and sources of stress among school principals realized that many of his colleagues felt isolated and unsupported. The study relates the high incidence of anxiety and depression among principals to conceiving educational administration as a technical activity.…

Elementary teachers completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory and identified four school culture variables leading to burnout: drive toward measurable goal-achievement behavior imposed by administrators; inadequate trust in teachers' professional adequacy; circumscribing school culture; and disagreeable physical environment. Age, sex, education…

A discussion of stress and college administrators looks at two types of stress (eustress and distress), stress and the autonomic nervous system, the need for regular exercise as well as stress reduction activities, the influence of personality on stress, the sources and stages of burnout, and stress management for administrators. (MSE)

Reviews books and articles to help the department chair enhance faculty teaching. Discusses sources on beginning a teaching-enhancement program, attitudes and teaching improvement, and resources for teaching improvement. (SR)

Expands the definition of supportive communication ties and examines the relationship of communication network roles to job stress and burnout in public elementary schools. Finds that isolates report significantly less stress than linkers, group members, and dyads and significantly less burnout than linkers and dyads. (SR)

Describes the author's estrangement from her chosen field of rhetoric and composition. Attributes it to her appointment as Director of Composition, her felt need to use a writing textbook, and her inability to make sense of articles on composition theory. Relates her gradual reconversion to composition via remembering that ethos is everything. (SR)

Staff members (n=125) working in community residential facilities for persons with mental retardation in North Dakota were found to exhibit a moderate degree of burnout. Supervisory staff members showed significantly more burnout on the Emotional Exhaustion subscale and less on the Personal Accomplishment subscale than did direct-care staff…

Conducted national survey of burnout among 1,196 social workers who work with elderly people. Examined extent to which workers experienced emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. Found that levels of gerontological social workers' burnout appeared lower than levels found among social workers in child welfare, mental…

Presents a letter offering help for an overwhelmed first-year middle school teacher hating teaching. Offers a response from her former college professor commiserating with her, advocating survival as a perfectly good goal, offering four suggestions, and remembering his own desire to quit early in his teaching career. Includes the beginning…

Surveys 344 student affairs administrators concerning burnout and related factors. Women reported higher levels of emotional exhaustion; men and women differed with respect to many personal and job-related characteristics and activities, and the relationship between emotional exhaustion and many of the characteristics and activities differed for…

Argues that, in this time of teacher shortage, English educators must all reach out to encourage and help new teachers or struggling veteran teachers. Offers several examples of organized efforts (by professional groups, in districts and as individuals) to address this need. (SR)