Perceptions of Service Providers’ Burnout: Comparison of Service Users and Service Providers

This paper reports the findings of a study comparing service providers’ and service users’ perceptions of providers’ burnout. It addresses two issues: the similarities and differences in their perceptions; and the associations between any gaps in their perceptions and the service users’ satisfaction and perceptions of change. The study was conducted on 270 matched pairs of service users and service providers in a human service agency in a major city in Israel, using the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The findings show that the service users viewed their providers as less emotionally exhausted, as having a lower level of accomplishment and as more depersonalising than the providers viewed themselves. They also show that user-versus-provider discrepancies in perceptions of the providers’ accomplishments and depersonalisation contributed significantly to the users’ satisfaction with the agency and their provider, as well as to their perception of changes in their presenting problem.