Music Therapists, Personal Value Preferences, and Burnout

Author

Yung-Jung (Kerstin) Cheng, University of the PacificFollow

Date of Award

2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Department

Music Therapy

First Advisor

Eric Waldon

First Committee Member

Feilin Hsiao

Second Committee Member

Ruth V. Brittin

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine whether there is a relationship between personal value preferences (PVPs) and burnout among music therapists. A total of 450 board-certified music therapists participated in this study. Four hundred and twenty-one participants finished the survey partially and completely, and were analyzed with regard to demographic information (gender identity, years of work, worksites, weekly work hours, annual salary range). Three hundred and forty-three participants who completed the Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ-RR), and Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) were subjected to non-parametric and linear regression analyses.

Regarding the relationship between worksites and burnout, the Kruskal-Wallis H test was used to detect differences in burnout as a function of reported worksite and was found to be significant for Depersonalization. Post-hoc analyses using the Dunn-Bonferroni method found one pairwise difference: Those working in Psychiatric Hospitals report higher Depersonalization than those working in Private Practice/Agency settings. This would seem to suggest that some of the characteristics of the worksite might be related to the experience of burnout. A similar approach was used to detect differences in burnout as a function of reported salary range. The result was significant for Emotional Exhaustion; however, post-hoc tests revealed that no two salary ranges differ significantly from one another. Multiple regression was used to examine the extent to which years of work and weekly work hours are related to burnout. Findings suggest that both years of work and weekly work hours and burnout were statistically significant. Further analysis finds that years of work was negatively correlated with Emotional Exhaustion and Depersonalization, and positively correlated with Personal Accomplishment; and weekly work hours was positively correlated with Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalization, and Personal Accomplishment. Although the results are statistically significant, the practical use of these findings may be limited because of the relatively small amount of variance explained by the overall model and individually by years of work and weekly work hours.

Finally, multiple regression was conducted to examine the relationship between PVPs and burnout. Results suggest that PVPs as a group are related to Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalization, and Personal Accomplishment. Specifically, Self-Transcendence is negatively related to Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalization, and positively related to Personal Accomplishment; Self-Enhancement is positively correlated with Emotional Exhaustion and Depersonalization and negatively correlated with Personal Accomplishment; Openness to Change is negatively correlated to Emotional Exhaustion and Depersonalization, and positively correlated to Personal Accomplishment; and Conservation is positively correlated with Emotional Exhaustion and negatively with Depersonalization and Personal Achievement. These findings as well as implications for future research and implications are explored further.

Pages

96

Recommended Citation

Cheng, Yung-Jung (Kerstin). (2021). Music Therapists, Personal Value Preferences, and Burnout. University of the Pacific, Thesis. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/3778