The effectiveness of psychodrama therapy in reducing school counselors’ occupational burnout

Objective: Aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of psychodrama therapy in reducing school counsel-ors’ occupational burnout. In addition, the increase in satisfaction with life and the reduction of depressed mood and level of the hopelessness are expected when the occupational burn out is decreased. Methods: Psychodrama therapy was conducted with school counselors, 16 sessions, and four hours in a week. Study was finalized with 14 school counselors who have either psychology or psychological counseling. School counselors are administered to fill the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SLS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Hopelessness Scale (HS) before and after the study. Additionally a ‘Result Evaluation Form’ containing open ended questions was used. After the study changes in the counseling teachers were evaluated by the comparison of the score of the scales and with the results of the evaluation forms. Results: A statistical significant difference was found between the pretest and posttest scores after the therapy in MBI and SLS. There was no significant difference in, BDI scores and also in HS scores. The SLS’s pretest-post test scores were not significant however; there was a remarkable reduction in the scores. Conclusions: Current findings are discussed with reference to the literature. It was found that psychodrama is an useful technique in reducing occupational burnout. Similar studies in which will include the comparison of counseling group and control group with a larger sample will be beneficial. © 2016, Cukurova University, Faculty of Medicine. All rights reserved.