Exhausted, Stressed, and Disengaged: Does Employment Create Burnout for Social Work Students?

Although burnout is a known risk for practitioners, some social work students may experience burnout in the classroom as a result of role conflict from balancing academics with employment. Higher rates of burnout occur in other disciplines in employed students, even higher than in professionals, because of the stress of shifting priorities between workplace and collegiate responsibilities. Employment can decrease collegiate engagement and academic competence and deter persistence to degree, all of which lead to the reduced competency associated with burnout. Additionally, physical and mental health factors are associated with role conflict, leading to a higher risk of burnout for employed students and resulting in burnout for social work students in the classroom even prior to becoming a practitioner.