Can role strain and role conflict contribute to burnout?
I recently learned about role theory and the concept of role strain and role conflict and its relationship to burnout from a social work student.
I always love the process of learning from another field (sociology) and seeing how what they study has so much application to my field (public health).
I was thinking about the challenges of multiple hats and burnout from the perspective of the multiple roles that academics face as teacher, mentor, researcher, administrator.
But there are many jobs, including social work and medicine, where you play multiple roles. And when you are a trainee in those roles the complications increase.
In my interview with Joangel Concepcion, Episode 23, I could see even as a journalist writing about crime you can be both reporter, activist, and grief counselor.
Not to mention the different roles that working parents or other caregivers play at home and then at work.
Yet so often we can not bring that whole self to work and acknowledge these roles that make our jobs more difficult.
It does not surprise me that role strain and role conflict is related to burnout, but I hope that it helps people struggling with multiples roles have self compassion for why they are experiencing burnout.
If your brain feels like it is shattered into tiny pieces that you can't hold together...
If you can't focus on any one task for long enough to make progress...
If you are torn between priorities...
If you in one place and feeling guilty about the other...
If you are facing dilemmas of how to be supportive and directive at the same time...
If you don't have all the skills you need for all the roles you play...
No wonder you are overwhelmed!
I could see that practices like mindfulness would help anchor us in being present at each moment in time to focus.
And reducing the number of roles and matching them better to your skills is a type of job crafting.
What roles do you play and what do you do to manage your multiple roles? Do you think your roles contribute to burnout?
Further reading here:
https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-role-strain-in-sociology-4784018
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6314365/
