Relationships between social support and student burnout: A meta-analytic approach

The Conservation of Resources (COR) model of burnout (Hobfoll & Freedy, 1993) suggests that resources are differentially related to burnout dimensions. In this paper, I provide a meta-analysis of the social support and burnout literature, finding that social support, as a resource, did not yield different relationships across the 3 burnout dimensions (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment), challenging the COR model. However, when considering the source of the social support (work vs. nonwork) as a moderator, I found that work-related sources of social support, because of their more direct relationship to work demands, were more closely associated with exhaustion than depersonalization or personal accomplishment; the opposite pattern was found with nonwork sources of support. I discuss the implications of this finding in relation to the COR model and suggest future research directions to clarify the relationship between resources and burnout dimensions. (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved

The 35-item Duke Social Support Index (DSSI) measures multiple dimensions of social support and has been used extensively in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of aging. Epidemiological studies of chronically ill, frail elderly individuals often wish to include a measure of social support. However, most multidimensional measures (including the DSSI) are long and may exhaust the patient, especially when included in an often already congested interview schedule. The authors have developed two abbreviated versions of the DSSI (23-item and 11-item) that capture the essential components of social support related to mental health outcomes and use of health services in treating elderly individuals with nonpsychiatric medical illness.