Social support mediates job demands, and burnout relation among public senior high school teachers, Ghana

Abstract

We investigated the extent to which job resources mediated the relationship between job demands and burnout among public senior high school teachers in Ghana. Participants included 1028 public senior high school teachers (female = 491) who have been teaching between 1 year and 32 years. The participants completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory Educators Survey, the Job Content Questionnaire, and the Social Provisions Scale. Multiple linear regression analysis results indicated that job demands and social support predicted burnout among the teachers. Furthermore, social support partially mediated the effect of job demands on burnout. Thus, there was a high level of job demands among this group of teachers, which triggered high levels of burnout. In such a situation, quality teaching and supervision of students for effective learning could be compromised. There is the need for safety leadership in all matters that concern teachers' health and safety.