Effects of Religious Orientation and Communication Competence and Apprehension on Burnout Potential
A doctoral dissertation
presented to the faculty of Communication and Arts of Regent University (Virginia Beach, Virginia)
The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential
influences
of religious resources on burnout potential for individuals serving in
people-helping capacities. It was hypothesized that variables of
communication competence and communication apprehension would be
influenced by intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientation. If an
individual's intrinsic or extrinsic religious orientation influences
communicative perceptions of competence and apprehension, this might be
beneficial in the early identification and prevention of burnout for
persons serving as people helpers.
With these goals in mind, this study investigated the effects of
religious orientation and self-perceived communication competence and
apprehension on
burnout potential. Questionaires were answered by a total of 435
respondents at two institutions of higher learning. One school was a
small Bible college in Missouri and the second was a small
state-supported university in northeastern North Carolina.
The results of the study indicated a
significant difference in religious orientation scores between samples at
religious college and state university settings.
Positive associations between religious
orientation and self-perceived communication competence were discovered for
both samples and positive associations between religious orientation and
communication apprehension scores were discovered for students in the religious
college sample.
Negative associations
between religious orientation and burnout potential scores were reported for both
samples of students. A negative association between
self-perceived communication competence and burnout potential was reported for
the state university sample. A negative
association between communication apprehension and burnout potential was also
reported for both samples.
The findings of this study offer evidence for the use
of religious resources as a means of reducing the likelihood of professional
burnout for those who labor in care-giving professions.