The Professional Counselor | Volume 13, Issue 3 166 Methods Procedure Upon IRB approvals from two different institutions, mass email invitations were sent to professional counselors affiliated with professional counseling associations (i.e., the American Counseling Association [ACA] and the American School Counselor Association [ASCA]). The email invitations contained a description of the study, proof of IRB approval, informed consent, and a link to a selfreported survey. Prior to responding to the web-based survey, participants were asked to review their consent information. Those who agreed to take part in the survey were asked to respond to a demographic questionnaire, followed by the CBI (S. M. Lee et al., 2007). All measures and forms were coded with the participants’ identification numbers to protect their privacy. Email addresses submitted by those who wanted to be entered into a drawing for compensation were stored in a separate database from the survey responses. Of the 428 participants who completed the online survey, we eliminated 69 who ceased their participation or did not fully complete the survey. As a result, 359 were included in the final data analysis. Participants A total of 359 professional counselors who were currently practicing and affiliated with one or more professional counseling-related association(s) participated in the current study. In terms of demographics, 281 participants self-identified as female (78.3%) and 76 as male (21.2%), in addition to two participants who did not want to respond (0.5%). With regard to racial/ethnic identity, the majority of the participants self-identified as White (n = 270, 75.2%). Thirty-three participants identified themselves as African American (9.2%), 20 as Asian/Asian American/Pacific Islander (5.6%), 19 as Hispanic (5.3%), and two as Native American (0.6%). The participants were employed in K–12 school (n = 123, 34.3%), outpatient (n = 76, 21.2%), private practice (n = 66, 18.4%), counselor education (n = 37, 10.3%), university counseling (n = 22, 6.1%), medical/psychiatric hospital (n = 11, 3.1%), or other (n = 24, 6.7%) settings. Years of experience ranged from 1 to 47 years, with a mean of 11.4 and standard deviation of 9.6. The participants displayed diverse specialties, including school counseling (42.9%), mental health counseling (42.9%), marriage and family therapy (4.6%), rehabilitation counseling (3.7%), and other disciplines (5.8%). Measures Counselor Burnout Inventory (CBI) The CBI (S. M. Lee et al., 2007), a 20-item self-report inventory used to assess professional counselors’ burnout, consists of five dimensions: Exhaustion (e.g., “I feel exhausted due to my work as a counselor”), Incompetence (e.g., “I am not confident in my counseling skills”), Negative Work Environment (e.g., “I feel frustrated with the system in my workplace”), Devaluing Client (e.g., “I am not interested in my clients and their problems”), and Deterioration in Personal Life (e.g., “My relationships with family members have been negatively impacted by my work as a counselor”). These five dimensions reflect the characteristics of feelings and behaviors that indicate various levels of burnout among counselors. The CBI asks participants to rate the relevance of the statements on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (never true) to 5 (always true). S. M. Lee et al. (2007) reported that Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of internal consistency reliability were .80 for the Exhaustion subscale, .83 for the Negative Work Environment subscale, .83 for the Devaluing Client subscale, .81 for the Incompetence subscale, and .84 for the Deterioration in Personal Life subscale. The current study obtained Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of .89 for Exhaustion, .87 for Negative Work Environment, .77 for Devaluing Client, .78 for Incompetence, and .84 for Deterioration in Personal Life.
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