Evaluating the Relationship between Compassion, Perceived Supervisor Support, and Burnout among A.B.A Staff

Amanda Austin · Kate Fiske

Accepted: 8 May 2023 / Published online: 30 May 2023 Association for Behavior Analysis International 2023

Abstract

Recent position papers have called for a focus on compassion in the training and practice of board certified behavior analysts. Much of this preliminary effort emphasizes the importance of compassion in behavior analysts' work with families of individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities, highlighting research from other fields that demonstrates a relation between practitioner empathy and patient outcome. However, some research in burnout among applied behavior analysis (A.B.A) professionals indicates that supervisory relationships play important roles in the well-being of A.B.A professionals. The current study will report on findings from a survey of 1,335 A.B.A providers that measured burnout, B.C.B.A compassion, and perceived supervisor support. A one-way anova found statistically significant differences in burnout between job positions. Multiple regression and mediation analyses found that perceived supervisor support mediates the relationship between supervisor compassion and staff burnout. Implications for the training of B.C.B.A's in supervision and for behavior analytic organizations are discussed.

Keywords Compassion · Supervision · Perceived supervisor support · Burnout

Recent surveys of providers in the field of applied behavior analysis (A.B.A), primarily of direct care staff, have found that they experience high rates of burnout in their work with individuals with autism spectrum disorders. Burnout is a response to prolonged stress that is characterized by three constructs—exhaustion, depersonalization, and lack of personal accomplishment. Most commonly attributed to burnout is its exhaustion component, which encompasses feelings of being overextended and depleted of one's emotional and physical resources. One suffering from high levels of exhaustion may report feeling emotionally drained from work or frustrated at their job. The second dimension of burnout, depersonalization, refers to negative or excessively detached responses to various aspects of one's job.

For example, one might feel ineffective in dealing with issues of clients or feel depressed or bored after working with clients. The final component of burnout, lack of personal accomplishment, includes feelings of incompetence and reductions in achievement and productivity at work.

When examining the components that comprise burnout separately, direct care staff have reported rates of low personal accomplishment as high as 42% and rates of emotional exhaustion as high as 27%, whereas certified individuals (e.g., R.B.T's, B.C.a.B.A's, B.C.B.A's, B.C.B.A-Ds) have reported rates of exhaustion and depersonalization as high as 33% and rates of low personal accomplishment as high as 50%. These rates are especially problematic considering the profound impact on work quality and treatment outcomes that burnout can have. As rates of A.S.D are increasing, there is an increased need for staff who can deliver high quality services to this population. Burned out employees may be incapable of meeting this need, and high turnover rates can exhaust resources and make it difficult to establish consistency in services.

As the field of autism treatment struggles to retain employees, it is imperative that organization administrators identify ways to minimize burnout among their staff. Challenges emerge in the field of A.B.A and A.S.D treatment that are inherent to the clinician positions and can contribute to burnout, such as managing problem behavior. In addition, research has identified a number of organizational factors specifically in the area of A.B.A that are related to staff burnout, with many focused on the support A.B.A staff receive from others. For example, social support, satisfaction with training, perceived organizational support, and perceived supervisor support all have evidence across multiple studies to support their influence on burnout. The current study will focus primarily on the contributions of perceived supervisor support to staff burnout.

Perceived Supervisor Support

A growing body of research indicates that the support one receives from supervisors is related to burnout, particularly in the field of A.B.A. A survey of 92 professionals across multiple certification levels R.B.T, B.C.B.A, B.C.B.A-D), found lower levels of burnout and higher levels of job satisfaction in those who reported receiving support from their supervisors and colleagues. Several other studies have corroborated the findings on the influence of perceived supervisor support on burnout among A.B.A staff, and one study even found that perceived supervisor support moderated the relationship between work demands and burnout. That is, while high work demands were found to contribute to burnout, participants reporting high work demands were less likely to experience burnout if they also reported high perceived supervisor support.

Bottini et al. (2021) conducted interviews with 11 A.S.D providers about factors that contribute to and mitigate their burnout and found that perceived supervisor support could have either positive or negative effects on burnout. Among both supervisors and supervyzeez, the same number of individuals reported that supervision worsened their burnout as those who reported that it helped their burnout. Supervisors' explanations for the negative impact of supervision on burnout included difficult interactions with supervyzeez and receiving less recognition than individuals who do not hold supervisory positions. Supervisees' explanations included lack of supervisor availability, lack of availability of praise, use of punishment, and insincere praise. On the other hand, some supervyzeez indicated that supervisor availability and availability of praise mitigated burnout.

B.C.B.A's usually take on a supervisory role in behavior analytic agencies and other settings. DiGennaro Reed and Henley (2015) found that 75% of survey participants who either held or were seeking certification from the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (B.A.C.B) were responsible for supervising other staff. In general, the training of B.C.B.A's focuses heavily on the principles of behavior analysis and less on consultation and supervisory practices, though they often take on these types of roles. To supervise trainees, B.C.B.A's are only required to practice for at least 1 year (unless they have a supervisor who has been certified for at least 5 years, who will oversee their supervision of trainees) and to complete 8 hr of training in supervision. Though the B.A.C.B recently added training requirements in the areas of organizational behavior management and supervision for B.C.B.A certification, many B.C.B.A's may not gain any hands-on training in this area prior to becoming supervisors themselves. Furthermore, it does not appear that B.C.B.A's are receiving sufficient training in supervision after becoming certified.

DiGennaro Reed and Henley (2015) reported that almost two thirds of over 200 surveyed staff, who were either certified or seeking certification from the B.A.C.B, indicated that they did not receive training on effective supervisory practices from their workplaces. Of the minority who reported that they did receive training, less than half indicated that the training prepared them to successfully supervise others.

Consistent with the findings, however, is the B.A.C.B's recent report that during the first year enforcing its ethical code, improper or inadequate supervision was the most prevalent violation. Given this finding, as well as the relation between supervisory support and staff burnout, the importance of building essential supervisory skills for B.C.B.A's is clear. Among these skills are the those related to interpersonal skills and relationship building that have been heavily emphasized in the context of B.C.B.A's work with families. As an example, Wehby et al. (2011) found that the quality of relationships between coaches, whose roles are similar in nature to those of B.C.B.A's, and teachers, moderated the effect of emotional exhaustion in teachers on their implementation of a class-wide intervention. This example suggests that skills related to relationship-building in the role of a B.C.B.A may have a profound impact on key individuals of A.B.A programs who are susceptible to burnout. Such skills can be categorized under the construct of compassion.

Compassion

, in all contexts, can serve as a protective factor against burnout. Having compassion for one's self, showing compassion to others, and being treated with compassion, all have been hypothesized to influence well-being . Compassion is increasingly becoming an important practice and topic of research in many fields, in particular the medical field. In fact, compassion is considered the first ethical principle of care among health-care professionals. Although no universal definition of compassion exists, the following five elements encompass most of its characteristics outlined in the literature: (1) recognizing suffering; (2) understanding the universality of suffering; (3) emotional resonance (feeling moved by others' suffering); (4) tolerating uncomfortable feelings; and (5) motivation to act/acting to alleviate suffering. Although these characteristics portray compassion as an observable construct, compassion is often measured through report of one's attitudes. For example, the Compassion Scale—a popular scale used to measure compassion—asks raters to indicate how often, or the extent to which, they behave or think in different ways (e.g., "I like to be there for others in times of difficulty"; Pommier et al., 2020). However, measuring compassion based on private attitudes limits researchers' ability to evaluate a person's perceptions of the compassion of others. To better understand the influence of one's compassion on others, more research is needed on how to measure it in others using behavioral terms.

To that end, Taylor et al. (2019) surveyed 95 parents of children with A.S.D about compassionate practices demonstrated by the B.C.B.A's with whom they work. They behaviorally defined examples of compassion using examples such as asking about other family members like siblings, asking parents how they are doing, and minimizing use of jargon. Results showed that while parents reported that B.C.B.A's demonstrate important behaviors such as expressing appreciation of client strengths and celebrating client accomplishments, improvement is needed in several essential practices. Some of the practices that were least commonly endorsed by parents included regularly asking how parents were doing, acknowledging their own mistakes, and respecting cultural values and beliefs.

The medical literature reports that compassionate care leads to more favorable patient outcomes. Numerous studies have provided evidence of the link between the clinician–patient relationship and patient outcomes. It is possible that the role of medical providers in such outcomes may extend to the role of B.C.B.A's in outcomes for A.B.A staff. In sum, B.C.B.A's are likely to influence many of the organizational factors found to contribute to (or mitigate) burnout. As such, these factors may be affected by a B.C.B.A's level of compassion toward their staff. This means that B.C.B.A compassion might directly influence burnout. LeBlanc et al. (2020) found that while a majority of behavior analysts reported that they did not receive any explicit training on relationship-building skills in the graduate coursework, 88% also indicated that it is very or extremely important. that professional training programs in A.B.A develop formal training in this area. It is important to evaluate the extent to which B.C.B.A compassion affects staff burnout to evaluate the urgency of the need to train B.C.B.A's in compassion.

Current Study

As previously discussed, staff in supervisory and training roles, in particular B.C.B.A's, can have a significant impact on staff experiences of burnout. Due to the significant roles these individuals play in the experiences of the employees with whom they work, it is essential for them to have the skills necessary to minimize the negative effects that poor supervision and training can have on staff. Literature on building compassion and therapeutic relationships has highlighted the importance of utilizing such practices when working with others and their association with outcomes like gaining buy-in and strengthening treatment adherence. Although a growing body of research examines burnout among A.B.A staff working with children with autism, no studies have taken a closer look at the influence of B.C.B.A compassion on staff burnout. The current study sought to address the gap in A.B.A literature in the link between B.C.B.A compassion and A.B.A staff burnout, as well as the consistency of burnout levels of types of A.B.A providers. In the current study, it was hypothesized that B.C.B.A compassion would be found to significantly contribute to the burnout of A.B.A providers. In particular, we expected that A.B.A providers who rated supervising B.C.B.A's higher in compassion would report lower burnout.

Methods

Sample

Participants for the current study were recruited through A.B.A graduate programs and center-based schools in New Jersey, as well as via a listserv through the B.A.C.B, which included certified individuals (R.B.T's, B.C.a.B.A's, B.C.B.A's, B.C.B.A-Ds). The inclusionary criteria for participants specified that respondents must currently work in the field of A.B.A either as a behavior analyst or as a staff member whose work is overseen by a behavior analyst. The original sample included 2,396 participants. After removing all participants who did not complete the majority of the survey, 1,336 participants remained. One additional participant was removed due to not meeting eligibility criteria. The final sample included 1,335 participants. A complete summary of demographic characteristics of the final sample can be found in Table 1, and a summary of characteristics of the clients with whom the final sample works can be found in Table 2.

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Table 2 summary: Client characteristics of the participating sample, where the largest age group is Early elementary with 921 individuals at 68.99 percent. Regarding autism severity, the majority fall into the Moderate category at 48.09 percent and Severe at 45.31 percent. For challenging behavior, the most common types are Disruptive behavior at 86.44 percent and Aggression at 83.90 percent, with Moderate severity being the most frequent at 78.28 percent. In terms of skill development, 81.72 percent are Below age/grade level, and the most common rate of progress toward mastering skills is Average at 73.71 percent.

The sample was mostly female (n = 1,148, 86.00%) and white (n = 990, 74.16%). Participants ranged in age from 19 to 72 years (M = 31.68, S.D = 9.37), and most participants were between the ages of 22 and 39 (n = 1,015, 76.03%). Regarding education, most participants had completed bachelors (n = 514, 38.50%) and/or masters degrees (n = 570, 42.70%). A majority of the participants reported that they currently worked as a classroom assistant/behaviorist.

Participants were able to select more than one answer choice for all items except autism severity, thus, cumulative percentages are greater than 100%

technician (n = 631, 47.27%) or behavior analyst (n = 503, 37.68%). Participants reported working in a range of settings; the most common were clinics (n = 432, 32.36%) and homes (n = 346, 25.92%). Length of time working in their current positions varied from 0 days to 34 years, with a majority reporting working in their current position for less than 1 year (n = 424, 31.76%) or between 1 and 5 years (n = 766, 57.38%). Likewise, length of time working in their current workplace ranged from 0 days to 33 years, with most working less than 1 year (n = 459, 34.38%) or between 1 and 5 years (n = 702, 52.58%). Half of the sample reported working in the field of A.B.A for between 1 and 5 years (n = 668, 50.04%), though durations ranged from 3 weeks to 42 years. Approximately one third (n = 474, 35.51%) of the sample were board certified behavior analysts; of those, almost all (n = 434, 91.56%) reported that they provide supervision, consultation, and/or training to staff.

The sample worked with clients across the lifespan, though the most common age group that participants reported working with was early elementary ( n equals 921, 68.99 percent). Almost all participants ranked the severity of their clients' autism symptoms as moderate ( n equals 642, 48.09 percent) or severe ( n equals 605, 45.31 percent), and very few participants indicated that their clients do not engage in challenging behaviors ( n equals 48, 3.60 percent). A majority of participants reported that they see clients who engage in aggression ( n equals 1,120; 83.90 percent), self-injury ( n equals 947, 70.94 percent), disruptive behavior ( n equals 1,154, 86.44 percent), stereotypy ( n equals 949, 71.09 percent), and/or elopement ( n equals 1,053; 78.88 percent). Most participants reported that their clients are learning skills that are below their age/grade level ( n equals 1,091; 81.72 percent) and that their rate of progress towards mastering skills is average ( n equals 984, 73.71 percent) or slow ( n equals 790, 59.18 percent).

Measures

Information on staff burnout and possible contributors to burnout was collected through a survey containing multiple choice, Likert-scale, and free response questions. The measures that were included in the survey are described below.

Demographic Information

Participants were asked 11 questions about demographic information, including age, gender identity, race, level of education, current position and type of workplace, amount of time working in current position and workplace, and amount of time working in A.B.A. Participants were also asked whether they are B.C.B.A's and if so, whether they provide supervision, consultation, and/or training to staff.

Client Characteristics

Participants were asked five questions to gather information about the clients with whom they work. Questions asked about client age, autism severity, severity and type of challenging behaviors, developmental level, and overall rate of progress.

Perceived Supervisor Support

A modified version of the Perceived Supervisor Support scale was used to measure perceived supervisor support. The measure includes eight items that are rated on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Items were modified by changing the subject of the items from “work organization” to “supervisor.” This modification is not expected to alter the validity of the scale and is consistent with modifications made in similar studies. Sample items include “My supervisor values my contribution,” “My supervisor really cares about my well-being,” and “My supervisor shows very little concern for me” (reverse coded). This measure showed strong internal consistency for the current study, with a Cronbach's alpha of.93.

Compassion

B.C.B.A compassion was measured using a modified version of the Relational Compassion Scale. The Relational Compassion Scale is a 16-item measure comprised of subscales that target four factors of compassion. Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale. The other-self subscale was administered to staff to measure perceived level of compassion in their B.C.B.A's, and the self-other subscale was administered to B.C.B.A's to measure their own compassion. Items on the other-self subscale were modified in their phrasing to specify B.C.B.A's as the subjects (e.g., “Other people I know are empathic when I make a mistake” was changed to “The B.C.B.A is empathic when I make a mistake”). The Relational Compassion Scale has been found to have acceptable to good internal consistency ( r = 0.74 -.84 ) and convergent and discriminative validity. In the current study, the self-other subscale showed poor internal consistency, with a Cronbach's alpha of.60, and the other-self subscale showed strong internal consistency, with a Cronbach's alpha of.93. Results from the self-other subscale were not used in any statistical analyses.

Burnout

The Bergen Burnout Inventory was used to measure participant burnout. The B.B.I is a 9-item scale comprised of three subscales, each of which measures one of the three components of burnout. This measure refers to these components as exhaustion, cynicism (i.e., depersonalization), and sense of inadequacy (i.e., lack of personal accomplishment). The frequency that participants experience the feelings described by each item is rated on a 6-point Likert scale. Sample items include “I am snowed under with work,” “I frequently question the value of my work,” and “I feel that I am gradually losing interest in my clients or my other employees.” As such, higher scores indicate greater agreement with the items, which indicates higher burnout. This measure has been validated and found to have good internal consistency; reported Cronbach's alpha of.85 and 0.83 in their samples for the overall measure, and on the three subscales, they reported Cronbach's alphas of 0.70 and 0.63 (exhaustion), 0.82 and 0.80 (cynicism), and 0.71 and 0.68 (sense of inadequacy). The current study found Cronbach's alphas of 0.91 for the overall measure and 0.77, 0.86, and 0.75 for each of the three subscales, respectively. This indicates sufficient internal consistency for the current study.

B.C.B.A Practices

Participants in the current study also completed a questionnaire regarding the practices of the B.C.B.A with whom they worked most closely. The results of this questionnaire are not shared in this current study, but included an open-ended question asking them to describe their ideal supervisor as well as a 29-item Likert-type scale created by the author that asked participants to rate the extent to which their B.C.B.A engaged in specific technical or compassionate supervisory practices. Participants who were B.C.B.A's also completed a questionnaire in which they rated their own level of engagement in each of the same 29 practices. Following the completion of the 29 items, all participants were asked to list the three practices from the scale that they value in/as B.C.B.A's.

Additional Questionnaires

Four additional variables that have been stated by the literature to either influence burnout (i.e., social support, satisfaction with training, perceived organizational support) or be influenced by burnout (i.e., intention to turnover) were measured. Social support was measured using the Workplace Social Support subscale from Barnett et al. (2019). Participants rated the extent to which they agreed with each of the four items on a 5-point Likert scale. Barnett et al. (2019) reported a Cronbach's alpha of.85 for the subscale. The current study found a Cronbach's alpha of.91 for this measure, which is consistent with previously reported levels.

Satisfaction with training was measured using Kazemi's et al. (2015) modified version of Lui's 5-item scale. The modified version contains changes in phrasing from the original version to better fit the study sample, including removing the word “sales” from the phrase “sales training” and changing “salesperson” to “therapist.” Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. For the current study, items were rated on a 7-point Likert scale due to an error made while constructing the survey. This error is not expected to alter the validity of the scale.

The original scale and modified version both have been found to have Cronbach's alpha of 0.71 and 0.78, respectively, which indicate sufficient internal consistency. The Cronbach's alpha of the scale for the current study was 0.80, indicating good internal consistency.

A short form of the Survey of Perceived Organizational Support was used to measure perceived organizational support. The measure includes six items that are rated on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The Cronbach's alpha of the scale for the current study was.93, indicating strong internal consistency.

Intention to turnover was measured using two items created by Dupre and Day (2007). Items include “I will stay at my job for as long as I can” and “I will leave if another job becomes available.” Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from “highly unlikely” (1) to “highly likely” (5). For the current study, items were rated on a 7-point Likert scale due to an error made while constructing the survey. This error is not expected to alter the validity of the scale. The correlation between the two items in the current study was strong (r = 0.68), which is consistent with the correlation between the two items in the original study, which was very strong (r = 0.89).

Procedures

The initial recruitment email sent to potential participants included a link to a Qualtrics survey. Upon clicking on the link, participants were first asked to complete a consent form before accessing the survey questions. At the end of the survey, participants were asked if they wanted to enter into a raffle for a chance to win one of 10 $25 Amazon gift cards, and affirmative responses navigated the participant to a new survey where they could enter their contact information.

Data Analysis

To examine differences in burnout between job positions, one-way anova's were conducted to determine whether significant differences existed between burnout scores across job positions, and post-hoc Tukey tests were conducted to identify whether significant differences existed between classroom assistants/behavior technicians, lead teachers/instructors/program coordinators, behavior analysts, administrative staff, and related service providers. To determine whether compassion is a predictor of burnout, multiple regression and mediation analyses were conducted.

Results

Burnout and Related Variables

A summary of the sample's scores on measures of burnout, perceived supervisor support, perceived B.C.B.A compassion, perceived organizational support, social support, satisfaction with training, and intention to turnover can be found below in Table 3.

Table 3 summary: Descriptive statistics for independent and dependent variables across a sample of approximately 1,300 participants. Burnout and its components, Exhaustion, Cynicism, and Inadequacy, all show similar mean scores around 3.0, with ranges from 1.00 to 6.00. Support metrics vary by scale, with Perceived supervisor support showing the highest mean at 43.88 and Perceived organizational support at 27.43. Other support and satisfaction variables, including Satisfaction with training, Social support, and Perceived BCBA compassion, have means ranging from 15.86 to 19.93. The Intention to turnover has a mean of 3.65 on a scale from 1.00 to 7.00.

Burnout by Position

Overall, related service providers were found to have the highest levels of overall burnout ( M = 3.26 , S.D = 1.10), cynicism burnout ( M = 3.64 , S.D = 1.37), and inadequacy burnout ( M = 3.31 , S.D = 1.31) of the five position types analyzed. Lead teachers/instructors/program coordinators were found to have the highest levels of burnout in the area of exhaustion ( M = 3.50 , S.D = 1.24). Administrative staff were found to have the lowest levels of overall burnout ( M = 2.82 , S.D = 1.17), cynicism burnout ( M = 2.68 , S.D = 1.37), and inadequacy burnout ( M = 2.65 , S.D = 1.30). Classroom assistants/behavior technicians had the lowest levels of exhaustion burnout ( M = 2.81 , S.D = 1.19). A summary of the groups' burnout scores can be found in Table 4.

Table 4 summary: Burnout scores across five professional positions, where Related service providers report the highest overall burnout mean of 3.26, followed by Behavior analysts at 3.19. Administrative staff report the lowest overall burnout mean at 2.82. Across the specific dimensions of burnout, Related service providers show the highest cynicism score at 3.64, while Lead teacher/instructor/program coordinators report the highest exhaustion score at 3.50.

Results of a one-way anova indicated that significant differences in overall burnout scores ( F 7, 1300 equals 3.64, p less than point zero zero one), exhaustion scores ( F 7, 1313 equals 8.29, p less than point zero zero one), and inadequacy scores ( F 7, 1313 equals 3.19, p equals point zero zero two) existed between position types. Post-hoc Tukey tests were conducted to determine which positions had significant differences in burnout scores. All five position types that were analyzed were compared with each other.

Significant differences were found between behavior analysts and classroom assistants/behavior technicians in overall burnout (p = 0.001), exhaustion (p less than 0.001), and inadequacy (p = 0.044). In particular, higher levels of burnout were reported by behavior analysts than were reported by classroom assistants/behavior technicians. No other statistically significant differences between groups' burnout levels were detected.

Factors Contributing to Burnout

Correlational Analyses Before regression analyses were run, correlational analyses were conducted to determine whether each variable was significantly correlated with burnout. Results showed that all variables were statistically significantly correlated with each other. All hypothesized predictors of burnout (i.e., perceived B.C.B.A compassion, perceived supervisor support, social support, satisfaction with training, perceived organizational support) were positively correlated with each other; for example, higher perceived B.C.B.A compassion was linked to higher perceived supervisor support.

All predictors of burnout reported by the literature were negatively correlated with overall burnout, each component of burnout, and intention to turnover; for example, higher social support was linked to lower burnout. Furthermore, overall burnout and each of its components were positively correlated with intention to turnover; that is, higher burnout was linked to higher intention to turnover. A summary of these correlations can be found below in Table 5.

Table 5 summary: Intention to turnover is positively correlated with all burnout measures and negatively correlated with all support and satisfaction variables. Specifically, Intention to turnover has the strongest positive correlation with Cynicism at .63, followed by Overall burnout at .60 and Inadequacy at .58. Conversely, it is most strongly negatively correlated with Perceived organizational support at -.61, followed by Perceived supervisor support at -.47 and Satisfaction with training at -.47. Burnout components, including Exhaustion, Cynicism, and Inadequacy, all show significant negative correlations with support variables, such as Perceived BCBA compassion and Social support, with correlations ranging from -.28 to -.51.

Regression Analyses At first, to determine the extent to which perceived B.C.B.A compassion, social support, perceived supervisor support, perceived organizational support, and satisfaction with training predicted burnout, a simple linear regression model was used. Overall, the model was statistically significant ( R squared = 0.38 , F (5,1196) = 149.41 , p less than 0.001). Perceived supervisor support, satisfaction with training, and perceived organizational support were found to be significant negative predictors of burnout. Perceived B.C.B.A compassion was not a significant predictor of burnout in this model. See Table 6 for a summary of this model.

: Table 6 summary: Standard regression analysis of burnout reveals that satisfaction with training, perceived organizational support, and perceived supervisor support are the most significant predictors. Specifically, satisfaction with training has the strongest negative relationship with burnout at beta minus .32, followed by perceived organizational support at minus .27 and perceived supervisor support at minus .28, all with p values less than .001. In contrast, social support and perceived BCBA compassion show weaker relationships, with p values of .07 and .22 respectively.

As it was suspected that the variance accounted for by perceived B.C.B.A compassion and perceived supervisor support may have overlapped, additional analyses were conducted. First, each variable was entered separately into a simple linear regression model. Perceived B.C.B.A compassion separately predicted 14.10% of the variance in burnout (R squared equals point 14, F with 1 and 1255 degrees of freedom equals 205.18, p is less than point 001), and perceived supervisor support separately predicted 26.20% of the variance in burnout (R squared equals point 26, F with 1 and 1231 degrees of freedom equals 438.03, p is less than point 001). Both models were statistically significant. Then, both variables were entered together into a simple linear regression model, and although the model was significant (R squared equals point 26, F with 2 and 1222 degrees of freedom equals 214.91, p is less than point 001), perceived B.C.B.A compassion was no longer a significant predictor of burnout. See Table 7 for a summary of this model.

: Table 7 summary: Perceived supervisor support is a significant predictor of burnout, with a beta coefficient of negative .49 and a p-value of less than .001. In contrast, perceived BCBA compassion is not a significant predictor, showing a beta coefficient of .01 and a p-value of .96.

Because these results suggested the possibility that perceived supervisor support may have a mediating effect on the relationship between perceived B.C.B.A compassion and burnout, additional analyses were run. To determine whether perceived B.C.B.A compassion predicted perceived supervisor support, which would be a prerequisite for a mediating effect to be present, these variables were entered into a simple linear regression model with perceived B.C.B.A compassion as the independent variable and perceived supervisor support as the dependent variable. Perceived B.C.B.A compassion was found to significantly predict perceived supervisor support ( R squared = 0.55 , F 1, 1238) = 1,535.64 ; p less than 0.001). To determine whether a mediating effect was present, a Sobel test was conducted. Results indicated that perceived supervisor support did have a significant mediating effect on the relationship between perceived B.C.B.A compassion and burnout (t = -13.17, p = 0). Stated another way, A.B.A providers who rated their B.C.B.A more highly in compassion were also more likely to rate their supervisors highly in the area of perceived supervisor support. In turn, perceived supervisor support was related to lower reported burnout by A.B.A providers.

Discussion

Burnout is a prevalent phenomenon in the human services field, and discussion of its presence in A.B.A in the literature is emerging. One factor that has been found to be linked to burnout in A.B.A staff is supervision. Participants in Bottini et al.'s study cited supervision as both a potential contributor and mitigator of burnout. The purpose of the current study was to examine burnout in A.B.A staff, including contributing factors, with a particular emphasis on the role of compassion. Data provided evidence that staff perceptions of supervisor compassion predict perceived supervisor support, and higher perceived supervisor support is linked to lower burnout. Information provided by this study's analyses outline a number of avenues for further analyses and implications for practice and training.

Burnout

The primary purpose of this study was to examine differences in burnout based on job position, as well as factors that contribute to burnout, with a specific focus on B.C.B.A compassion. Unfortunately, direct comparisons to other studies' results cannot be made due to scoring differences between the burnout measures that were used and due to the B.B.I's lack of cutoff scores (to this author's knowledge). Although no studies have used the B.B.I to measure burnout in A.B.A staff, this sample's scores were considerably higher than those reported by samples of managers and employees working in a bank, an engineering office, and a public sector organization, who were administered the B.B.I. Although this provides only one sample of A.B.A staff reporting higher burnout than professionals working in other fields, it provides an interesting avenue for future research.

The average overall burnout score for the sample was 3.01 (out of 6); a rating of 3 on the measure used indicates that a participant “partly disagreed” with the item. It was hypothesized that the average for this sample would be higher due to previous research that has found high rates of burnout in A.B.A staff. A direct comparison to burnout scores reported in other studies cannot be made, as the measure used in previous studies (i.e., the Maslach Burnout Inventory) classifies burnout into ranges from low to high, and the measure used in the current study (i.e., the B.B.I) does not designate such ranges. However, it seems likely that ratings indicating partial disagreement with questions about their burnout in the current study would not be characterized as “high” burnout.

One possible explanation for this study's participants reporting lower burnout scores than expected could be the large and diverse sample. Prior studies surveyed fewer participants, whereas this study surveyed a large sample, which may be more representative of the profession as a whole. The current study's sample also included professionals working in different positions in various settings and with diverse populations, which is more diverse than in prior studies which sampled professionals who shared more similar demographic characteristics. The most prevalent characteristics of the sample must also be considered (e.g., setting, position), as the data may more strongly represent these particular characteristics, which may differentially influence burnout. A direction for future research could be to evaluate whether differential levels of burnout exist across settings and other demographic factors that have been studied in prior research.

This study's large sample size could provide extensions of prior research in these areas using a larger sample size, thus yielding more representative results.

As an alternative, it may be possible that the construct of burnout is not the most accurate representation of the experiences of A.B.A staff. Rather, measures of work stress or other constructs may better capture the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of these staff. By definition, burnout is a result of long-term work stress; considering that a large percentage of the sample is relatively new to the field (less than 1 year or 1 to 5 years), this could explain why burnout levels are not yet as high as would be expected in this sample. Future studies may consider administering measures of work stress to determine if this is a more appropriate construct to represent the experiences of A.B.A staff, especially those who are newer to the field.

Longitudinal research should also be conducted to determine whether measures of work stress or related constructs may predict burnout over time. Findings would advise when intervention should take place to aid in burnout prevention.

Related service providers reported the highest levels of burnout, though not statistically significantly different from all other positions. This lack of significance may potentially be due to the small sample size of this group, resulting in a lack of power. There were, however, significant differences between the burnout levels of behavior analysts and classroom assistants/behavior technicians, with behavior analysts reporting significantly higher burnout. As the study's primary objective was to determine how supervision by B.C.B.A's influences staff burnout, this finding suggests that in some cases, it may be necessary to first address the burnout of the behavior analyst before determining how to refine their supervisory practices to alleviate the burnout of those they supervise.

It is possible that B.C.B.A's' burnout influences their ability to provide high-quality supervision and that the staff whom they supervise experience the effects of their burnout. This directly relates to Code 1.10 of the Ethics Code, which refers to taking steps to reduce the effects of one's own personal challenges (in this case, burnout) on their professional work. The extent to which one's burnout affects others with whom they work may be examined in greater depth in future studies that are able to link responses from behavior analysts to responses of their supervyzeez.

Behavior analysts may also experience a lack of confidence or competence in their abilities to perform supervisory duties due to their lack of training in this area, which could also contribute to their burnout. Further analyses should also be conducted to determine contributing factors of burnout specific to behavior analysts' burnout.

B.C.B.A Compassion and Burnout It was hypothesized that B.C.B.A compassion would be a significant negative predictor of burnout. Although it was found to be a significant predictor when entered into a regression model alone, it was no longer a significant predictor when entered into a model with other variables, specifically perceived supervisor support. Results of a mediation analysis found that perceived supervisor support acted as a mediator between B.C.B.A. compassion and burnout. Given that the measures used to evaluate each construct contained similar items (e.g., “The B.C.B.A tends to be sensitive to my well-being” on the Relational Compassion Scale versus “The supervisor really cares about my well-being” on the Perceived Supervisor Support scale), this outcome is not surprising and provides information about potential ways to increase perceived supervisor support, and highlights the importance of B.C.B.A compassion as it relates to staff burnout. If compassion is at least part of what allows a B.C.B.A to be perceived as supportive, it seems necessary for the training of B.C.B.A's to emphasize compassionate supervisory skills, which most report they have not received training in (LeBlanc et al., 2020). Taylor et al. (2019) provide frameworks from which B.C.B.A's can be taught such skills.

The curricula they describe focus on teaching skills such as active listening, perspective-taking, minimizing the use of technical jargon, and establishing collaborative therapeutic relationships. The recent addition of a seventh course in the required B.C.B.A course sequence, which focuses on supervision and organizational behavior management, provides an optimal context in which these skills can be taught in the classroom.

Workplaces and training sites should also consider ways to adapt their training models to incorporate hands-on training and experience in compassion. One way in which organizations can encourage additional training in this area is by providing increased opportunities for behavior analysts to contact the literature and research that is emerging on building "soft skills" and compassion. This can be done through journal clubs, professional development workshops, and conference attendance. Knowledge acquired through these modalities can be translated into practice by putting systems into place that will increase the likelihood of the application of these skills.

For example, common behavior analytic practices, such as self-monitoring and reinforcement systems, may be arranged to focus on increasing and reinforcing supervisors for engaging in compassionate practices. Organizations may also consider including compassionate practices as a component of staff evaluations to aid in behavior analysts' awareness of how others perceive their engagement in these practices. Identification of methods by which to formally and behaviorally assess engagement in these practices, aside from surveys of staff perceptions, would be a useful area for future research.

Limitations

As mentioned previously, most prior studies in this area have used the Maslach Burnout Inventory, which provides cutoff scores to capture low, moderate, and high levels of burnout. The same conclusions could not be drawn regarding participants' level of burnout in the sample due to the lack of cutoff scores for the burnout measure used. Although the ratings provided in the current study provide some information about the levels of these variables present in the sample (e.g., The overall average burnout rating of 3.01 corresponds to the response "partly disagree" on the Likert scale), having classification ranges would allow for more detailed conclusions to be drawn regarding targets for intervention. In addition, having supervise responses linked to the supervisor's responses may have provided additional information about the effects of a supervisor's burnout on that of their supervyzeez.

Conclusion

This study evaluated burnout across types of A.B.A staff and examined the role of compassion in staff burnout. Significant differences were detected between the burnout of behavior analysts and that of classroom assistants/behavior technicians, such that behavior analysts experience higher burnout. Although this study's purpose was focused on determining the ways in which behavior analysts contribute to the burnout of the staff they oversee (e.g., classroom assistants/behavior technicians), it may be additionally necessary to more closely examine factors related specifically to the burnout of behavior analysts to allow them to be successful in implementing practices to help the burnout of others.

It should be noted that perceptions of B.C.B.A compassion were found to predict perceived supervisor support, which was found to predict burnout. Although perceived supervisor support had already been identified as a predictor of burnout in prior studies, there had not been any research done prior to the current study to determine what leads a supervisor to be perceived as supportive. With compassion identified as a predictor of perceived supervisor support, the field must identify compassionate supervisory practices and focus on adapting the training and coursework provided to current and aspiring B.C.B.A's in this area as a proactive strategy in working towards minimizing staff burnout.

Funding No funding was received to assist with the preparation of this manuscript.

Data Availability The dataset generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Declarations

Conflict of Interest The authors have no relevant financial or nonfinancial interests to disclose.

Ethical Approval The questionnaire and methodology for this study were approved by the Institutional Review Board of Rutgers University (Study I.D: Pro 2021000684.

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