Nos sentimos mal, pero estamos bienMedición vs vivencia del desgaste profesional (burnout) desde el modelo cultural nicaragüense

Abstract

ABSTRACT “WE FEEL BAD, BUT WE ARE FINE”: MEASUREMENT VERSUS EXPERIENCE OF BURNOUT FROM A NICARAGUAN CULTURAL MODEL by Olga Kulakova Burnout Syndrome emerged and is reasoned as a relational system based on social interaction and contextual communication. The way to express their constructs is linked to a symbolic system, the product of cultural experiences and social construction of reality. Since psychometrics tests are expected to be adapted to different cultures, they are equivalent, and ensure the validity of predictions and measurements free of bias. Being universal constructs, burnout syndrome "culturally relativized", has important implications for inferences of dissimilar realities. The main objective was to determine the cultural assumptions underlying configuration of burnout and analyze their articulation in psychometric tests, from the perception, experience, practice and proper sense shared by Nicaraguans. A mixed model of concurrent triangulation was applied. Quantitative data were collected by using the generic scale "Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS)" and specific, "Teacher Burnout Questionnaire Revised" (CBP-R). 505 teachers from 112 schools from five departments of Nicaragua were part of the study. Most were women (75%) with permanent contracts (93.5%). Different analyzes were applied: Factorial, reliability, correlational, structural equation modeling (SEM) and mediation were used. Exploratory factor analysis showed weaknesses on both scales as to the dimensions of depersonalization and personal accomplishment. 41% of the items of the MBI-HSS and 42% of CBP-R did not saturate correctly on the expected factors and did not exceed the factor loadings set forth in the Nicaraguan sample. With confirmatory factor analysis, eliminating nine items in the MBI-HSS and eight items in the CBP-R, it was possible to replicate a good fit tmodel of three factors with burnout as a single variable latent (second-order model). Estimates of internal consistency in both scales showed acceptable reliability for emotional exhaustion and well below the established criteria of depersonalization dimension. Personal fulfillment improved consistency eliminating items that did not exceed the established factor loadings. Qualitative data were collected through 25 focus groups seven-in depth interviews. In this phase they involved 191 respondents from schools in six departments of Nicaragua. For analysis, the strategy of Grounded Theory was used. This method included constant comparison, theoretical sampling, data classification, construction of the central category, generating substantive theories rules and distinctive analytical principles. Emergent data generated 139 substantive codes. The category that represented the dominant aspect of the research was a Cultural Rationality. The dimensions of burnout, Personal Accomplishment (efficacy), depersonalization (cynicism) and emotional exhaustion were explained through Intragroup Rationality, Boost Rationality (attribution of failure and success) Gender roles and, mediators, such as Faith and Family. The triangulation of data showed differences in the experience of burnout among contexts collectivist and individualistic tradition, as well as between the domains of masculinity and femininity expressed by the population, and allowed to hypothesize a model of alternative sequential burnout, applied the Nicaraguan context and countries with similar socio-cultural characteristics, without losing existing theoretical contributions. In conclusion, the results led to the discovery idiosyncratic aspects of burnout in the process which will require a reappraisal of the construct from the cultural approach.