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BACKGROUND Helping professionals suffer from a number of health and psychological difficulties resulting from their occupation. In the field of helping professions, the demand for understanding the predictors of burnout has been rapidly emerging. The aim of this study is to analyse and identify the possible mediators between stress and the three factors of burnout in a specific sample of helping professionals. PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE Helpers (N = 698; 618 women) were randomly selected from institutions in 8 districts in Slovakia. The sample comprised social workers (n = 188); residential care providers (n = 191); ergotherapists (n = 97); providers of physical and psychological care (nurses, physiotherapists, psychologist and psychotherapists; n = 222). They described their levels of perceived stress, risk of burnout (in three factors: emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and personal accomplishment) and performed self-care activities in selfreported questionnaires. RESULTS The relationship between stress and emotional exhaustion was mediated by health self-care. In comparison, the relationship between stress and depersonalisation was mediated by psychological self-care. The relationship between stress and personal accomplishment was mediated by both psychological and professional self-care. CONCLUSIONS When helping professionals have initial symptoms of burnout in the form of emotional exhaustion, concentrating on health self-care activities could be helpful. Performing health, psychological and professional self-care activities may prevent further development of burnout in times of high stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]