The Impact of Menopause and Burnout on Educator/Administrator Career Longevity

This study was created to investigate factors grounded in data that explain the relationship between burnout and menopause; that burnout may be caused by menopausal symptoms affecting well-being, connection, and career longevity; and how shame connected to taboo topics, such as burnout and menopause, may impede conversations that could lead to empathy education and positive changes in organizational leadership in the field of education. This study used Dr. Brené Brown's shame resilience theory (SRT) and over 50 years of research on burnout, defined as the prolonged response to chronic emotional and interpersonal stressors on the job, and landmark modern menopause studies, to create a survey instrument to determine factors of burnout and menopause and the relationship to each other. 323 participants responded to the survey, focused on internal and external factors of burnout and menopause, that affect career longevity. Upon survey completion, four in-depth interviews were conducted. Participants interviewed were characterized in one of four categories: high menopause symptoms and high burnout symptoms, high menopause symptoms and low burnout symptoms, high burnout symptoms and low menopause symptoms, or low menopause symptoms and low burnout symptoms. The findings confirmed that burnout and menopause symptoms are confluent, that support plays a crucial role related to overall well-being of menopausal educators and affects career longevity, that participants were unsure of stages of menopause due to lack of education related to the stages of menopause, and that the impact of menopause could be greater than what we see in the study and could be greatly under-represented and severely under reported due to internal shame and external taboo impeding open conversations about menopause and burnout in education. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]