Date
9-19-2023
Department
School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Education (PhD)
Chair
Michelle Barthlow
Keywords
secondary, teacher, burnout, Christian, prayer
Disciplines
Education
Recommended Citation
Apanay, Malinda Fennell, "A Predictive Correlational Study on the Effect of Prayer on Burnout in Secondary Private School Teachers Who Identify as Christians" (2023). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 4829.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/4829
Abstract
The purpose of this predictive correlational study was to examine the predictive relationship among five prayer types and burnout in secondary private school teachers who identify as Christian. Previous research indicates an increase in burnout in secondary teachers, but few studies focus on secondary private school teachers or the effect of prayer against the dimensions of burnout: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and low personal accomplishment. Participants included 102 high school teachers from the Atlanta, GA metro area who voluntarily and anonymously took the Maslach Burnout Inventory- Educator Survey and Multidimensional Prayer Inventory surveys through an online platform in the spring of 2023. Three multiple linear regression analyses were used to study the effect of the prayer types (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication, and reception) on each dimension of burnout. The researcher was able to reject one of three null hypotheses. The five prayer types were statistically significant for increasing personal accomplishment, but not for emotional exhaustion or depersonalization. However, the prayer types of adoration, thanksgiving, and reception were shown to decrease emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, which could serve as a personal resource within the Job-Demands Resource model. The results from this study did not indicate high burnout in the sample population. The findings add legitimacy to prayer as a resource for Christian teachers, which is similar to that of mindfulness. Recommendations for future research include comparing private and public school teacher burnout prevalence, comparing the outcomes from mindfulness and prayer in a true experiment, and qualitative research on Christian teacher use of prayer.
