The Arts in Psychotherapy Music therapists’ job satisfaction, collective self-esteem, and burnout

General references show that the type of professional identity known as collective self-esteem could be an important factor in professionals’ job satisfaction and burnout. However, little attention has been paid to identifying the interactions of these three variables in music therapy. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between music therapists’ job satisfaction, collective self-esteem, and burnout. Specifically, this paper emphasizes the role of collective self-esteem as a mediator between music therapists’ job satisfaction and burnout. Ninety professional music therapists in Korea participated in this study. The Korean Music Therapists’ Job Satisfaction Scale, the Collective Self-Esteem Scale, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory were used to measure music therapists’ job satisfaction, collective selfesteem, and burnout, respectively. The results showed that job satisfaction significantly predicted the emotional exhaustion (ˇ = −.384, p = .000), depersonalization (ˇ = −.106, p = .000), and personal achievement (ˇ = .165, p = .000) subscales of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Furthermore, collective self-esteem was found to have a partial mediating effect between job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion. The relationship between job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion is partially explained by how positively music therapists perceive their profession and how they think others view their profession. These findings suggest that promoting music therapists’ collective self-esteem may play an important role in preventing the emotional symptoms of burnout, especially when music therapists are not satisfied with their job. The role of music therapist educators in promoting the collective self-esteem of music therapists is discussed. © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. The music therapy profession has developed over the last fifty years. Music therapy has been practiced in a wide range of locations (such as the workplace), among various clienteles, through diverse models, and at different levels. Music therapists’ practices are affected by their individual identities and are based on their personal and training backgrounds. Music therapists’ practices might be associated with their perceived professional identity, known as collective self-esteem. Collective self-esteem Collective self-esteem refers to individuals’ perception of themselves as members of a social group and to the value and emotional significance of membership in this group (Butler & Constantine, 2005; Luhtanen & Corcker, 1992). Music therapy is considered a social group. Stewart (2000) found that the “ability to communicate through music,” “empathy,” and the “ability to be spontaneous with music” were the top three personal values shared by music therapists. Steward indicated that such a coherent value base could be explained because music therapy is a specialized profession, ∗ Tel.: +82 10 9283 5460. E-mail address: [email protected] separated from the larger group of health-care-related professions. Likewise, Hills, Norman, and Forster (2000) supported music therapists’ strong professional identification on a multidisciplinary team. Music therapists working in multidisciplinary teams were found to identify with their profession more than with their team. Hills interpreted this finding as being partially due to the specialized nature of their work. Despite their strong professional identification, many music therapists have difficulty clarifying their roles. Similar to other creative art therapists, music therapists often identify themselves as “outsiders” due to the nature of their work (Stewart, 2000), which may lead to a vague perception of their role in the work environment. Music therapists working in multidisciplinary teams may suffer from a high level of role ambiguity within the team. One of the factors preventing effective teamwork for music therapists is the uncertainty of their responsibilities on the team. The need to perform their activities outside of the field in the work setting (Oppenheim, 1987) as well as their different specializations and training experiences (Gale & Austin, 2003) may also be related to music therapists’ vague perceptions of their role. In turn, music therapists’ role ambiguity may impact their perception of themselves as members of the profession and may directly or indirectly affect their relationships with clients and co-workers, their competence as professionals, and their attitudes toward their job. Thus, it 0197-4556/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.aip.2011.10.002 Y. Kim / The Arts in Psychotherapy 39 (2012) 66– 71 67 is important to understand music therapists’ collective self-esteem to help them establish their own unique role.