COMMUNAL ORIENTATION AND BURNOUT AMONG SELF-HELP GROUP LEADERS

To assess the relationship between burnout, communal orientation, and leaders' perceptions of balance in their relationships with group memb ers 102 self-help group leaders were interviewed. Leaders had low to m oderate levels of burnout as measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory subscales of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal ac complishment. As hypothesized, leaders' communal orientation was negat ively related to the burnout subscales of depersonalization and person al accomplishment. Contrary to the study hypothesis, burnout was not r elated to balance. It was speculated that the salience of need-based n orms in the group's helping relationships reduced expectations of reci procity. The findings illustrate the usefulness of applying equity the ory to studies of helping relationships within the setting of self-hel p groups.