The effect of mindfulness and psychological needs on the prediction of professional burnout levels of special education teachers

Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to examine the effect of mindfulness and psychological needs on the professional burnout of special education teachers. Method: The participants of the study consisted of 163 male and 340 female special education teachers working in private and public special education institutions affiliated to the Ministry of National Education. The data were collected through Maslach Burnout Inventory, Mindfulness Scale, Satisfaction and Inhibition of Basic Psychological Needs Scale and Personal Information Form prepared by the researcher. In this study, quantitative method was followed and the data were analyzed with relational survey method. Independent t-test was used to determine whether the special education teachers showed significant differences according to gender, years of service in the profession and student group variables, and one-way analysis of variance was used to compare more than two independent groups. In addition, correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis were conducted to reveal the relationship between professional burnout, psychological need and mindfulness levels. Results: According to the research findings, mindfulness and psychological needs do not show a significant difference according to gender. Depersonalization sub-dimension of burnout shows a significant difference according to gender. There is no significant difference between burnout, psychological needs and mindfulness levels of special education teachers and years of working in the profession. There is no significant difference between special education teachers' mindfulness and burnout levels and the student group they work with. There is a significant difference between the mean scores of the relationality sub-dimension of the psychological needs of special education teachers and the level of the student group they work with. Conclusion and Suggestions: Special education teachers working with students with mild disabilities had higher relationality scores. It was seen important to plan social activities to increase communication between the teacher and the family and the child, which constitute important components of special education. Since the factors that play a role in the burnout of special education teachers are based on administrators, other teachers, students and families, it is important to apply solution-oriented methods to prevent problems and to ensure healthy communication.