Reading the Back Page: Listening to Clergy Serving in the Presbyterian Church (USA) Reflecting on Professional Burnout
Quantitative surveys routinely dedicate the back page for participants to offer their own narrative comments, but often these comments are neither analyzed nor reported. The aim of the present study is to analyze the responses to the back page from a study concerned with work-related psychological h...
| Authors: | ; ; ; ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2015
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| In: |
Research in the social scientific study of religion
Year: 2015, Volume: 26, Pages: 166-179 |
| Further subjects: | B
Religious sociology
B Social sciences B Religionspsycholigie B Religionswissenschaften B Religion & Gesellschaft B Vergleichende Religionswissenschaft & Religionswissenschaft |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Quantitative surveys routinely dedicate the back page for participants to offer their own narrative comments, but often these comments are neither analyzed nor reported. The aim of the present study is to analyze the responses to the back page from a study concerned with work-related psychological health and professional burnout completed by clergy serving in The Presbyterian Church (usa). Of the 748 clergy who took part in the survey, 224 wrote (sometimes multiple) comments on the back page (30% participation rate). The 345 identified comments have been analyzed to reflect 16 themes, 13 concerned with aspects of ministry and 3 concerned with aspects of the survey itself. The ministry-related themes included reflections on stress and burnout, tensions with congregations, support from congregations, time off and study leave, and marriage-related issues. The conclusion is drawn that reading the back page generates useful information in three areas: giving additional insight into the theme explored by the quantitative survey, drawing attention to weaknesses in the survey instrument, and shaping future research |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Research in the social scientific study of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/9789004299436_012 |