Job Demands and Psychological Burnout among Probation Officers in Nairobi County, Kenya

Beryl Adhiambo, Sabina Mutisya and Eunice Namonywe Emusugut
Department of Psychology
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences,
Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya
Email: badhiambo.jared@gmail.com

Abstract: This study examined job demands and psychological burnout among probation officers in Nairobi County, Kenya, anchored in the Job Demands-Resources Model and Maslach Burnout Theory. A concurrent mixed-methods design combined a census survey of 114 probation officers across nine stations (90.4% response, n = 103) with in-depth interviews of nine officers and nine station managers. Quantitative data were analysed in SPSS using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, multiple regression, and hierarchical moderated regression; qualitative data were analysed thematically. Job demands were high (M = 4.03), driven by emotional labour and organisational expectations rather than workload; burnout was moderate (M = 3.16), led by emotional exhaustion. Job demands correlated strongly with burnout (r = .650, p < .001) and predicted 44% of its variance. Coping strategies correlated strongly with lower burnout (r = -.488, p < .001), though moderation fell short of significance (p = .085). Organisational support was the only coping construct rated low, against high family, peer, and personal support, a gap corroborated by supervisors. Both the strain and the shortfall in protection against it are predominantly organisational. The study recommends Probation and Aftercare Service (PACS) establish a resourced organisational support structure, with implications for counselling psychology and probation policy.