Assessing Signs of Burnout Among Recently Ordained Stipendiary Anglican Curates In England

J Relig Health. 2024 Dec 23. doi: 10.1007/s10943-024-02205-2. Online ahead of print.

Abstract

This study examines the responses of 253 recently ordained stipendiary Anglican curates in the Church of England to the Francis Burnout Inventory during their second year in ministry. The data confirm the internal consistency reliability among recently ordained clergy of the scales proposed by this measure: Scale of Emotional Exhaustion in Ministry, and Satisfaction in Ministry Scale. While positive affect is high, with 90% agreeing with the item that they gain a lot of satisfaction from fulfilling their ministry roles, negative affect is also uncomfortably high, with 35% agreeing with the item that they feel drained by fulfilling their ministry roles. It is those ordained under the age of forty who experienced the highest levels of emotional exhaustion.

Keywords: Anglican clergy; Balanced affect; Curates; Emotional exhaustion in ministry; Satisfaction in ministry.