Abstract

The concept of emotional exhaustion is central to understanding the phenomenon of burnout among those engaged in people-centred caring professions. The Scale of Emotional Exhaustion in Ministry (SEEM) was developed and tested on a sample of 4,370 Australian clergy who participated in the National Church Life Survey. This 11-item measure of emotional exhaustion was found to be unidimensional using confirmatory factor analysis. The scale was demonstrated to be reliable (alpha = 0.883) and construct validity was supported by means of correlations with other survey questions. In addition, the data demonstrated that emotional exhaustion was more prevalent among younger clergy than among older clergy, and more prevalent among clergy associated with some denominations than with other denominations. With such psychometric properties the Scale of Emotional Exhaustion in Ministry can be commended for further use, but with further psychometric evaluation desirable.