Stress, burnout and coping strategies in Ghanaian public tertiary education

The study explored the causes of stress and burnout (SB), gender differences, and coping strategies employed by senior administrators in a public university environment. The study employed the qualitative approach and a case study design. Thematic analysis was adopted to develop themes. The findings revealed the major sources of SB to be the inability to meet deadlines, heavy workload, multiple tasks and lack of resources. There were differences in the level of SB situations between the males and females when gender differences were considered: females experienced high blood pressure, unstable minds, low productivity levels, forgetfulness, and neglect of family lives, whereas the males only suffered from high blood pressure. It was found that at the institutional level, no specific coping strategies were put in place to curtail the SB among the administrators. However, at the individual level, strategies such as support from colleagues, walking around and interaction with colleagues helped to contain stressful experiences. Management of public universities were encouraged to introduce flexible work and put in place mechanisms to set realistic timelines. The study contributed to Job Demands-Resource (JD-R) Theory, Reward Imbalance and Person-Environment fit theories.