ABSTRACT
The literature on stress and burnout has acknowledged some similarities in the stress experiences of human, caring, or service professionals, such as medical doctors, dentists, nurses, social workers, and teachers. Moreover, it is a matter of concern that some seriously dysfunctional behaviors, associated with stress, have been identified in some professions. Arguably, the medical profession serves as a prototype for traditional professions. The traditional professional may be envisaged as an autonomous individual who controls her or his own work, answerable only to the professional body. However, such a professional is unlikely to exist in countries with post-industrial economies. The author’s colleagues and he have developed and empirically tested the attribution of responsibility for stress model. The model has relevance to the chapter because of its application to the specific context of a large, bureaucratic education system.
