A survey of burnout among mental health center directors in a rural state.

The executive directors of all Iowa community mental health centers were surveyed in order to determine the relationship between work environment and job burnout. Organizational characteristics related to "rurality," i.e., location in a rural county, fewer employees, smaller budgets, and more time spent in direct clinical care, were not associated with burnout among directors in this rural state. Implications of the effect of service reorganization on burnout in human service providers in regard to rural health policy, work force issues, and directions for future research are discussed.