Correlates of burnout among professionals working with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities A. Finkelstein, 1 Y. G. Bachner, 2 C. Greenberger, 1 R. Brooks 3 & A. Tenenbaum 3 1 Department of Nursing, Faculty of Life and Health Sciences, Jerusalem College of Technology, Jerusalem, Israel 2 Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel 3 Department of Pediatrics, Hadassah Medical Center Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel Abstract Background Although burnout has been recognised as an important stress-related problem among staff working with people with intellectual and develop- mental disabilities (IDD), literature on the subject is limited yet emerging. The aim of this study is twofold: (1) to evaluate the level of burnout within different professions working with IDD; (2) to examine the association between socio-demographic, professional and organisational characteristics and burnout. Method One hundred ninety-nine professionals working with people with IDD were enrolled in the study (66% response rate). Participants were recruited from several facilities that provide care for people with IDD of all ages, in the Jerusalem area and in other cities in central Israel. The anonymous questionnaires included valid and reliable measures of burnout, socio-demographic variables, professional variables and organisational variables. Results Participants’ mean age was 38.3 years, and most were women. There were no significant differences in burnout levels among the different professionals. Role ambiguity, perceived overload, care-recipient group and job involvement were significant predictors of burnout. The model explained a high percentage (46.8%) of the observed variance. Conclusions Most of these predictors are organisational measures. These findings demonstrate that organisational variables are more significantly associated with burnout of staff working with people with IDD than the socio-demographic factors or professional characteristics. Identifying and better understanding the specific factors associated with burnout among professionals working with IDD could facilitate unique intervention programs to reduce burnout levels in staff. Keywords burnout, intellectual and developmental disabilities, Israel, organisational characteristics, professionals Introduction Intellectual disability (ID) affects approximately 1–3% of the population (Karam et al. 2015). It is estimated that about 2.5–4 million adults in the United States have an ID, and an even more have developmental disabilities (Lauer and McCallion 2015). Intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are associated with increased risk of social exclusion and make significant demands on families and health and social welfare agencies (Emerson 2012). In Israel, estimates show that in 2012 there were 6900 people with ID (Tenenbaum et al. 2012). The 1 Correspondence: Dr. Adi Finkelstein, 7 Beit Hadfus st. Jerusalem 95483, Israel (e-mail: adilan@netvision.net.il; +972-50-6688183). No funding was received for this research The authors declare no financial interest or benefit Journal of Intellectual Disability Research doi: 10.1111/jir.12542 © 2018 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd