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Abstract

Abstract

The notion of burnout was first introduced by researchers Herbert Freudenberger (1974) and Christina Maslach (1976) to address staff challenges in medical and other “helping” professions (e.g., caregivers). According to Maslach and Leiter (1981), burnout consists of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a reduced sense of personal accomplishment. Many post-secondary students participate in campus organizations as a relief from burnout, experiencing community, heightened self-efficacy, and increased confidence (Buckley & Lee, 2018; Knifsend, 2018). However, overcommitment to an activity may increase a student’s likelihood of burning out due to prioritization over their academic work (Denman, 2019). There is a gap in the literature examining burnout among students in the context of their participation in campus activities. Marching bands are the largest, most visible organizations on college campuses (Cumberledge, 2017; Healey, 2016), providing many of the social and structural elements of their peers in college athletics (Brand, 2006). Using a reflexive thematic analysis methodological approach (Braun & Clarke, 2022), we interviewed five undergraduate marching band members from three public universities in the United States. The following themes emerged: transition from escape to exhaustion, complexity of band relationships, and movement to emotional neutrality. Several sub-themes were also included in the analysis. We provide discussion using Antonovsky’s (1979) sense of coherence (SoC) framework and offer recommendations for practice and future research.

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