Burnout is a condition characterized by individuals experiencing exhaustion, depersonalization, and a diminished sense of accomplishment. When these three characteristics are combined, it becomes challenging for a person to be productive in their workspace, and at a heightened level, can be detrimental to a person's mental and physical health. 

I began by reading numerous articles about burnout, accessibility work, and related topics. I was given articles to read, but I also learned how to find different articles and how to build on the knowledge that I already had. I learned about the history of burnout, its broader effects, how it manifests in different professions, and various strategies for managing or preventing it.

After spending almost a month on research, I began to analyze the information that I had gathered. I created a chart that illustrates the causes, characteristics, solutions, and statistics of burnout in various professions. We used this information to identify similarities and contrasts with accessibility specialists to determine if we could utilize similar solutions that other professions had tried. While we did not have the time to investigate those solutions with accessibility specialists, discovering possible fixes was a good step for future studies. 

To continue our previous study, I drafted a set of questions for interviews that could help us understand burnout in accessibility specialists on a personal level. Our first round of interviews targeted what the interviewees' jobs looked like and how they felt in their company, so I wanted the following interviews to capture more about the burnout experience.