Learning burnout and its association with perceived stress, social support, and the Big Five personality traits in Chinese medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study

BMC Psychiatry

Research

Xin Chen¹  Simeng Wang²  Honghe Li²  Deliang Wen²  Nan Yan³ 

[1]Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Dalian Medical University, No. 9 West Section of Lvshun South Road, Lvshunkou District, 116044, Dalian, Liaoning, People’s Republic of China

[2]Institute for International Health Professions Education and Research, China Medical University, No. 77 Puhe Road, Shenyang North New Area, 110122, Shenyang, Liaoning, People’s Republic of China

[3]School of Medical Applied Technology, Shenyang Medical College, No.146 Huanghe Street, Yuhong District, 110034, Shenyang, Liaoning, People’s Republic of China

关键词: Learning burnout;    Social support;    Perceived stress;    The Big Five personality traits;    COVID-19;    Medical students;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12888-022-04453-6

 received in 2022-05-24, accepted in 2022-12-07,  发布年份 2022

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundOwing to the coronavirus disease 2019, medical learning burnout has attracted increasing attention in educational research. It has a serious negative impact on medical students and their service quality. This could impair the professional development of medical students; weaken their personal and professional quality; and lead to problems such as increased medical errors and reduced patient care quality and satisfaction. This study aimed to examine the effects of perceived stress, social support, and the Big Five personality traits on learning burnout among medical students.MethodsIn November 2021, a cross-sectional survey was conducted at three medical universities in China. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 616 third- year students. Learning burnout, perceived stress, social support, and the Big Five personality traits (neuroticism, extroversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) were anonymously measured. A total of 583 students were included in the final sample. Hierarchical linear regression was performed to explore the effects of perceived stress, social support, and Big Five personality traits on medical students’ learning burnout.ResultsPerceived stress was positively associated with learning burnout (emotional exhaustion: ß = 0.577, p < 0.001; cynicism: ß = 0.543, p < 0.001; low professional efficacy: ß = 0.455, p < 0.001) whereas social support was negatively related with it (low professional efficacy: ß = -0.319, p < 0.001). Neuroticism had a positive effect on emotional burnout (ß = 0.152, p = 0.009). Extraversion (ß = -0.116, p = 0.006) and conscientiousness (ß = -0.363, p < 0.001) had a negative effect on low professional efficacy. Agreeableness negatively affected emotional exhaustion (ß = -0.181, p < 0.001) and cynicism (ß = -0.245, p < 0.001) and positively affected low professional efficacy (ß = 0.098, p = 0.008). The associated factors together accounted for an additional variance of learning burnout (emotional exhaustion: 39.0%; cynicism: 36.8%; low professional efficacy: 48.7%).ConclusionsSocial support is a positive resource for fighting medical students’ burnout. Perceived stress was the strongest indicator of learning burnout. In addition to reducing perceived stress, developing extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness should be included in burnout prevention and treatment strategies, particularly for medical students.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2022