Factors behind burnout increase in medical students. Are the criteria so important?
Thaís Campelo Bedê Vale, José Hícaro Hellano Gonçalves Lima Paiva, Vitória Nunes Medeiros, Pedro Ítalo Oliveira Gomes, Hellen Cryslen Bernardo Bezerra, Tatiana Paschoalette Rodrigues Bachur, Daniel Bezerra de Castro
Abstract
Abstract: Introduction: Medical students’ mental health has been a concern to the scientific community, especially as a result of the epidemic of mental comorbidities that have become commonplace among the various social groups in modern society. Objectives: To evaluate the prevalence of Burnout among first- to fourth- year medical students and compare different criteria to define the syndrome. Methods: A total of 511 students from three universities in Brazil answered validated instruments to assess burnout (The Maslach Burnout Inventory) and quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF), and a questionnaire prepared by the authors to assess sociodemographic data Results: There was a prevalence of 31.1% of three-dimensional burnout, 37% of two-dimensional burnout and 44,8% of one-dimensional burnout. There were worse levels of emotional exhaustion among students with two-dimensional burnout, compared to those with only one-dimensional criterion, and worse levels of depersonalization among students with three-dimensional burnout, compared to those with two-dimensional criterion only. The same assessed variables showed correlation with all three criteria. Considering the four domains of quality of life - psychological, physical, environment and social relationships, the psychological and physical domains were the ones that correlated the most to all three aspects of the three-dimensional criteria. Emotional exhaustion was the dimension with the strongest association with three of the four quality of life domains. Conclusions: We question whether the three-dimensional criterion should really be the gold standard to define Burnout.