Burnout and Its Relationships with Alexithymia, Stress, and Social Support among Romanian Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

Ovidiu Popa-Velea, Liliana Diaconescu, Alexandra Mihăilescu, Mara Jidveian Popescu and George Macarie
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Ovidiu Popa-Velea: Department of Medical Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila”, 050474 Bucharest, Romania
Liliana Diaconescu: Department of Medical Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila”, 050474 Bucharest, Romania
Alexandra Mihăilescu: Department of Medical Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila”, 050474 Bucharest, Romania
Mara Jidveian Popescu: Department of Medical Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila”, 050474 Bucharest, Romania
George Macarie: Department of Medical Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila”, 050474 Bucharest, Romania

IJERPH, 2017, vol. 14, issue 6, 1-10

Abstract: Medical school students often experience emotional difficulties when handling the challenges of their formation, occasionally leading to burnout. In this study, we measured the prevalence of burnout and its relationships with perceived stress, perceived social support, and alexithymia in medical students from the largest academic medical community in Romania. A cross-sectional survey was administered to a randomized sample of 299 preclinical medical students at the University of Medicine in Bucharest. Participants completed four standardized questionnaires. In addition to the assessment of burnout prevalence, stepwise backward regression was used to establish which variables had the highest correlation to burnout components. Further, t -tests were run to assess gender-related differences. Overall, burnout prevalence was 15.05%. Perceived stress was found to be the strongest predictor of emotional exhaustion and lack of accomplishment, while the strongest predictors of depersonalization were low perceived social support (in women) and alexithymia (in men). Women appear to be more vulnerable to two of the components of burnout (emotional exhaustion and low personal accomplishment) and associate higher perceived stress and alexithymia. These results suggest that interventions addressing academic burnout could benefit from being gender-specific, with focus on key elements, such as perceived stress and alexithymia.

Keywords: medical students; burnout; perceived stress; social support; alexithymia; gender (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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