Burnout among First-Year Students in the Health Colleges at Umm Al-Qura University

Abstract

Objectives: According to studies in different countries, burnout is one of the mental health issues afflicting students in high school and college,. While burnout is prevalent among all students, however, medical students are more prone due to the higher stressors compared to other university departments. This study was conducted to investigate the burnout prevalence and their associated factors using the Maslach Burnout Inventory – General Survey (MBI-GS) among students pursuing first year (preparatory year) programs across various health colleges at Umm al Qura University in Makkah. In the study, we attempted to correlate health habits such as smoking, consumption of energy drinks, and obesity with burnout prevalence among students in health colleges. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was used to assess the prevalence of burnout in this student population to assess the three subscales of (MBI-GS): emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and professional efficacy. Results: From the 895 students participated in the study, 39% were male and 61% were females. We found a significant difference (P<0.05) between male and female groups in the exhaustion and cynicism subscales, whereas the professional efficacy sub-scale did not show any significant difference. Concerning the exhaustion subscale, female students displayed higher high burnout level than male students (38.1% vs 20.4%) while males showed higher moderate and low percentages than females. The cynicism subscale showed higher high and moderate burnout levels in females than males, while low burnout level was higher in males than females. Exhaustion subscale showed significant negative correlations with nationality (male: r = -0.126, P = 0.019), supplementation usage (female: r = -0.102, P = 0.017), and energy drinks intake (female: r = -0.086, P = 0.045), while positive correlations with BMI (female: r = 0.087, P = 0.042), and marital status (male: r = 0.126, P = 0.018). Conclusion: We can conclude that burnout is indeed prevalent among medical university students. Among female student, we found out that the higher the body mass, the greater the burnout rate. Furthermore a positive correlation between, lower income higher apathy and the loss of personality, among students. Despite the proven harm from the increased consumption of energy drinks, the increased consumption of stimulants and energy drinks reduced burnout and raised attention.