Burnout and Perceived Stress Among Female Health Sciences Faculty Members at a University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Burnout and perceived stress are important concerns among health sciences faculty, whose roles often overlap across teaching, research, administrative, and clinical responsibilities. This study assessed burnout dimensions and perceived stress among female health sciences faculty at a single university in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 228 female faculty members from five health sciences colleges, yielding a 64.4% response rate. Burnout was assessed using the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educators Survey (MBI-ES), and perceived stress using the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10). Bivariate analyses incorporated effect sizes and false discovery rate adjustment for multiple comparisons. Multivariable linear regression models examined associations of demographic and professional characteristics with continuous emotional exhaustion and perceived stress scores. Results: For descriptive categorization, 34.2% of participants had high emotional exhaustion, 21.1% high depersonalization, 30.3% low personal accomplishment, and 15.2% high perceived stress. Perceived stress correlated most strongly with emotional exhaustion (r = 0.54, p < 0.001). In adjusted analyses, increasing age was associated with lower emotional exhaustion (B = -0.27, p < 0.001) and perceived stress (B = -0.16, p < 0.001), whereas working >50 h/week was associated with higher emotional exhaustion (B = 6.81, p < 0.001) and perceived stress (B = 3.13, p = 0.005). Overall adjusted college effects were not statistically significant. Conclusion: Longer working hours and younger age were associated with poorer faculty well-being, although the models explained modest proportions of outcome variance. These findings support institutional assessment of workload patterns and faculty well-being while underscoring the need for longitudinal research evaluating organizational demands, resources, and targeted interventions.