Burnout Among Dental Students: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of burnout among dental students and its relationship with demographics variables.

Material and Methods: Totally 250 students ( 121 females, 129 males) from Ege University Faculty of Dentistry were included in the study. The age range varied from 19 to 24. Maslach Burnout Inventory, Maslach Burnout Inventory Student Version and Personal Information Sheet were used to gather data. In the analysis of data collected, depending upon the variety of data gathered frequencies analyses, t-test and Kruskall-Wallis tests for independent groups were performed.

Results: The analysis showed that 15 -22 % of students in pre-clinical period and 19 - 26 % of students in the clinical period have experienced burnout at medium and high level. The analysis also indicated that burnout significantly differed by gender, order of preference, living with family or not and requesting to change profession for pre-clinical grades, and burnout significantly differed by order of preference, living with family or not and requesting to change profession for clinical grades (p<0.05).

Conclusion: The finding of this study indicates that burnout is a common problem among dental students. Developing interventions program that aimed reducing dental students' burnout also may be useful in improving the quality of oral health services.