Burnout among health sciences students in Malta

Abstract

Purpose: This research aims to explore the occurrence of burnout amongst Health Sciences students attending their final year of study at the University of Malta. It also aims to compare burnout levels between students following different Health Science course programmes and to investigate whether there are any associated dimensions with elevated levels of burnout. Background: The Maslach Burnout Inventory (1981) describes how burnout is comprised of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment. Burnout in health sciences students may develop due to many factors and can be damaging if left unaddressed (Racic et al., 2017). Method: A quantitative cross-sectional research design was chosen for this study. The research tool consisted of a self-developed demographic questionnaire, and The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (Kristensen et al., 2005). The compiled online questionnaire was distributed to the final year health sciences students using Google Forms, and the data was collected over a period of three months. Results: Findings show that final year health sciences students in Malta exhibited a high degree of burnout in Personal Burnout (Mean = 64.74) and Work-Related burnout (Mean = 57.52) dimensions. However, a low degree of burnout was present in Client-Related Burnout (Mean = 38.22). The study found no significant difference in the level of burnout between participants across different health sciences courses. No specific dimensions were found to be linked with elevated levels of burnout. However, it was noted that females acquired higher mean scores for all three-burnout domains in comparison to males. Communication Therapy students obtained the highest mean scores for Client-Related Burnout and Work-Related Burnout and Nursing students exhibited the highest mean score for Personal Burnout. Conclusion: This study has indicated that final year health science students in Malta are suffering from a moderate to high degree of burnout. This highlights the importance of education in relation to different coping strategies. Considering the local literature regarding this study area is sparse, further research is warranted.