Association of Burnout with Socio-Educational Variables in a Sample of Chilean Dental Students

Abstract

Objetive: Assess the association of burnout with socio-educational variables in a sample of Chilean dental students. Material and methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on dental students in their 4th/5th years of the University of Concepción, Chile. The sample size was estimated at 170 students. The following variables were considered: sociodemographic (sex, age, with whom the student lives and commune of origin), educational (course, course failure, number of years behind and their cause, number of career options, funding, and secondary school type), and Burnout-MBI-SS (Maslach's Burnout Inventory for students). To evaluate the association between the variables, descriptive statistics for quantitative were made using mean and standard deviation for normal distribution variables, and median and interquartile range for non-normal distribution variables; for categorical variables, frequency, and percentage distribution was calculated. Shapiro-Wilk test was used to assess normality, as non-normal distribution was verified for MBI-SS, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis was used to estimate statistical differences amongst categorical variables, and Spearman for correlations (p < 0.05). Results: Most students were in 4th year, female with a mean age of 23. For the majority, dental school was their first option, and were studying with a scholarship. Most of them lived with their nuclear family and 58% had at least failed one course. Statistical significant correlations were only found for Depersonalization with students’ age (rho= 0.2420) and reprobation years (rho= 0.1838). Conclusions: Dental students from the University of Concepción, which are female, attending their fifth year, and students who failed courses, especially clinical ones, exhibit higher levels of burnout.