Abstract
Background: Burnout is a state of vital exhaustion that has a high global prevalence among dental professionals. Yet the early diagnosis of this syndrome is challenging due to its multidimensional nature. Aim: To assess burnout and its relation to emotional dysregulation and social cognition among undergraduate dental students. Methods: We mailed 148 self-administered questionnaires to all interns and undergraduate dental students belonging to the College of Dentistry’s female campus at King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia. A questionnaire was designed comprising three measuring instruments of psychological inventories to assess work-related stress, namely, burnout (Copenhagen burnout inventory questionnaire (CBI)), emotional dysregulation (emotion regulation questionnaire (ERQ)), and social cognition (interpersonal reactivity index (IRI)). We examined the difference in burnout between two cohorts (interns and undergraduates) using Student’s ‘t’ test and the association between emotional regulation/social cognition domains using Pearson’s correlation. Results: Among the participants, around 70% obtained higher scores than the cut-off points for personal and work-related domains in both groups. There was no statistically significant difference in burnout domain between the two cohorts (p > 0.05; Cohen d < 0.3). A negative correlation existed between burnout and emotion regulation, i.e., higher burnout score is associated with lesser cognitive reappraisal and more expressive suppression (CBI—personal burnout r = −0.251; r = −0.220 respectively). Social cognitive scores had various associations among interns and undergraduates, with personal distress being significantly associated with greater burnout levels among both groups (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The present study revealed significantly elevated burnout levels among both interns and undergraduate students. Emotional dysfunction and social cognition assessment can be a valuable adjunct in identifying this erosive syndrome. Early recognition and primordial prevention targeting burnout are strongly recommended.
Highlights
Burnout is manifested as a working environment syndrome and is a triad of “emotional exhaustion” (EE), “depersonalization” (DP), and low “personal accomplishment” (PA) [4]
Occupational burnout has emerged as a global pandemic with a significant impact, urging the World Health Organization (WHO) to classify it as a disease in ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases) [5]
More than two-thirds of the study cohort was found to be under the clutches of occupational burnout
Summary
Dentistry is a gratifying, yet challenging profession. It requires an enormous number of poised social, cognitive, psychological, and emotional interactions to emerge as a successful dental professional [1]. A highly competitive academic curriculum, and challenging clinical practice are among the significant factors that make dentistry one of the professions with the highest burnout rates [2,3]. Occupational burnout has emerged as a global pandemic with a significant impact, urging the World Health Organization (WHO) to classify it as a disease in ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases) [5]. Higher levels of burnout have been reported among dental students and practitioners from various parts of the world, owing to multiple types of stress they face daily [6,7,8,9]
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