Depression and Burnout Levels of Graduate Students in Music

Abstract

At the end of the undergraduate process, many students dream of graduate school for self-improvement, career, or status. The idea of going to graduate school and the preparations for it are the beginning of a stressful period. The beginning of the courses, the long thesis writing process, and finally, a new scientific product defended is the end of this stressful period. In this process, many students struggle with psychological problems due to poor stress management. The study aims to determine graduate music students' depression and burnout levels. The data collection tools of the correlational survey design study were Beck Depression Scale (BDS) and Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Scale (MBI-SS). The study group consisted of 236 graduate students in different departments and institutes in the field of music. According to the research results, it was determined that the general depression status of the students was at the level of moderate mood disturbance, and some groups were found to be at the level of clinical depression according to different variables. It was observed that the student's overall burnout levels were at a medium level, while they were at a low level in emotional exhaustion and depersonalization sub-dimensions. While the burnout levels of the students show a significant difference according to having children, educational status, work status, institutes, and departments, there is no significant difference according to gender, marital status, and age.