Abstract
Reports of medical students experiencing burnout-related symptoms (e.g., cynicism) have increased in recent years. Little is known about the developmental process of this phenomenon and its relations with signature character strengths and well-being. The aim of this longitudinal analysis was to explore changes in the level of cynicism of medical students while in preclinical education. We further examined how the applicability of signature character strengths and well-being are related to this developmental process. Medical students (N = 99) participated in three online surveys over 3 years during medical school. Latent growth modeling, latent class growth modeling, general mixed modeling was conducted, and post hoc mixed ANOVA, Friedman test and Welch test analyses were examined. The results showed an increase in cynicism among medical students from first to last measurement. Two groups with distinct developmental trajectory patterns of cynicism were identified. Students with high levels of cynicism (high-level group) and students with changing levels of cynicism (increasing group) perceived higher applicability of signature character strengths in private life compared to the study context. Moreover, the high-level group experienced significantly lower psychological well-being (in particular mastery, optimism, and relationship) in their first year of medical education. This explorative study offers a comprehensive understanding of cynicism development in medical students during medical school and its relations to the applicability of signature character strengths and well-being. Prospective replication studies are needed to replicate the results obtained in this study.
Highlights
Medical universities are responsible for theoretical and practical scientific education, aiming to train future physicians to become professional, skillful and occupationally competent graduates
We examined the relationship between subjective well-being, psychological wellbeing and trajectory patterns of cynicism
Significant correlations can be found between cynicism and the applicability of signature character strengths in private life at the first (r = −0.29), second (r = −0.21) and between the first and second measurement (r = −0.32)
Summary
Medical universities are responsible for theoretical and practical scientific education, aiming to train future physicians to become professional, skillful and occupationally competent graduates. A meta-analysis by Frajerman et al (2018) exposed that burnout is prevalent among 44.2% of medical students In line with these results, Prinz et al (2012) described similar findings for a German sample. Burnout among students is considered a three-dimensional psychological syndrome of emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced personal accomplishment, which results in the deterioration of academic engagement (Schaufeli et al, 2002b). It plays a potentially important role in predicting future burnout after becoming a graduated professional (Robins et al, 2017). Emotional exhaustion and cynicism are often perceived as the main dimensions of burnout (Mäkikangas and Kinnunen, 2016), whereas reduced personal accomplishment was not as strongly related to these two burnout components, and challenged for its questionable validity (Bresó et al, 2007; Schaufeli and Salanova, 2007)
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