Exploring the Relationship between Student Engagement and Burnout Syndrome among Undergraduate Medical Students at the Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University (A Cross-Sectional Analytical Study)

Abstract

Background: Burnout is a psychological syndrome that is considered an amalgamation of exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy. It is well known that mental well-being of medical students is heavily affected. Student engagement can be defined as a positive state of mind in terms of studying, where the student tends to be more determined. Engaged students are more resilient to academic stress with a sense of well-being and less feeling of burn out in the future. Aim: The study aims at assessing the prevalence of burnout syndrome among undergraduate medical students at the Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University (FOM-SCU) and to explore the relationship between student engagement and burnout levels. Subjects and Methods: 300 students from all study years participated in the study. The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale–Student Survey (UWES–S) was used to assess the level of student engagement while the Maslach Burnout Inventory–Student Survey (MBI–SS) was used to gauge the extent of burnout syndrome among medical students. Results: According to our results, 77.3% of the total study population had two-dimensional burnout and 61.7% of them had three-dimensional burnout. Moreover, 49.7% of the total study population had average student engagement level with the highest prevalence in year three with 54.4%. Overall, student engagement levels were moderately negatively correlated with burnout levels. Conclusion: Most of the study population had high levels of burnout. Nearly half of them considered themselves averagely engaged in their studies. Student engagement levels were moderately negatively correlated with burnout levels, denoting the importance of enhancing engagement and preventing burnout.