Burnout and Its Relationships with Alexithymia, Stress, and Social Support among Romanian Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Study
Abstract
:1. Introduction
- Alexithymia is characterized by (a) difficulty identifying one’s feelings and distinguishing them from bodily sensations and (b) difficulty communicating one’s emotions to others [32,33]. Its prevalence rises up to 17% in some reports [34,35,36], and it seems to be positively correlated with the perception of subjective distress [34,37] and depression [38]. In the general population, alexithymia is associated with higher global scores of burnout [38,39], or at least with some of its components (e.g., depersonalization [40]). Moreover, this relationship has also been observed in students [41,42]. In particular, medical students may be more susceptible to alexithymia, given their lack of adjustment to the challenging situations encountered in their training.
- Perceived stress (along with lower levels of social support) has been described as being more prevalent in academic contexts when compared to the general population [7] and being related to higher levels of overall burnout or its components [8,13,14,17,43]. Generally, in the context of professional life, it is often associated with a loss of interest for work, difficulties in interpersonal relationships, and a poor physical condition [16,44].
- Perceived social support is reported to represent a protective factor against stressors [45,46], for both youngsters [47] and students [48,49,50], while a lack thereof may be a risk factor for burnout [13,14]. These findings, in conjunction with the fact that medical students report greater needs of support than students from other academic domains [49], make this parameter important to examine, in connection to burnout and perceived stress.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Participants
2.2. Procedure
2.3. Measurement Tools
2.4. Design and Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Descriptive Analysis
3.2. Gender Differences
3.3. Burnout and Its Associations
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Acknowledgments
Author Contributions
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Variables | Men (n = 94) M (SD) | Women (n = 205) M (SD) | p * |
---|---|---|---|
Burnout components | |||
EE | 18.66 (7.87) | 22.20 (9.23) | 0.001 |
DP | 12.34 (6.52) | 11.01 (7.00) | 0.120 |
LPA | 18.88 (8.40) | 20.24 (8.01) | 0.182 |
Alexithymia | 43.99 (8.09) | 46.93 (10.47) | 0.016 |
Perceived social support | 38.55 (7.05) | 38.268 (6.72) | 0.738 |
Perceived stress | 17.40 (7.08) | 20.05 (6.85) | 0.002 |
Variables | EE | DP | LPA | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Men | Women | Men | Women | Men | Women | |
Perceived stress | 0.285 * | 0.386 § | 0.240 ♦ | ns | 0.503 § | 0.300 § |
Alexithymia | 0.218 † | 0.186 † | 0.241 ♦ | ns | ns | 0.231 § |
Perceived social support | ns | −0.200 * | −0.222 † | −0.163 ♦ | ns | −0.177 * |
Gender | Variables in the Model | Regression Coefficient | 95% CI | Standardized Beta | p | R2 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Emotional exhaustion | ||||||
Men | Perceived stress | 0.317 | 0.080 ÷ 0.516 | 0.285 | 0.005 | 0.119 |
Women | Perceived stress | 0.496 | 0.325 ÷ 0.668 | 0.369 | 0.0005 | 0.168 |
Alexithymia | 0.124 | 0.012 ÷ 0.237 | 0.141 | 0.030 | ||
Depersonalization | ||||||
Men | Perceived stress | 0.203 | 0.021 ÷ 0.385 | 0.221 | 0.029 | 0.106 |
Alexithymia | 0.178 | 0.019 ÷ 0.337 | 0.222 | 0.028 | ||
Women | Perceived social support | −0.170 | −0.312 ÷ −0.027 | −0.163 | 0.020 | 0.027 |
Low personal accomplishment | ||||||
Men | Perceived stress | 0.597 | 0.385 ÷ 0.809 | 0.503 | 0.0005 | 0.245 |
Women | Perceived stress | 0.323 | 0.171 ÷ 0.475 | 0.276 | 0.0005 | 0.129 |
Alexithymia | 0.151 | 0.052 ÷ 0.251 | 0.198 | 0.003 |
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Popa-Velea, O.; Diaconescu, L.; Mihăilescu, A.; Jidveian Popescu, M.; Macarie, G. Burnout and Its Relationships with Alexithymia, Stress, and Social Support among Romanian Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Study. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14, 560. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14060560
Popa-Velea O, Diaconescu L, Mihăilescu A, Jidveian Popescu M, Macarie G. Burnout and Its Relationships with Alexithymia, Stress, and Social Support among Romanian Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2017; 14(6):560. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14060560
Chicago/Turabian StylePopa-Velea, Ovidiu, Liliana Diaconescu, Alexandra Mihăilescu, Mara Jidveian Popescu, and George Macarie. 2017. "Burnout and Its Relationships with Alexithymia, Stress, and Social Support among Romanian Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Study" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 14, no. 6: 560. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14060560