Abstract

Introduction: This study was conducted with the aim of determining the status of academic burnout and its related factors in students of the Faculty of Medicine and Paramedicine at Gonabad University of Medical Sciences in 2024.
Materials & Methods: This descriptive-analytical study involved 324 students in the 3rd semester and above from the Paramedicine Faculty of Gonabad. To collect the data, the Berso Burnout Academic Scale (or Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), if that was the intended standard tool) and a researcher-made questionnaire to investigate related factors were utilized. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to examine the normal distribution of the data. Subsequently, to compare the mean burnout scores between two groups, an Independent Samples t-test was employed, and for more than two groups, a One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used. To compare the dimensions of academic burnout between two groups, the Mann-Whitney U test was used, and for more than two groups, the Kruskal-Wallis test was applied. For assessing the correlation between quantitative factors, the Pearson correlation coefficient was used, and for variables that did not follow a normal distribution, Spearman’s rho and the Chi-square test were used. Finally, all variables related to academic burnout were entered into a multiple linear regression. The data analysis was performed using SPSS statistical software, version 21.
Results: The majority of the study participants (63%) were studying Medicine. 60. 8% were female, 85. 8% were single, and 65. 4% were non-native residents. 69. 8% of students exhibited a moderate level of academic burnout. Factors such as conscious choice of major, interest in the field, hope for future employment, economic problems, forced major selection, and the quality of communication with their academic advisor showed the strongest association with burnout(p<0/05). Gender, marital status, and parents’ education and occupation did not have a significant impact on academic burnout(p>0/05). The regression analysis indicated that Economic Hardships, Interest in the Major, and Academic Major were superior predictors of burnout when compared to the other variables investigated in this research design (p<0/05). Interest in the Major was identified as the strongest single predictor (𝑝<0.001). The variables entered into the model explained 44% of the variance in academic burnout.
Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that a combination of internal factors (such as interest, hope, satisfaction, GPA) and external factors (financial problems, coercion, lack of job awareness) are associated with academic burnout. This highlights that preventing and reducing academic burnout requires a multifaceted approach.
Keywords: Burnout, Academic burnout, Related factors, Student