Publication

Abstract : Aims: To evaluate the prevalence and associated risk factors of burnout syndrome among dental students in an Indian dental school in Kerala, India. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted among dental students of Amrita School of Dentistry, Kochi, south India. Method and Material: The questionnaire consisted of demographic information (age, sex, year of study), 8 questions regarding career choice and academic excellence and of 15 questions from the “Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Version” (MBI-SS). Statistical analysis used: All the analysis was done using PASW version 18 (SPSS Inc, Ill, Chicago, USA) and MedCalc Version 14. A p-value ≤ 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA with post-hoc Conover test were used to compare the mean score of subscales with demographic variables. Results: A total of 159 students participated out of which 93.1% were females. Most of the students were moderate on Emotional Exhaustion (39.6%) whereas they were high on Cynicism (46.5%) and Professional Efficacy (78.6%). A total of 16.4% and 2.5% of the students reported bi-dimensional and tri-dimensional burnout syndrome respectively. Conclusions: Burnout syndrome may have an early onset and may also enhance the future onset. Continuous monitoring of the students throughout the curriculum is the need of the hour. © 2018, Indian Journal of Public Health Research and Development. All rights reserved.