Behaviour-based functional and dysfunctional strategies of medical students to cope with burnout

Abstract

Background: High levels of burnout rates amongst medical students have been confirmed by numerous studies from diverse contexts. This study aims to explore the functional and dysfunctional coping strategies of medical students with regard to their respective burnout factors.Methods: About 845 medical students in the 3rd, 6th, and 9th semesters and students in their final year were invited to take part in the survey. The self-administered questionnaire included items on potential functional and dysfunctional behavioural-based coping strategies as well as the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Version (MBI-SS). In addition, a comparison of the local results with a German reference sample involving other students was calculated.Results: A total of 597 medical students (70.7%) participated in the cross-sectional study. The results showed high burnout rates, averaging 35%. Students in earlier stages of university education showed lower values for cynicism (a subdimension of burnout), but higher values for emotional exhaustion than students in higher stages. Concerning academic efficacy, there was a trend towards less efficient perception among students in higher education. The identified functional coping strategies were ‘seeking support from friends’, ‘seeking support from family’, ‘doing relaxing exercise’, ‘doing sports’ and ‘seeking support from fellow students’. The identified dysfunctional coping strategies were ‘taking tranquilizers’, ‘taking stimulants’, ‘drinking alcohol’, ‘withdrawal and ruminating’, and ‘playing games on the PC or mobile phone’. The medical students surveyed are more affected by burnout symptoms than the reference populations, but the overall result was difficult to interpret.Conclusions: The identified behavioural-based functional coping strategies suggest that social support and active relaxing exercises seem to be very important possibilities for medical students to reduce stress and exhaustion. The use of drugs and alcohol for stress reduction raises concerns. Programs are recommended to improve resilient behaviour and to impart the identified functional coping strategies to medical students.

How to Cope with the Challenges of Medical Education? Stress, Depression, and Coping in Undergraduate Medical Students

“…In both of our samples, substance use could predict neither depression screening scores nor stress. While Erschens et al [36] emphasize that substance use increases the risk of burnout and Zanardelli and colleagues [32] reported that substance use was associated with lower well-being, Pickard et al [16] found no correlation between substance use and anxiety and depression. He interpreted this as being positive because the students were not using drugs as a coping strategy.…”

Burnout syndrome, extracurricular activities and social support among Brazilian internship medical students: a cross-sectional analysis

“…found that medical students with lower perceived social support had higher rates of EE (p = 0.04) [15]. A good perceived social support can buffer stress related to academic workload or help the students to cope [19,20] and seeking social support is seen as a functional strategy to cope with BS [21].…”

Feeling at the work of junior doctors : qualitative study

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