Burnout and Its Relation to Emotion Dysregulation and Social Cognition among Female Interns and Undergraduate Dental Students at King Khalid University

Abstract

Background: Burnout is a state of vital exhaustion that has a high global prevalence among dental professionals. Yet the early diagnosis of this syndrome is challenging due to its multidimensional nature. Aim: To assess burnout and its relation to emotional dysregulation and social cognition among undergraduate dental students. Methods: We mailed 148 self-administered questionnaires to all interns and undergraduate dental students belonging to the College of Dentistry’s female campus at King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia. A questionnaire was designed comprising three measuring instruments of psychological inventories to assess work-related stress, namely, burnout (Copenhagen burnout inventory questionnaire (CBI)), emotional dysregulation (emotion regulation questionnaire (ERQ)), and social cognition (interpersonal reactivity index (IRI)). We examined the difference in burnout between two cohorts (interns and undergraduates) using Student’s ‘t’ test and the association between emotional regulation/social cognition domains using Pearson’s correlation. Results: Among the participants, around 70% obtained higher scores than the cut-off points for personal and work-related domains in both groups. There was no statistically significant difference in burnout domain between the two cohorts (p > 0.05; Cohen d < 0.3). A negative correlation existed between burnout and emotion regulation, i.e., higher burnout score is associated with lesser cognitive reappraisal and more expressive suppression (CBI—personal burnout r = −0.251; r = −0.220 respectively). Social cognitive scores had various associations among interns and undergraduates, with personal distress being significantly associated with greater burnout levels among both groups (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The present study revealed significantly elevated burnout levels among both interns and undergraduate students. Emotional dysfunction and social cognition assessment can be a valuable adjunct in identifying this erosive syndrome. Early recognition and primordial prevention targeting burnout are strongly recommended.

Prevalence of burnout and practice-related risk factors among Saudi Board dental residents using the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory: A survey-based cross-sectional study

“…The same inventory was used in studies conducted among dentists and dental students in Greek by Antoniadou, [ 16 ] India by Kulkarni et al, [ 2 ] and Saudi Arabia by Chalikkandy et al 2022. [ 19 ] However, it was also applied in different specialties other than dentistry in Saudi Arabia, these include the following studies; among healthcare workers by Alsulimani et al, [ 20 ] Medical students with Mahfouz et al, [ 21 ] Urology residents by Aljuhayman et al, [ 22 ] and postgraduate doctors by Fernando and Samaranayake. [ 25 ] CBI comprises 3 main domains for burnout measurement, and it contains 21 items, and consisted of;…”

“…[17,18] A single research reported that almost 70% of the sample was suffering from professional or significant burnout. [19] Also, marginal similar values and percentages of burnout, when they assessed burnout among different medical specialities in different cities in SA. [20–23]…”

Prevalence of Burnout in Healthcare Specialties: A Systematic Review Using Copenhagen and Maslach Burnout Inventories

“…Also, CBI recognizes a significant difference between the types and subscales of burnout among studies carried out in South Africa and Malaysia [26,27]. Other studies have not identified this parameter in their results [28,36]. Also, MBI is significantly different between genders in published research [41,44,47,[55][56][57], and was found to be higher among females in studies conducted in countries such as the Netherlands [28,30], USA, Lebanon, and Romania [55,57].…”

“…Thirteen studies used CBI: 6 were conducted in Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries, 3 studies were conducted in Asia, and others were from Europe and other countries. Table 2 summarizes the characteristics of the selected CBI papers [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]. Twenty-eight studies used MBI: 12 were from Europe, 9 were from Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries, 6 were from the USA and Canada, and 1 was from Asia.…”

“…Quality criteria Aljuhayman et al [33] Mahfouz et al [34] Alsulimani et al [35] Chalikkandy et al [36] Antoniadou [37] Fiabane et al [38] Total/ percentage Is hypothesis/aim/objective of study clearly described?…”