Investigation of burnout syndrome among electrical and building technology undergraduate students in Nigeria

Abstract

Background:The investigation of burnout among undergraduate students is yet to receive the same amount of attention as burnout in employees. Despite the negative effects of burnout among students, there is dearth of literature on burnout problem among electrical and building technology undergraduate students. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the burnout levels and the effect of rational-emotive behavior therapy (REBT) on symptoms of burnout among electrical and building technology undergraduate students in South–East zone of Nigeria.Method:A group randomized trial design involving a treatment group versus no-treatment group was adopted for this study. One hundred fifty four undergraduate students of electrical and building technology who met the study's inclusion criteria were selected from public universities in the South–East zone of Nigeria. The intervention consisted of 10 weeks of REBT treatment and 8 weeks of follow-up meetings conducted at 4 months. A self-report questionnaire was used for data collection. Repeated-measures analysis of variance, paired sample t test, and Chi-Squared were used for data analysis.Results:The outcome indicated that the levels of burnout syndrome among the students are high and REBT had a significant effect on the symptoms of burnout syndrome among the electrical and building technology students in the treatment group compared to their counterparts in the no-treatment group. Finally, the positive gains were significantly maintained by the treatment group at follow-up.Conclusion:The current study suggests that an REBT program can be effective for dealing with burnout syndrome among the population of undergraduate students of electrical and building technology in Nigeria.

Academic burnout among undergraduate history students

“…In terms of REBT's effectiveness in assisting students in managing burnout, our present finding supports several studies which found similar results in student population. [3][4][5]11,12,14,23] Heber et al [26] show that internet-based intervention effectively reduced symptoms of stress. The finding of Harrer et al [27] supports online intervention delivery for reducing patient symptoms.…”

“…In Nigerian studies of the university student population, internal consistency reliability tests show that Cronbach a score for the OLBI-S ranges from 0.77 to 0.90. [3][4][5]11,12,14,23] This online intervention was guided with an adapted electronic version of the manual of rational emotive behavioral therapy for the management of burnout [2] and was delivered using the telegram app. This online REBT intervention comprised cognitive restructuring strategies and re-education to alter students' burnout beliefs.…”

Alta Produtividade E a Relação Com a Síndrome De Burnout

“…No ensaio clínico randomizado de Bakare et al (2019) foram avaliados 154 estudantes de graduação em tecnologia elétrica e predial de universidades públicas na zona sudeste da Nigéria, que tivessem a síndrome de Burnout. A intervenção consistiu em 10 semanas de tratamento psicológico realizadas durante um período de 4 meses.…”

A scoping review of the “at-risk” student literature in higher education

“…Although indirect intervention influences the performance of students, especially in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) degrees [41], proper intervention follows appropriate identification of the main causes of students being at risk. Prevalently, the following categories of indicators are insinuated in higher education; (a) low pre-entry marks [14], poor grade point average [17], muffled interview scores [18], (b) prior experience [17], prior acquaintance with the chosen programme and career goals [19], or prior intention to dropout [21], (c) dwindling performance in tests [17, 38], negative behaviour [21], extended exhaustion levels [19], the general extent of satisfaction with education [21], little effort exerted on tasks [21], poor study skills, as well as poor attendance [11] and participation in class [20]. Other factors that mildly feature when the topic of “at-risk” students is raised include lack of student support strategies [17] at institutional levels, students’ demographics [17], resource allocation [33, 38] at institutional levels, other educational barriers [13], emotional intelligence [34, 35], and learning behaviour [36, 37] of the student.…”

“…On the other hand, a stop-out is a student who temporarily discontinues studies with the hope of re-registering at a later stage [9]. Contrary, burning-out is a situation where a student responds to chronic stress through emotional and physical exhaustion characterized by low productivity [14]. Then, failing is a situation where a student endures through a study programme, however, without achieving the desired performance to pass [9].…”