Learning burnout and its association with perceived stress, social support, and the Big Five personality traits in Chinese medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background Owing to the coronavirus disease 2019, medical learning burnout has attracted increasing attention in educational research. It has a serious negative impact on medical students and their service quality. This could impair the professional development of medical students; weaken their personal and professional quality; and lead to problems such as increased medical errors and reduced patient care quality and satisfaction. This study aimed to examine the effects of perceived stress, social support, and the Big Five personality traits on learning burnout among medical students. Methods In November 2021, a cross-sectional survey was conducted at three medical universities in China. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 616 third- year students. Learning burnout, perceived stress, social support, and the Big Five personality traits (neuroticism, extroversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) were anonymously measured. A total of 583 students were included in the final sample. Hierarchical linear regression was performed to explore the effects of perceived stress, social support, and Big Five personality traits on medical students’ learning burnout. Results Perceived stress was positively associated with learning burnout (emotional exhaustion: ß = 0.577, p < 0.001; cynicism: ß = 0.543, p < 0.001; low professional efficacy: ß = 0.455, p < 0.001) whereas social support was negatively related with it (low professional efficacy: ß = -0.319, p < 0.001). Neuroticism had a positive effect on emotional burnout (ß = 0.152, p = 0.009). Extraversion (ß = -0.116, p = 0.006) and conscientiousness (ß = -0.363, p < 0.001) had a negative effect on low professional efficacy. Agreeableness negatively affected emotional exhaustion (ß = -0.181, p < 0.001) and cynicism (ß = -0.245, p < 0.001) and positively affected low professional efficacy (ß = 0.098, p = 0.008). The associated factors together accounted for an additional variance of learning burnout (emotional exhaustion: 39.0%; cynicism: 36.8%; low professional efficacy: 48.7%). Conclusions Social support is a positive resource for fighting medical students’ burnout. Perceived stress was the strongest indicator of learning burnout. In addition to reducing perceived stress, developing extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness should be included in burnout prevention and treatment strategies, particularly for medical students.

Mediating effects of future time perspective on the relationship between mindfulness and learning burnout in college students: A cross-sectional descriptive study

“…The learning burnout level was higher than that reported in the other studies. [ 29 , 30 ] The present study was conducted in the post-pandemic period. Students who have experienced the Covid-19 epidemic could associate with learning burnout.…”

“…Specifically, the scores of senior college students were significantly higher than that of other grades, which might be related to the fact that senior college students experienced more professional tasks. [ 30 ] Urban residents have a lower learning burnout, explaining that urban students have better information sources and several job choices. They can choose their favorite majors, and their learning burnout level is relatively low.…”

Extraversion in COVID-19 Coping

“…Yet, in the Black, Asian, and minority ethnic community, extraversion was found a stronger predictor of mental health deterioration than among White British. A November 2021 study of 616 third year Chinese medical students indicated that perceived stress was the strongest indicator of learning burnout and related negatively with extraversion [52]. The materials have been discovered in relation to the role of extraversion in COVID-19 coping as a result of the various Google Scholar searches that were performed during late February and the first two weeks of March 2023 in relation to the COVID-19 waves identified by the WHO timeline [6].…”

Big Five personality traits and coping strategies of Italian university students during the COVID-19 pandemic first wave

“…Previous research involving university students has already in part examined the role of the Big Five traits concerning coping (i.e., Anglim and Horwood, 2021 ; Audet et al, 2021 ; Sahinidis and Tsaknis, 2021 ; Staller et al, 2021 ; Quigley et al, 2022 ; Wang et al, 2022 ; Weiß et al, 2022 ; Zolotareva et al, 2022 ).…”

“…In parallel with a growth of the interest in some of the psychological consequences of the outbreak of the pandemic for university students (e.g., on students’ expectations and experiences, Aucejo et al, 2020 ; on adjustment to online courses, Audet et al, 2021 ; on e-learning achievement emotions, Raccanello et al, 2022a ), researchers are paying increasing attention to university students’ characteristics of personality that could have played a role in diminishing and compensating the negative impact of the diffusion of the COVID-19, promoting adaptive coping ( Anglim and Horwood, 2021 ; Audet et al, 2021 ; Sahinidis and Tsaknis, 2021 ; Staller et al, 2021 ; Quigley et al, 2022 ; Wang et al, 2022 ; Weiß et al, 2022 ; Zolotareva et al, 2022 ). In line with this tendency, we explored whether the Big Five traits (i.e., Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Open-Mindedness, and Negative Emotionality or Neuroticism) acted as risk or protective factors after the outbreak of a disaster such as the COVID-19 pandemic for a sample of Italian university students, taking into account a large variety of coping strategies.…”