The role of extracurricular activities and lectures in mitigating medical student burnout

Abstract

Context Strong evidence throughout the literature highlights burnout as a significant and increasing problem among medical students, impacting students’ ability to effectively care for and empathize with patients. Objectives To examine how involvement in extracurricular activities and attendance at burnout lectures can impact burnout among medical students. Methods An anonymous digital survey including the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) was sent to all students (n=765) at Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine. The survey included questions regarding the number of burnout/wellness lectures respondents had attended, the number of clubs in which the respondents participated, the number of hours spent in these clubs, and any leadership positions held by the respondents. Results Of the 765 students enrolled, 597 completed the survey. Results indicated that women participated in significantly more clubs than men (t[456]=−4.30; p<0.001). Men had higher scores on the depersonalization subscale of the MBI than women (t[463)=2.98; p<0.01]. There were no gender differences in emotional exhaustion or personal accomplishment. Linear regression analyses including gender and club participation as predictors of each of the burnout subscales indicated a significant interaction between gender and number of clubs (β=0.34; p<0.05), in that more club participation was associated with higher depersonalization scores for women, but lower depersonalization scores for men. The number of wellness/burnout prevention lectures attended was not predictive of scores on any of the burnout subscales. Conclusions Our results indicate the importance of understanding what drives burnout on the individual level and adapting interventions to suit the needs of individual students, rather than the student body as a whole.

Empathy alleviates the learning burnout of medical college students through enhancing resilience

“…At present, medical students generally have high learning burnout, high psychological pressure, high loneliness, and decreased mental flexibility [ 42 – 44 ]. Resilience has a direct predictive effect on the individual's autonomous learning ability, and it is the main factor that affects the professional applicability and learning career adaptation of medical students [ 45 , 46 ].…”

Extracurricular activities in medical education: an integrative literature review

“…Career development covers activities to explore career paths as a prospective medical expert and included four articles [ 21 , 23 , 25 , 32 ]. Additionally, there were 11 unspecified IEAs that could not be identified in the targeted articles [ 17 , 18 , 20 , 28 , 35 , 40 , 63 , 65 , 67 , 70 , 78 ]. Ten other non-classified IEAs included counseling [ 45 , 77 ], teaching [ 3 , 38 ], mindfulness [ 26 ], professional exchanges [ 62 ], Asian-American-related EAs [ 68 ], video games [ 47 ], international exchanges [ 41 ], and distinction [ 23 ].…”

“…14 articles surveyed the psychological states and motivations of students as a potential outcome of EAs. Most of them focused on negative states: stress and burnout [ 2 , 17 , 23 , 26 , 34 – 36 , 39 , 61 , 65 ], anxiety, and aggression [ 17 , 20 ]. Two papers investigated positive states: tolerance of ambiguity and uncertainty [ 52 ], and work-life balance [ 70 ].…”

Impacto de actividades extracurriculares en la autorrealización de estudiantes de medicina: una revisión sistemática

“…La investigación de Manjareeka et al determina la presencia de menor puntaje de estrés en estudiantes de medicina involucrados en AE, además de ser predictoras de excelente desempeño académico (23) Asimismo, el análisis de Salih et al (24) concluye que la realización de AE en general tiene un impacto positivo en el rendimiento académico de estudiantes de medicina. En cuanto al análisis de Sepede et al (5) se concluye que asistir a conferencias sobre la prevención de burnout, por sí solas, no proporciona ningún tipo de mitigación o protección contra el burnout en el grupo de estudio. Además, infieren que participar en una mayor cantidad de AE lleva a un mayor grado de despersonalización en el individuo.…”

“…Las actividades extracurriculares (AE) se definen como aquellas actividades estructuradas e inestructuradas a las que los estudiantes acceden en el contexto universitario, fuera o dentro de las dependencias universitarias y que no son parte del plan obligatorio de estudios (1-2). Con base en clasificaciones previas y lo adquirido en esta investigación, se ha llegado a las siguientes categorías de tipos de AE: tutorías de apoyo entre pares, académicas (divididas en investigaciones científicas y en cursos complementarios al programa de estudio), voluntariados de servicio social, artísticas/humanísticas, artísticas/deportivas, intercambios culturales, y políticas/de representación estudiantil (3)(4)(5)(6)(7). Se han descrito diversos factores determinantes para participar en AE, entre estos destacan: los individuales (valores personales, altruismo, desarrollo de nuevas habilidades, direccionamiento de futuro profesional/financiero), del entorno social (influencia de pares o familia), del entorno físico (instalaciones, transporte y accesibilidad), del macroentorno (publicidad, normas culturales y valores) y competencias necesarias en el siglo XXI (habilidad para resolver problemas, para adaptarse al cambio, trabajar en equipo, pensamiento crítico, creatividad, comunicación, uso eficaz del tiempo, aprender con rapidez, proponer y evaluar ideas y soluciones) (2,(8)(9)(10)(11).…”