Burnout syndrome in medical students in the Kingdom of Bahrain

OBJECTIVES: To assess stress and burnout, and identify common stressors, among medical students in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional study with students being evaluated from March to September 2017 at two medical colleges in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

METHODOLOGY: Survey conducted on a total sample of 533 clerkship-training students with a total of 347 respondents. The instruments used were Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale; the Maslach Burnout Inventory; and a common stressors questionnaire.

RESULTS: 65% (347/533) of the students from the two medical colleges responded to the questionnaire. It was found that the mean (SD) of Cohen stress score in this study was 21.76 (5.60), with a stress and burnout prevalence of 47% and 43.43% respectively. A high percentage of respondent students (68%) also exhibited high emotional exhaustion scores > 14. More than half of the respondents (53.3%) exhibited high cynicism score > 6. Statistically significant differences were observed across gender categories with Cohen mean score, emotional exhaustion and cynicism. Multiple linear regressions revealed gender to be the only statistically significant predictor of the Cohen score (p. value 0.042).

CONCLUSION: Clerkship medical students displayed high levels of both stress and burnout prevalence. Medical educators must be aware of the early signs, causes and consequences of student stress. They should also be able to encourage students to improve their mental and physical health, promote mental well-being and teach stress management.