Prevalence of Burnout Syndrome and Associated Factors among Undergraduates of Medical and Allied Health Sciences; Experience from a Sri Lankan University

Burnout syndrome is a set of symptoms leading to emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced performance. This may develop in many healthcare providers and is therefore an important concern in healthcare. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of Burnout Syndrome and its associated factors among Medical and Allied Health Sciences (AHS) undergraduates of the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 157 medical and AHS undergraduates at the University of Ruhuna. Burnout was measured using the judgmentally vali-dated Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (Student version). Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire through a Google form. The chi-square test was used to assess factors associated with burnout syndrome at a 0.05 significance level. A total of 157 undergraduates, 71.3% medical and 28.6% AHS undergraduates participated in this study. The prevalence of burnout syndrome was 47.8% in the total sample while it was 58.1 % among medical and 22.2% among AHS undergraduates. Being a medical undergraduate (p<0.001), having financial difficulties (p<0.05) and undergraduates who were selected for the course according to advanced level merit (p<0.001) were more likely to have Burnout syndrome. Among undergraduates with burnout syndrome, the majority (>70%) had adopted, active coping strategies for burnout. In conclusion, burnout syndrome is reported in high prevalence among the participants and more in medical undergraduates within the sample. As a financial status, course and selection criteria for the course were associated with burnout, those factors need to be considered to avoid chronic stressors among them.