PSYCHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF EMOTIONAL BURNOUT IN MEDICAL STUDENTS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18372/2411-264X.27.20730Keywords:
emotional burnout, medical students, psycho-emotional exhaustion, resistance, depersonalization, professional trainingAbstract
Studying at a higher medical educational institution is associated with chronic psycho-emotional load, creating prerequisites for the development of emotional burnout even at the stage of professional training. Student burnout is regarded as a precursor to future professional deformation, threatening a decrease in empathy and the quality of medical care provision. The main triggers of this state are the conflict between high external demands and the individual's available internal resources.
The aim of the study is to empirically determine the degree of manifestation of emotional burnout symptoms in medical students, analyze their attitude towards learning, and identify the main causes of exhaustion.
Methods. The study was conducted at the Bogomolets National Medical University. The sample consisted of 78 students aged 18–25. To collect empirical data, V. V. Boyko's "Diagnosis of Emotional Burnout Level" technique (modified by Ilyin) was used, which allows assessing the emotional state, resistance, and exhaustion.
Results. The obtained data demonstrate a contradictory picture of professional formation. On the one hand, the motivational component remains high: 84.6% of respondents are confident in the correctness of their career choice, and 87.2% feel joy from the usefulness of their activity. On the other hand, pronounced signs of exhaustion were recorded: 65.4% of students feel fatigue from academic problems, 50% rate the study conditions as very difficult, and 61.5% have a high level of anxiety. The formation of psychological defense mechanisms of the "economy of emotions" type was revealed: 80.8% of respondents try to finish tasks as quickly as possible due to tension, 71.8% work under compulsion, and 56.4% periodically perform work formally and without emotional involvement. Symptoms of depersonalization are manifested in the fact that 41% of students use an emotional "screen" to distance themselves from others' experiences, and 46.2% feel negative emotions towards their surroundings.
Conclusions. The study results confirm that the specifics of medical education (significant volumes of information, high responsibility, stressfulness) against the background of insufficiently developed self-regulation skills lead to early emotional burnout. Students face frustration of professional ideals and are forced to resort to emotional detachment as a defensive reaction, which requires the implementation of stress prevention programs in the educational process.
