Burnout Among the Clinical Dental Students in the Jordanian Universities

BACKGROUND: The study aimed to evaluate the level of burnout among the clinical dental students in two Jordanian universities. METHODS: A total of 307 students from the two schools were surveyed using Maslach Burnout Inventory survey. Scores for the inventory’s subscales were calculated and the mean values for the students’ groups were computed separately. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests were carried out and the results were compared at 95% confidence level. RESULTS: The results showed that the dental students in both Jordanian universities suffered high levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization compared to reported levels for dental students in other countries. The dental students of the University of Jordan demonstrated a significantly higher (p < 0.05) level of emotional exhaustion than their counterparts in the Jordan University of Science and Technology. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicated that dental students in the Jordanian universities presented considerable degrees of burnout manifested by high levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Studies targeting students health and psychology should be carried out to determine the causes of burnout among dental students. The curricula of the dental schools in the two universities should be accordingly improved to minimize burnout among the students. KEYWORDS: Burnout; Emotional exhaustion; Depersonalization; Personal accomplishment; Maslach Burnout Inventory