The Protective Role of Resilience in Emotional Exhaustion Among Dental Students at Clinical Levels

PURPOSE: The epidemic of burnout among dental students has been repeatedly documented. This study aimed to assess burnout, specifically emotional exhaustion (EE), and examined the impact of protective and risk psychological factors for EE among clinical-level dental students in Saudi Arabia (SA). METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted, using a convenience sample of undergraduate dental students who were recruited from five separate dental schools. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 500 students to obtain socio-demographic data and to assess the students’ psychological characteristics (Maslach Burnout Inventory EE subscale, Dental Environment Stress Scale [DES] and Brief Resilience Scale [BRS]). Descriptive, bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed. RESULTS: Of 272 respondents, 53% reported high EE. Adjusted multivariable logistic regression modelling demonstrated that students who reported higher BRS scores were significantly less likely to report high EE (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]=0.79, 95% CI=0.70–0.89, p<0.001). However, females were more than twice as likely as males to report high EE (AOR=2.27, 95% CI=1.14–4.61, p=0.024). In addition, students who reported higher DES scores also reported high EE (AOR=1.10, 95% CI=1.07–1.12, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that resilience is a protective factor against high EE, after adjusting for key characteristics. There is a need for a preventive programme that addresses EE, taking into consideration other unexplored underlying factors.