Anxiety, Academic Resilience, and Burnout Among Medical Students in Iran: A Cross-sectional Study During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Alia Saberi; Sajjad Saadat; Ali Ashraf; Masumeh Heydari Lakeh; Marjan Entezari; Hamidreza Hatamian

doi:10.18502/jimc.v5i2.10461

Alia Saberi Department of Neurology, Poursina Hospital, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran
Sajjad Saadat Neuroscience Research Center, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran
Ali Ashraf Clinical Research Development Unit, Poursina Hospital, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran
Masumeh Heydari Lakeh Student Research Committee, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran
Marjan Entezari Department of Counseling, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
Hamidreza Hatamian Department of Neurology, Poursina Hospital, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/jimc.v5i2.10461

Keywords: Anxiety, Burnout, COVID-19, Medical students, Resilience

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has had unpleasant consequences for health care providers, including medical stagers and intern students; due to the importance of this issue, this study was conducted to evaluate anxiety, resilience and burnout.

Methods: This cross-sectional analytical study was performed on stager and intern medical students of Guilan University of Medical Sciences in Rasht, Iran. Data were collected using a list containing Student Demographic Information, Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey (MBISS), Academic Resilience Inventory (ARI) and Corona Disease Anxiety Scale (CDAS). Data analysis was performed using SPSS v.19 at the level of significance 0.05.

Results: High levels of burnout and anxiety were calculated to be 21.1 and 7%, respectively. Burnout score was higher in people with grade point average less than 17 (p=0.014); burnout score was also higher in males (p=0.009). Other results showed that COVID-19 anxiety score was significantly higher in females (p=0.029). The results of multivariate linear regression indicated that the variables including academic resilience (β=0.330) and COVID-19 anxiety (β=0.218) significantly explain 20% of the variance of burnout in students. Also, with the introduction of demographic variables, it was increased to 31% in which the share of gender variable (β=0.283) was significant in this model.

Conclusion: Academic resilience, anxiety and gender had an effective role on the rate of student burnout. Accordingly, it is suggested that health care providers and psychologists pay attention to student empowerment by providing appropriate therapeutic interventions during and after the COVID-19 epidemic.