The effectiveness of self-efficacy training program to manage academic learning burnout for medical students

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Academic burnout is prevalent among medical students and is directly related to psychological distress. However, little is known about academic burnout among medical students in Guangxi and its associations with psychological health outcomes. This study aimed to determine the factors associated with academic learning burnout and investigated the effectiveness of a self-efficacy training program to manage academic learning burnout for medical students.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A mixed-methods research study included two phases. In phase I, both quantitative and qualitative methods were used in this study. In a quantitative study, a cross-sectional study was conducted on 1067 medical college students from Guangxi Medical University with a multistage sampling method. The data were collected by web-based online software. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were applied to explore the learning burnout of medical students and its associated factors. Also, an in-depth interview was conducted with 39 participants, including 28 medical college students, 2 psychological counselors, 4 student counselors, and 5 college teachers. The qualitative data was analyzed using the 7-step method proposed by Colaizzi. Additionally, in phase II, the self-efficacy intervention program based on self-efficacy concepts was developed. Then, a cluster-randomized controlled trial (CRT) was used to evaluate the effectiveness of a self-efficacy training program to manage academic burnout among medical students. A total of 100 medical college students were randomly assigned to the intervention group (n = 50) and control group (n = 50). The intervention group received a self-efficacy intervention program, while the control group received a regular ideology education program. Data were collected through online software with a structured questionnaire. The chi-square test, independent samples t-test, and paired t-test were applied for data analyses.

RESULTS: In phase I, most of the students were female (55.3%), with a mean age of 20.6 years (SD = 1.4), and the mean overall academic burnout (OAB) was 57.3 (SD = 9.3). More than half (53.1%) reported a learning duration of 8 hours or more per day, and 66.2% reported sufficient reward promotion. Perceived stress was positively associated with OAB (β = 0.203, P < 0.001), whereas self-efficacy and self-esteem were negatively associated with OAB (β = -0.598, P < 0.001 for self-efficacy; β = -0.192, P < 0.001 for self-esteem), after adjusting for all predictors.

In phase II, a team coaching intervention program based on self-efficacy was developed. This intervention consists of 10 sessions, each lasting for 90 minutes per week, which are delivered to the intervention group for 10 weeks. The results showed that after the intervention, the scores of learning burnout and its three dimensions in the intervention group were significantly lower than those in the control group (P < 0.05), while the scores of self-efficacy and its two dimensions in the intervention group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: Academic burnout was influenced by psychological factors including perceived stress, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. This may be useful to identify medical students who are at risk of burnout and adverse mental health outcomes. Additionally, a team coaching intervention effectively improved medical students' self-efficacy and learning burnout. Thus, this study suggests that team psychological counseling be used in the self-efficacy-based intervention to reduce learning burnout and promote mental health among medical students.

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