The comparison of academic burnout in Lithuanian and US psychology and social work students

Marksaityte, R. (Rasa)¹, Pranckeviciene, A. (Aiste)², Zardeckaite-Matulaitiene, K. (Kristina)¹, Endriulaitiene, A. (Aukse)¹, Tillman, D.R. (Douglas R.)³, Hof, D.D. (David)^3
1Vytautas Magnus University
²Lithuanian University of Health Sciences
³University of Nebraska at Kearney

 

Submission type

Poster only

Scheduled

Hallway, 10-07-2019, 15:30 - 17:00

Keywords

academic burnout, psychology students, social work students

Summary

 

Psychology and social work students usually face high academic demands and strict requirements for professional training that might lead to burnout already during study years. Thus, this study aimed to compare levels of academic burnout in a sample of Lithuanian and US psychology and social work students. 208 (79.3% females, 49.5% psychology studies) US students and 620 (89.2% females, 59.4% psychology studies) Lithuanian students from the first to the sixth year of their studies filled in Maslach Burnout Inventory Students Survey and evaluated their satisfaction with studies on a six-point Likert scale.  Lithuanian psychology and social work students reported lower level of emotional exhaustion and higher sense of academic efficacy compared to US students. Lithuanian students were less satisfied with their studies. Correlation analysis revealed that higher satisfaction with studies was related to lower academic burnout in both countries (moderate correlations: rho = .31-.62.). However, either academic burnout or satisfaction with studies didn’t change from the first to the sixth year of studies in both countries. Thus, psychology and social work students experience high levels of academic burnout and this might lead to lower professional efficacy in their future career. Raising awareness of student burnout problem is needed.

Auteurs