Burnout Syndrome in the Faculty of Dentistry, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Mexico: a Comparative Study

Visoso Salgado, Angel; Sánchez Reyna, Paola Ariselda; Montiel Bastida, Norma Margarita

Summary

Burnout syndrome (BOS) is a growing problem, involves physical, somatic and psychological alterations, as well as work absenteeism, and economic losses. Unfortunately it has high prevalence among health professionals and students, mainly on dentistry area. The aim of this study was to know the differences by affectation of the BOS, between the three groups (educational, administrative workers and students) that conforms the personnel of the Dentistry Faculty, of the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico (UAEM). The Maslach Burnout Inventory and a questionnaire on sociodemographic, labor and academic characteristics, was applied to 108 people of the Dentistry Faculty of the UAEM: 36 educational ones, 36 administrative workers and 36 students. The instrument includes 22 items to evaluate the three subscales of the BOS: 1) Emotional fatigue (EF), 2) Depersonalization (DP), and 3) Personal Realization (PR). A t test was applied to know the differences between the groups studied, with support of software SPSS, version 19. When comparing the averages of affectation by BOS between the groups studied, were statistically significant differences in the subscale of EF between the educational and students groups (p=0.00), between educational and administrative workers groups (p=0.01), and between administrative workers and students groups (p=0.00). In the subscale of DP only were differences between the administrative workers and students groups (p=0.01). In the subscale of PR were differences between educational and students groups (p=0.00), between educational and administrative workers (p=0.01) and, between administrative workers and students groups (p=0.05). There are not studies on the BOS that includes all the groups that conform the personnel of a Dentistry Faculty. Nevertheless, it is important to know the differences in the affectation by this syndrome in each one of the groups, since it will allow elaborating specific strategies for each one; and on this way avoid the physical, psychological and social consequences that cause.

KEY WORDS: Burnout syndrome, dentist, occupational disease.

How to cite this article

VISOSO, S. A.; SÁNCHEZ, R. P. A.; MONTIEL, B. N. M. Burnout syndrome in the faculty of dentistry, universidad autónoma del estado de mexico: a comparative study. Int. J. Odontostomat., 6(2):129-138, 2012.