The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Burnout Aspects in Medical Students: Iranian Research

Abstract

Background. Burnout is a psychological syndrome identified by different degrees of emotional exhaustion depersonalization and a low sense of personal accomplishment, which is an increasing problem among medical students. Emotional intelligence is a set of noncognitive skills that propagates an individual’s capability to encounter environmental complications, particularly burnout, successfully. This research was conducted to investigate the relationship between emotional intelligence and academic burnout among medical students. Methods. This cross-sectional study was carried out on 136 medical students at Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2018. Data were collected by a demographic checklist, Siberia Schering’s Emotional Intelligence questionnaire, and Bresso Academic Burnout questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS22 software using descriptive methods and linear regression tests. The significance level was set at a $P$ value <0.05. Results. The study enrolled 136 medical students, including 70 (51.5%) men and 66 (48.5%) women, with an average age of 24.94 (SD = 1.03). Besides, 112 students were single (82.4%), and 24 were married (17.6%). Most students’ emotional intelligence and academic burnout were moderate (89% and 69.1%, respectively). According to the results, none of the burnout dimensions significantly correlated with age and gender. Among emotional intelligence dimensions, students possessing higher self-motivation experienced more significant academic fatigue. Students with higher self-awareness and self-regulation experienced lower academic fatigue, academic apathy, academic inefficiency, and academic burnout. In general, medical students with higher scores on emotional intelligence experienced significantly lower academic fatigue, academic apathy, academic inefficiency, and academic burnout. There was a significant negative association between emotional intelligence and burnout (β = −0.496, $P$  < 0.001). Conclusion. Emotional intelligence appeared as a significant factor in protecting medical students against academic burnout, so enhancing emotional intelligence through training may be an essential intervention for reducing burnout.