STRESS AND BURNOUT ASSESSMENT AMONG POST GRADUATE DENTAL STUDENTS

Context : High levels of stress and burnout affect the academic, and clinical learning process and long term health of the individual. Aims : The aim of the study was to assess stress and burnout among post graduate dental students in a dental college in India Settings and Design : 82 post graduate dental students enrolled in the MDS programme in a dental school in India completed the Graduate Dental Environment Stress (GDES) questionnaire and Maslach Burnout Inventory. Burnout was assessed in three domains Emotional Exhaution, Depersonalization and Personal Accomplishment Statistical analysis used : Summary statistics (proportions, mean and standard deviation) were used to summarize the responses to the Graduate Dental Environment Stress (GDES) questionnaire and Maslach Burnout Inventory Results : The statistical analysis revealed that the mean overall score on GDES 30 stress questionnaire was 2.28. Top three stressors among the Postgraduate students was lack of leisure time, examinations and assessments, and insecurity regarding professional future. Females had significantly higher stress rates. 21% of respondents were "cases of burnout"in the Emotional Exhaustion (EE) component, 29 % were "burnout"cases of Depersonalization (DP) while 54% were "burnout"cases in the Personal Accomplishment (PA) domain Conclusions : Moderate to high levels of stress and burnout were detected among this study sample. There is a need to come up with effective strategies in the postgraduate curriculum to tackle stress and burnout. Keywords : Stress, burnout, dental postgraduates, education