Abstract
Background: Chiropractic students are no strangers to stress in a university setting where many report having moderate to high levels of stress and fatigue. Higher levels of stress are associated with decreased academic success as well as decreased physical and psychological well-being. The workload for chiropractic students is high and physically demanding, which often results in feelings of Burnout and stress towards the end of the academic year. Only one other study had been performed evaluating the perceived stress and burnout of chiropractic students in Europe, leaving little data describing chiropractic students in Africa.
Aims: The aims of this study were to establish the perceived stress and burnout of chiropractic students at the University of Johannesburg, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Method: This was a quantitative, exploratory study design, utilizing a self-administered online English questionnaire, which was distributed to registered chiropractic students at UJ, through a link via WhatsApp. The study questionnaire consisted of three main components, that being demographics; Perceived stress scale (PSS-10); and the Maslach Burnout Inventory- Student Survey (MBI-SS). Once anonymously completed, the data was collected and analysed utilizing Cronbach’s alpha; mean scores were then determined and interpreted using subscales pertaining to the two survey tools used.
Procedure: An online link to the questionnaire, as well as an information letter was distributed to the entire UJ Chiropractic Student body via WhatsApp, where respondents could anonymously participate in the study if chosen to do so.
Results: This research had a response rate of 63.82% (n = 157), of chiropractic students registered at UJ in 2021. For perceived stress, the UJ chiropractic student group obtained a total mean score value of 25.08, indicating that they fall within the average perceived stress score category. Statistically significant differences between age group and academic year group categories were established.
For the MBI-SS categories, the participants scored 18.96 out of a possible 30, in terms of a mean score for exhaustion; 10.31 out of a possible 30 for cynicism; and 22.46 out of a possible 36 for professional efficiency. It is important to note that higher scores of exhaustion and cynicism, and lower scores of professional efficiency are indicative of higher degrees of burnout. For this section, the correlations in this study showed statistically significant differences.
Conclusion: The results revealed that in this sample, the students experienced moderate levels of stress, although when compared to other chiropractic and health science student populations, the participants in this study scored higher on the Perceived Stress Scale. Correlations were made in the study between academic year group and age
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group categories, which revealed in both instances that older students and students in their senior academic years’ experience higher levels of stress than their younger and more junior counterparts.
The degrees of burnout were also measured in this study, which are broken up into the categories of exhaustion, cynicism and professional efficiency. In general, the participants in this study experience higher degrees of burnout in all three categories when compared to other student populations. In a correlation of age and academic year group, the senior and older students tend to experience burnout to a higher degree.
It is important to consider the psychological impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on students within this study.