Vocational satisfaction, coping strategies, and perceived stress as factors of ‘burnout’ in clinical dental students.

Having discussed different factors contributing towards “Burnout Syndrome” (BOS) in dentistry students, the aim of this project is to analyze the existing relationship between vocational satisfaction, coping strategies and perceived stress as determining factors of burnout in 4th and 5th year dentistry students. Methods: Prospective cohort study (March-December). The relationship between vocational satisfaction, coping strategies and perceived stress as factors towards BOS in 4th and 5th year dentistry students will be determined. All participants will be required to sign a consent form the project will be evaluated by the Ethics Committee. The sociodemographic variables to be measured are: age, gender and socioeconomic status; the psychological variables are: Burnout Syndrome severity, using Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), coping strategies by Copyng Strategies Inventory (CSI), perceived stress with Perceived Stress Scale Questionnaire (PSS). All versions above have been validated in Spanish, and vocational satisfaction of the Dentistry Degree will be measured using a questionnaire, with 6 questions for 3 parameters: career choice, current feeling and predicted feeling after graduation. The data collection will be carried out in 4 stages: informed consent obtainment; MBI, CSI, PSS scales and vocational satisfaction questionnaire in March. In the second (June), third (September) and fourth (November) stages, the questionnaires will be repeated: MBI, PSS and vocational satisfaction. The findings and analysis will be processed in STATA 10/SE including descriptive statistics, regression models, measures and tests of association