The Impact of Self-Efficacy, Optimism, Resilience and Perceived Stress on Academic Performance and Its Subjective Evaluation: A Cross-Sectional Study

This study aimed to highlight the contribution of self-efficacy, optimism, resilience and perceived stress on academic performance (GPA) at medical undergraduate students. Additionally, we investigated the relationship established between abovementioned variables, gender and position in the academic cycle and the factors associated with satisfaction regarding own academic results. 118 students (25 men, 93 women, mean age 22.863, SD = 1.763) participated in the study. They were administered the General Self-Efficacy Scale (G-SES), the Revised Life Orientation test (LOT-R), the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). t, Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney, chi-square tests, and linear regressions were performed, in order to test the strength of the hypothesized associations. Data analysis demonstrates a significant association between low optimism, low resilience, high perceived stress and poor academic performance. Even though preclinical students displayed greater perceived stress, it negatively correlated to GPA only in clinical students, this indicating a possible accumulation of stress-related effects. No gender differences were met for the studied variables. Students in clinical cycle were significantly less satisfied about their own performance. These results indicate solid associations between psychosocial variables and academic performance, and differences in the subjective evaluation of own performance, suggesting key points to address, when designing interventions against academic stress

The impact of Balint work on alexithymia, perceived stress, perceived social support and burnout among physicians working in palliative care: a longitudinal study

Objectives Physicians working with palliative patients have a substantial risk of emotional exhaustion because of their daily confrontation with suffering and death. Common concerns include alexithymia, high stress, low perceived social support and a greater burnout risk. This longitudinal study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of Balint training in preventing the development of these symptoms in these medical professionals. Material and Methods The design of the study was longitudinal. A group of 69 physicians working with palliative patients from 5 county hospitals in Romania (33 men, 36 women) participated in the study. Out of them, 31 joined and systematically attended a local Balint group whereas the others did not participate in such a group, either during the study or previously. They were given, both at the beginning (2015) and at the end of the study (2017), 4 psychometric instruments assessing alexithymia (Bagby’s Toronto Alexithymia Scale, perceived stress (Cohen and Williamson’s Perceived Stress Scale), social support (Duke-UNC Functional Social Support Questionnaire) and burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory). A split-plot ANOVA analysis was used for evaluating the significance of Balint groups participation, with gender and age considered as auxiliary variables. Results In the study group, Balint training significantly improved the scores of global burnout (F(1, 64) = 25.104, p < 0.0001), 2 of its components (emotional exhaustion (F(1, 64) = 18.390, p < 0.0001) and depersonalization (F(1, 64) = 10.957, p < 0.002), alexithymia (F(1, 64) = 3.461, p < 0.0001) and perceived social support (F(1, 64) = 57.883, p < 0.0001), but not the scores of perceived stress and low personal accomplishment. Gender had an additional contribution in decreasing alexithymia (F(1, 64) = 7.436, p < 0.009) and increasing perceived social support (F(1, 64) = 15.426, p < 0.0001), with higher effects in men. Conclusions This study points to the potential usefulness of Balint training in addressing alexithymia and burnout, and in improving perceived social support among physicians working with palliative patients. As the Balint method is easily understood and does not require special investments, it could represent a cost-effective instrument of addressing job-related psychological risks. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2019;32(1):53–6

Psychological Variables Associated with HPV Vaccination Intent in Romanian Academic Settings

The aim of this study was to evaluate (1) the female medical students’ knowledge about HPV infection; (2) the associations between the HPV vaccination intent and coping strategies, health locus of control (HLOC), and sense of coherence; and (3) the specific differences between preclinical and clinical students in terms of the vaccination intent. Participants included 1243 female medicine students (mean age = 21.526, SD = 2.007), who completed The Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC)—Form A, the Brief COPE Scale, the Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC-13), and two questionnaires measuring the knowledge about the HPV infection and the HPV vaccination intent. Results show a good knowledge about HPV, which progressively increased during the study cycles. Still, the main contributors to vaccination intent are represented by coping strategies and health locus of control. Refusal of vaccination is associated to behavioral disengagement and the use of religion, precontemplation and contemplation to denial, and preparation to planning, positive reframing, and the powerful others component of HLOC. Sense of coherence did not predict vaccination intent. In clinical years, active coping outweighs HLOC in making the decision to get vaccinated. These results could be helpful in designing personalized strategies for addressing vaccine hesitancy in academic communities

Burnout and Its Relationships with Alexithymia, Stress, and Social Support among Romanian Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

Medical school students often experience emotional difficulties when handling the challenges of their formation, occasionally leading to burnout. In this study, we measured the prevalence of burnout and its relationships with perceived stress, perceived social support, and alexithymia in medical students from the largest academic medical community in Romania. A cross-sectional survey was administered to a randomized sample of 299 preclinical medical students at the University of Medicine in Bucharest. Participants completed four standardized questionnaires. In addition to the assessment of burnout prevalence, stepwise backward regression was used to establish which variables had the highest correlation to burnout components. Further, t-tests were run to assess gender-related differences. Overall, burnout prevalence was 15.05%. Perceived stress was found to be the strongest predictor of emotional exhaustion and lack of accomplishment, while the strongest predictors of depersonalization were low perceived social support (in women) and alexithymia (in men). Women appear to be more vulnerable to two of the components of burnout (emotional exhaustion and low personal accomplishment) and associate higher perceived stress and alexithymia. These results suggest that interventions addressing academic burnout could benefit from being gender-specific, with focus on key elements, such as perceived stress and alexithymia

Factors Associated with Burnout in Medical Academia: An Exploratory Analysis of Romanian and Moldavian Physicians

This study aimed to assess the extent of burnout in Romanian and Moldavian academic physicians and to determine the predictive value of emotional intelligence (EI), coping strategies, work motivation (WM), perceived organizational support (POS), and the socio-demographic characteristics of burnout. Two hundred physicians (40% men, 60% women, mean age = 43.02, SD = 9.91) participated in the study. They were administered the Maslach Burnout Inventory&minus;General Survey, Brief COPE Scale, Multidimensional Work Motivation Scale, Schutte&rsquo;s Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test, and Perceived Organizational Support Scale. Mann&minus;Whitney U tests were used to assess the significance of intercountry differences, while hierarchical regressions were performed to investigate the predictive value of the independent variables on burnout. Moldavian participants had significantly lower scores in burnout and amotivation (p &lt; 0.001) and higher scores in EI, POS, and WM (p &lt; 0.001). The main burnout predictors were amotivation (&beta; = 0.388, p &lt; 0.001) and low POS (&beta; = &minus;0.313, p&lt; 0.001) in Moldavian respondents, and WM (intrinsic: &beta; = &minus;0.620, p &lt; 0.001; extrinsic: &beta; = 0.406, p &lt; 0.001) in Romanian participants. Moldavian respondents displayed better adjustment to academic stress. The distribution of burnout predictors suggests better sensitivity of respondents to organizational interventions in Moldova and to individual therapy in Romania. This data could serve to better tailor Public Health interventions addressing burnout in the academic environment