engleski

A validation of the Maslach Burnout Inventory Student Survey in three transitional countries

Recent studies suggested that burnout is not limited only to employees in human services, but occurs in a broad range of professional roles including students. Analogous as for employees, burnout among students is characterised by feelings of exhaustion and incompetence because of study demands, and a cynical and detached attitude toward one’s studies. To assess burnout among students, researchers usually use the student version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI-SS) which has previously been shown to capture three factors: exhaustion, cynicism and (in)efficacy in student accomplishments. Our goal in this study was to check if the construct and criterion validity of the MBI-SS replicates in transitional countries whose educational systems and labor markets are significantly different that the one where the instrument was originally developed. We collected large samples of students from Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia, both at the beginning of the semester (N = 391 - 580) and during the exam period (N = 272 - 569). Multigroup confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) showed that, unlike in the original context, scores on MBI-SS were best described by four factors (CFI = 0.91, RMSEA = 0.09 at the beginning of semester and CFI = 0.92, RMSEA = 0.09, during the exam period). In line with the previous research, two factors consisted of items reflecting a feeling of exhaustion and a sense of professional (in)efficacy. However, the original cynicism factor split into two factors. One factor consisted of two items reflecting cynical attitude toward usefulness and significance of one's studies. The other factor consisted of two items reflecting reduced enthusiasm and interest in one's studies. Regarding criterion validity, we showed that across the countries, the professional efficacy subscale scores predicted GPA better than the other subscales (r = .39 – .43 at the beginning of semester and r = .39 - .49 during the exam period, all p < 0.01). At the same time, the exhaustion subscale exceeded the other subscales in predicting psychophysical symptoms (r = .60 – .67 at the beginning of semester and r = .62 - .71 during the exam period, all p < 0.01). In total, in the three transitional countries the exhaustion and professional (in)efficacy factors of the original MBI-SS were replicated. However, the items measuring the cynicism factor from the original instrument were better explained by two factors: the one capturing a cynical attitude toward studies, and the other one reflecting lack of enthusiasm. As for the correlations with the criteria, the sense of professional efficacy was most strongly related to academic success, while the feeling of exhaustion had the strongest correlations with current psychophysical health levels.

burnout ; students ; MBI-SS ; transitional countries

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