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ABSTRACT Dentistry is a profession demanding physical and mental efforts as well as people contact, which can result in burnout. The level of burnout among 307 clinical dental students in 2 Jordanian universities was evaluated using the Maslach Burnout Inventory survey. Scores for the inventory's 3 subscales were calculated and the mean values for the students' groups were computed separately. Dental students in both universities suffered high levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. The dental students at the University of Jordan demonstrated a significantly higher level of emotional exhaustion than their counterparts at the Jordan University of Science and Technology.
L'épuisement professionnel chez les étudiants en dentisterie des universités jordaniennes
RÉSUMÉ La dentisterie est une profession qui demande des efforts physiques et mentaux et un contact avec le public qui peuvent conduire à l'épuisement professionnel. Le niveau d'épuisement de 307 étudiants en dentisterie de deux universités jordaniennes a été évalué à l'aide de l'inventaire d'épuisement professionnel de Maslach. Les scores obtenus pour les trois sous-échelles de l'inventaire ont été calculés et les valeurs moyennes pour les groupes d'étudiants ont été déterminées séparément. Les étudiants en dentisterie des deux universités présentaient des niveaux élevés d'épuisement émotionnel et de dépersonnalisation. Les étudiants de l'université de Jordanie ont montré un niveau d'épuisement émotionnel nettement supérieur à celui de des étudiants de l'université jordanienne des sciences et de la technologie.
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Introduction
Dentistry is a profession demanding physical and mental effort as well as personal contact, which can result in a condition known as "burnout". Burnout is defined as "a syndrome of emotional exhaustion and cynicism that occurs frequently among individuals who do 'people-work' of some kind" [1]. It is characterized by 3 key aspects: emotional exhaustion (mental fatigue), depersonalization (psychological distancing from others) and reduced personal accomplishment [2,3].
The rate of burnout among dentists and its effect on their lives have been previously investigated by many researchers [4-12]. Burnout can lead to early retirement and indifference to treatment outcomes and patients' conditions or needs [4]. The affected dentist also tends to avoid contact with people, including colleagues, patients, friends or even family. Burnout therefore obviously has serious detrimental effects on the profession as well as on society [3,6].
Many researchers have studied...