Addressing medical student burnout through informal peer-assisted learning: a correlational analysis

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Student Well-being
• Cooperative Learning

Background:

• Academic burnout is a significant concern for medical students.
• Existing research lacks analysis on the impact of Peer-Assisted Learning (PAL) on academic burnout.
• Informal Peer-Assisted Learning (IPAL) is explored as a cooperative learning method to mitigate this issue.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the effectiveness of Informal Peer-Assisted Learning (IPAL) in reducing academic burnout among medical students.
• To investigate the correlation between participation in IPAL and levels of academic burnout.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2022 with 151 medical students at Universidad Central del Caribe, Puerto Rico.
• The School Burnout Inventory (SBI-9) questionnaire was used to measure academic burnout.
• Data analysis explored the correlation between self-reported IPAL involvement and academic burnout scores.

Main Results:

• The validated SBI-9 questionnaire effectively measured academic burnout, comprising exhaustion and cynicism/inadequacy factors, with high reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.829).
• Students participating in IPAL reported significantly lower academic burnout (44.75%) compared to non-participants (54.89%) (p < 0.013).
• Within the IPAL group, lower levels of cynicism/inadequacy (41.98%) were observed compared to exhaustion (52.25%) (p < 0.001).

Conclusions:

• Academic burnout is prevalent among the studied medical students.
• A significant negative correlation exists between IPAL engagement and academic burnout.
• IPAL strategies show potential for mitigating burnout in medical education, warranting further research into causal links.