Educational Burnout and Psychopathology Among School and University Students: A Systematic Review Protocol

Educational burnout is increasingly recognized as an important problem among school and university students and has been associated with a range of mental health difficulties. However, existing reviews have largely focused on selected outcomes, particularly depression and anxiety, or on specific student populations, such as medical students, leaving the broader relationship between educational burnout and psychopathology insufficiently synthesized. This protocol outlines a systematic review and meta-analysis examining associations between educational burnout and psychopathology among school and university students, with psychopathology defined in relation to ICD-10 and ICD-11 diagnostic categories and encompassing clinically diagnosed or probable disorders and dimensional psychopathological symptoms. Quantitative studies using validated measures of educational burnout will be identified through searches of Scopus, MEDLINE, ERIC, APA PsycArticles, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, and EBSCO Open Dissertations. Risk of bias will be assessed using the revised JBI critical appraisal tool for cross-sectional studies. Where sufficiently comparable evidence is available, associations will be synthesized using random-effects meta-analysis, with moderator analyses conducted where data permit; otherwise, findings will be synthesized narratively. School and university students will be analyzed separately to account for differences in developmental and educational contexts. By synthesizing evidence across a broad spectrum of psychopathology and different educational contexts, the review aims to clarify the associations between educational burnout and psychopathology and inform future research, measurement practices, and prevention strategies.