Pattern of Physical Therapist Studentsʼ Burnout Within an Academic Semester

This study was presented at the 12th International Congress of the World Confederation for Physical Therapy, Washington, DC, June 25-30, 1995. Although the incidence of physical therapists' burnout is well-recognized in the literature, there are no data on physical therapist students' levels and sources of stress during their professional education. The purpose of this prospective study was to monitor physical therapist students' emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP), and personal achievement (PA) traits at different times during an academic semester. Twenty-one junior physical therapist students (mean age [±SD]=24.3±1.6years) completed the student version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) at the beginning of the semester, at mid-semester, and at the end of the semester. The respondents rated each of the 22-items on the MBI on a seven-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (never) to 6 (every day). Subsequently, the EE, DP, and PA scores were computed for each subject. The students' EE scores increased by 41% at midsemester and by 47% at the end of the semester, their DP scores increased by 20% at midsemester and by 27% at the end of the semester, and their PA scores declined by 9% at midsemester and by 5% at the end of the semester. For the three time frames, the mean (±SD) EE, DP, and PA scores were 30±11.8, 8.7±7.9, and 31.4±7.5, respectively. The EE score at the end of the semester was significantly (P<.05) higher than at the beginning of the semester or at midsemester. On the contrary, the DP and PA scores at the three time frames were not significantly (P>.05) different. The EE and DP scores for the students were higher than the norms reported for most human service professionals. Clearly, the findings suggest the need for reorganization of the educational milieu to address the stressors responsible for the high emotional exhaustion scores found in this cohort of physical therapist students.