Relationship of Burnout and Engagement to Pharmacy Students’ Perception of Their Academic Ability

Objective. To assess burnout and engagement in first- and second-year Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) students and to investigate their relationships to students’ perception of their academic ability. Methods. An online survey that included three validated scales was administered in May 2017 to first- and second-year pharmacy students enrolled in didactic coursework at Touro University California College of Pharmacy. The Maslach Burnout Inventory was used to assess burnout and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale was used to measure student engagement. To characterize academic ability, Academic Self-Perception, a subscale of the School Attitude Assessment Survey-Revised, was used. Regression analysis was performed using statistical software. Results. One hundred sixty-two students (81.4% response rate) completed the survey. Emotional exhaustion and professional inefficacy were negatively correlated with students’ academic self-perception. Dedication was positively correlated with academic self-perception. Conclusion. In pharmacy students completing the didactic portion of the PharmD curriculum, various engagement and burnout parameters correlated with academic self-perception.