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D. Biggs1, J. McKay2, L. Kempenaar1, S. Shanmugam1
1Glasgow Caledonian University, Department of Physiotherapy & Paramedicine, Glasgow, United Kingdom, 2Glasgow Caledonian University, School of Life and Health Science, Glasgow, United Kingdom
Background: Academic burnout within the student population is associated with several maladaptive outcomes such as an increase in anxiety and decrease in self-esteem, academic motivation and achievement (Schauffeli et al., 2002 Walburg, 2014). Maslach and Jackson’s (1984) Burnout model contains dimensions comprised of 1. Emotional and Psychophysical Exhaustion, 2. Depersonalisation and 3. Reduced Sense of Accomplishment.
Hewitt and Flett’s Multidimensional Perfectionism model (HF-MPS; 1991) conceptualisation of perfectionism includes three dimensions, 1. Self-oriented Perfectionism (SOP), 2. Socially Prescribed Perfectionism (SPP) and Other-oriented Perfectionism, two of which were of interest in this study, SOP and SPP. Chang et al. (2015) was one of the first to investigate the academic burnout-perfectionism relationship. Their sample included Korean undergraduate students and a significant positive relationship between SPP and academic burnout was reported (r=.20). Yet missed the opportunity to further extend knowledge in this area by disclosing subjects studied by the students. Notwithstanding, Chang et al.’s (2015) results show an association between burnout and perfectionism and thus suggesting higher perfectionistic tendencies are associated with greater levels of burnout. This may be problematic within an education domain because if a student shows high perfectionistic tendencies, burnout may also be prevalent during the academic year with these students.
Hewitt and Flett’s Multidimensional Perfectionism model (HF-MPS; 1991) conceptualisation of perfectionism includes three dimensions, 1. Self-oriented Perfectionism (SOP), 2. Socially Prescribed Perfectionism (SPP) and Other-oriented Perfectionism, two of which were of interest in this study, SOP and SPP. Chang et al. (2015) was one of the first to investigate the academic burnout-perfectionism relationship. Their sample included Korean undergraduate students and a significant positive relationship between SPP and academic burnout was reported (r=.20). Yet missed the opportunity to further extend knowledge in this area by disclosing subjects studied by the students. Notwithstanding, Chang et al.’s (2015) results show an association between burnout and perfectionism and thus suggesting higher perfectionistic tendencies are associated with greater levels of burnout. This may be problematic within an education domain because if a student shows high perfectionistic tendencies, burnout may also be prevalent during the academic year with these students.
Purpose: The aims of the study were to examine the academic burnout-perfectionism relationships, the prevalence rate and mean scores of these variables in United Kingdom attending university physiotherapy students.
Methods: Participants were 232 adult UK university attending physiotherapy students (181 females, M age = 25.93 years, SD = 7.15 years). Academic Burnout was measured using The Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey for Students (MBI-SS; Schauffeli et al., 2002) that includes the three abovementioned subscales as aligned to an academic environment. Multidimensional Perfectionism was measured with the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (HF-MPS; Hewitt & Flett, 1991) and measures the abovementioned perfectionism dimensions. Data analysis utilised mean scores, percentile ranking, Pearson’s Correlations and Linear Regression.
Results: On average, participants reported moderate to high levels of academic burnout, high levels of SOP and moderate levels of SPP. Bivariate correlations revealed significant moderate positive relationships between SOP and SPP. Significant small-to-moderate positive relationships were evident between Academic Burnout and SPP and SPP with all three subscales of academic burnout. Linear regression revealed that SPP significantly predicted academic burnout (β = .358, p = < .001).
Conclusions: This research provides initial evidence of an academic burnout-SPP relationship in physiotherapy students and is the first study to provide a prevalence rate record of academic burnout in a student physiotherapy sample. This physiotherapy student sample demonstrated that 50% show moderate to high prevalence of academic burnout. SPP scores were moderate and similar to current literature whilst SOP scores exceeded current literature scores.
Implications: The findings suggest that physiotherapy students, university students and academic staff could consider their provision of support of perfectionism. Teaching strategies that support a holistic learning approach from the self may be beneficial for socially prescribed perfectionists that may exhibit higher levels of academic burnout.
Funding acknowledgements: No funding was awarded
Keywords:
Perfectionism
Burnout
Students
Perfectionism
Burnout
Students
Topics:
Education
Education: methods of teaching & learning
Professional practice: other
Education
Education: methods of teaching & learning
Professional practice: other
Did this work require ethics approval? Yes
Institution: Glasgow Caledonian University
Committee: PSWAHS Research Ethics Committee
Ethics number: HLS/PSWAHS/21/035
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
