Burnout reduces readiness to change teaching approaches

(HealthDay)—Occupational burnout appears to reduce clinical faculty members' readiness to change teaching approaches, according to a study published online Nov. 13 in the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice.

Zeinab Arvandi, from Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Iran, and colleagues conducted a descriptive analytic study on 143 clinical faculty members. Participants completed a modified stage-of-change questionnaire, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and the General Health Questionnaire. The correlation between willingness to change teaching approaches and measures of stress and burnout was assessed.

The researchers found that faculty members' readiness to change teaching approaches correlated significantly with the subscales of occupational burnout. Low occupational burnout was associated with being in the action stage, while those with high burnout were in the attitude or intention stage. No significant correlation was identified between general health scores and stage of change.

"The findings of this study indicated that it is highly probable that occupational burnout directly reduces the readiness to change," the authors write. "To have successful academic reform in medical schools, it therefore would be beneficial to assess and manage occupational burnout among clinical faculty members."

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