by Tuyen Do Quang, Hanh Hoang Duc, Tam Ngo Thi, Linh Huynh Ngoc, Dat Ngo Minh, Thanh Nguyen Hoang

Abstract

Objective: Burnout among health sciences students has been increasingly recognized as an important psychological and educational challenge associated with students’ mental health, academic engagement, and professional development. This study aimed to examine the psychometric performance and contextual applicability of the Maslach Burnout Inventory Student Survey (MBI-SS) and to identify demographic, academic, behavioral, and psychological factors associated with burnout-related dimensions among Vietnamese health sciences students.
Method: A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted among 765 undergraduate students from Hanoi Medical University and the School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Vietnam National University during the 2022 to 2023 academic years. Burnout was assessed using the 15-item MBI-SS. The Vietnamese version of the MBI-SS underwent forward translation, back-translation, expert review, and pilot testing to evaluate semantic and contextual equivalence prior to data collection. Resilience, occupational self-efficacy, physical activity, and academic characteristics were also evaluated. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, reliability analyses, Spearman correlation analyses, and multivariate Tobit regression analyses were performed.
Results: The MBI-SS demonstrated acceptable overall internal consistency and reasonably adequate factorial validity, with Cronbach’s α = 0.81, Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin measure = 0.887, Comparative Fit Index = 0.903, Tucker–Lewis Index = 0.882, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation = 0.087, and Standardized Root Mean Square Residual = 0.069. Exploratory factor analysis supported a modified three-factor structure consisting of Emotional Exhaustion, Academic Efficacy, and Learning Engagement, explaining 62.6% of the total variance. Subscale reliability coefficients were 0.900 for Emotional Exhaustion, 0.774 for Academic Efficacy, and 0.772 for Learning Engagement. The two-item Learning Engagement factor demonstrated an inter-item correlation of 0.629 and a Spearman–Brown coefficient of 0.772. Lower academic performance and lower resilience were associated with higher Emotional Exhaustion. Higher resilience and occupational self-efficacy were positively associated with Academic Efficacy and Learning Engagement.
Conclusions: The Vietnamese version of the MBI-SS demonstrated acceptable psychometric performance and a reasonably adequate context-specific three-factor structure among health sciences students. Burnout-related dimensions were associated with academic performance, resilience, occupational self-efficacy, physical activity, and training stage, highlighting the multifactorial nature of psychological distress and academic functioning in health sciences education.

Key words: burnout, students, mental health, psychometric properties