Burnout Syndrome: invisible wear and tearin students of the administration and business area in higher education

Abstract

Introduction: To develop the state of the art of the main academic and institutional factors and variables that are associated with the presence of burnout syndrome in undergraduate university students of two higher education institutions in Chile, considering its three dimensions, Emotional Exhaustion – Depersonalization and Reduced Personal Accomplishment, providing essential data to support students’ academic, personal, and professional development, strengthen student-focused academic policies, and inform international discussions on educational quality.
Methods: The study is based on a non-experimental, cross-sectional, exploratory design, with an analytical-synthetic, inductive-deductive, documentary, descriptive and multimethod. A total of 792 students were surveyed remotely, with voluntary, consensual and anonymous participation, in accordance with Law 21,719, using the Maslach Burnout Inventory – Student Survey (MBI-SS) instrument and then statistical tests, Student's t-test, chi-square, with a significance level established at α=0.05, Cramer's V, using the Python programming language.
Results: The findings show that university students present significant levels of signs of burnout in their three dimensions, according to mean, T-Student statistic, and P-Value, where emotional exhaustion was the most affected dimension, followed by depersonalization and reduced personal fulfillment. Statistically significant differences were identified according to current career, income level, and employment status.
Conclusions: The results show the need to implement institutional strategies that promote emotional well-being, strengthen student resilience and prevent academic dropout in highly demanding contexts