title: The effect of personality traits and psychosocial training on burnout syndrome among healthcare students.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aims of this paper were to explore the influence of personality factors on student burnout syndrome and to explore the effect of psychosocial training on burnout and personality predictors among university students in health care professions.
  
  
  METHODS
  A quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test design was used to evaluate the effect of psychosocial training. A sample of 111 university students were divided into experimental and control groups (average age 20.7 years, SD=2.8 years; 86.1% females). The School Burnout Inventory (SBI), Sense of Coherence (SOC) questionnaire, and Rosenberg's Self-esteem scale were employed. Linear regression and analysis of variance were applied for statistical analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results show that socio-psychological training had a positive impact on the level of burnout and on personality factors that are related to burnout. After completing the training, the level of burnout in the experimental group significantly decreased (95% confidence interval: 0.93, 9.25), and no significant change was observed in the control group. Furthermore, respondents' sense of coherence increased in the experimental group (95% confidence interval: -9.11, 2.64), but there were no significant changes in respondents' self-esteem levels in either group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Psychosocial training positively influenced burnout among students in health care professions. Because the coping strategies that were used during the study are similar to effective work coping strategies, psychosocial training can be considered to be an effective tool to prevent burnout in the helping professions.
authors.affiliation: Comenius University, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine, Department of Non-medical Study Programmes, Martin, Slovakia. Electronic address: skodova@jfmed.uniba.sk.
authors.forename: Zuzana
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Skodova
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lajciakova
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D012307:Risk Factors; D012649:Self Concept; D013336:Students, Health Occupations / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Burnout syndrome; Professional development; Psychosocial training; Self-esteem; Sense of coherence; Students in health care professions