Background/Aim. To reduce the risk of burnout development of medical
professionals, it is important to identify the contributing factors as early
as in their schooling years. The aim of this research is to propose a model
that will determine the relationship between the coping strategies medical
high school and medical faculty students use, and burnout. Methods. The
cross-sectional study included 164 medical high school students (80.5% female
and 19.5% male students) and 344 students of the University of Belgrade -
Faculty of Medicine (76.9% female and 23.1% male students). The model
exploring the relationship between coping strategies (measured by Brief COPE
scale) and burnout (measured by CBI-S scale) was tested using structural
equation modelling (SEM) analysis. Results. When coping with stress, medical
high school students use Acceptance, Venting, Behavioural Disengagement, and
Planning that increase their burnout, and they do not use any strategies that
would help them reduce burnout. When coping with stress, medical faculty
students use Planning, Acceptance, Humour, Venting, Behavioural
Disengagement, Self-Blame, and Substance Use that increase their burnout and
Positive Reframing which helps them reduce burnout. Conclusion. The results
of this research show an evident lack of use of adaptive coping strategies
with both groups of respondents. Proper education would help them replace
these dysfunctional coping strategies with more constructive ones.
Burnout and coping strategies among future healthcare professionals: A structural equation modelling approach
