Background and Objective:
Academic burnout is one of the main challenges of the education system. Academic Burnout is defined as a psychological syndrome characterized by gradual emotional fatigue, loss of motivation, and decreased appetite. This syndrome result from of factors such as stress, time constraints, lack of resources required for students to do their assignments. Evidence suggests that academic burnout can hurt students' physical and mental health and well-being and academic performance. Studies show that burnout is prevalent among health students, proving the importance of paying attention to this issue, investigating its causes and adopting preventive strategies to reduce and control it. This study was conducted to investigate academic burnout and explain the role of
psychological capital and its subscales in predicting academic burnout in occupational health students.Materials and Methods: This research is a descriptive-correlation study. The statistical population includes all occupational
health students studying in Ilam, Arak, Birjand, Semnan and Hamadan universities of medical sciences in the ۲۰۱۹ academic year. A total of ۱۶۵ students were selected by multi-stage random sampling. The study protocol with the code IR.SEMUMS.REC.۱۳۹۸.۰۱۷ was approved by the University Ethics Committee. Bresso et al. Academic Burnout Questionnaire and Luthans Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ) were used to collect data. For data analysis, SPSS software version ۲۲ and descriptive statistics and multiple regression tests were used. Results: The study results showed that the mean score of students' academic burnout was ۵۷.۴۴± ۱۰.۸۳, which indicates the moderate level of academic burnout in the studied students. The mean and standard deviation of the
psychological capital score was ۹۷.۰۱ ± ۱۸.۲۳, which reveals the high level of
psychological capital in the studied population. Also the results indicated that ۴.۶% (F = ۵.۷۹۸, R = ۰.۲۳۶, R۲ = ۰.۰۵۵, adjusted R۲ = ۰.۰۴۶, p <۰.۰۰۱), the variance of academic burnout is predictable by the components of psychological capital.Conclusion: The main results of the present study showed the importance of
psychological capital and its components, including self-efficacy, hope, resilience and optimism in explaining students' academic burnout. Hence, it is suggested that policymakers and educational planners, while paying attention to the influential role of psychological capital, by designing suitable educational interventions, help to increase students' motivation and academic desire and, consequently, reduce their academic burnout.