Psychological self-care, burnout and quality of life among university students in health-related fields across three regions of Thailand.

Abstract

Public health students face academic and training pressures as well as challenges arising from patient and community expectations, which may adversely affect their quality of life (QoL) and contribute to burnout and student dropout. This study aimed to examine psychological self-care, burnout and QoL as well as the factors associated with these outcomes among university students. A cross-sectional study conducted between January and March 2024. Universities in northern, southern and northeastern Thailand. A total of 1426 health-related students aged 18-25 years were recruited using non-probability sampling. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire, which included the Thai version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF instrument (WHOQOL-BREF-THAI), the Maslach Burnout Inventory to assess emotional exhaustion (EE) and cynicism (CY) and a psychological self-care assessment. Most participants (79.9%) reported a moderate level of QoL. The prevalence of burnout was 18.9%. Pearson's correlation analysis indicated statistically significant relationships between psychological self-care, EE, CY and QoL (all p values<0.001). Multilevel linear regression further highlighted that psychological self-care was significantly associated with sex, academic performance, presence of chronic conditions, smoking and sleep duration. In terms of burnout, EE was significantly linked to chronic conditions, alcohol consumption and cannabis use. CY showed significant associations with academic performance, chronic conditions, alcohol consumption and cannabis use. Additionally, QoL was significantly associated with sex, academic performance, income adequacy, chronic conditions, smoking and cannabis use. Good mental healthcare behaviours and lower levels of burnout are associated with higher QoL among public health students. Universities and programme administrators should implement mental health support strategies, including routine screening, counselling services and self-care promotion, to reduce burnout and improve students' overall well-being.