Perceived general health and its association with academic burnout syndrome and suicide ideation in Colombian university students

Abstract

Objective: To describe the prevalence of perceived general health and its association to academic burnout syndrome and suicide ideation in university students of a public institution in the city of Santa Marta. Method: A cross-sectional observational study with analytical component was conducted in a sample of 807 students from a public university, who answered the general health scale (GHQ), the academic burnout inventory (MBI-SS) and the suicide ideation scale (CES-D-IS). Results: They showed 60 % of the participants were women between the ages of 18 and 47,28 % reported an impairment in their perceived general health. Suicidal ideation (OR = 3,16; IC 95 % 1,82-5,49), exhaustion (OR = 2,22; IC 95 % 1,51-3,25), cynicism (OR = 1,61; IC 95 % 1,14-2,28), and academic inefficacy (OR = 1,60; IC 95 % 1,12-2,28) were associated with perceived general malaise. Conclusions: Suicidal ideation, and burnout dimensions (exhaustion, cynicism and academic ineffi-ciency) are risk factors for perceived general health in university students. More research is needed on the role of contextual variables in the general health of university students.