Perceived Stress, Burnout, and Training-Related Strain among Medical Interns in Chhattisgarh: A Statewide Analytical Study

Abstract

Medical internship involves high service demands, limited autonomy, and substantial academic pressure, placing interns at risk of perceived stress and burnout. State-level evidence from central India remains limited. To assess perceived stress and burnout among medical interns in Chhattisgarh and examine their associations with workload, institutional, training-related, and coping factors. A statewide analytical cross-sectional study included 450 medical interns from government and private medical colleges. Perceived stress was assessed using the PSS-10 and burnout using the MBI-HSS. Workload, institutional environment, training-related factors, and coping strategies were assessed using a structured questionnaire. Multivariable logistic regression identified factors associated with high burnout. More than 90% of interns experienced moderate-to-high perceived stress, with depersonalization the most prevalent burnout domain. Higher burnout was observed among interns reporting prolonged working hours, frequent night duties, absence of a regular weekly off, inadequate rest facilities, low psychological safety, inadequate learning, insufficient postgraduate examination-preparation time, and predominantly maladaptive coping. In multivariable analysis, prolonged working hours, frequent night duties, low psychological safety, insufficient examination-preparation time, and predominantly maladaptive coping remained associated with high burnout after adjustment for age, gender, and institution type. Medical interns experience substantial stress and burnout. Findings highlight the need for workload organization, institutional support, psychological safety, and protected training time to improve the internship training environment and intern wellbeing.