THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING ON BURNOUT AND EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE IN UNDERGRADUATE PHYSIOTHERAPY STUDENTS: A QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

Background: The issue of burnout among health-care students has been increasing, especially among undergraduate physiotherapy students due to constant academic and emotional pressure. It has been acknowledged that Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is highly effective in promoting self-awareness, self- regulation, empathy, perseverance, and social competence. Nevertheless, SEL interventions remain largely unexplored within higher educational settings. Objective: The purpose of the research is to determine whether the implementation of Social Emotional Learning intervention would decrease levels of burnout and increase social-emotional competencies among undergraduate physiotherapy students. Methodology: For this purpose, a quasi-experimental design without a control group and with pre- and post- test assessment was used on 65 undergraduate physiotherapy students recruited via convenience sampling. Participants completed the SEL intervention consisting of four sessions aimed at self-awareness, stress management, empathy, and relationship building using lectures, reflection, role-play, and peer discussion techniques. The levels of burnout were measured with the use of the Maslach Burnout Inventory–Student Survey (MBI-SS) questionnaire while levels of social-emotional competencies were quantified by the Social Emotional Learning Scale (SELS). The paired t-test was used for data analysis. Results and Conclusion: The intervention significantly reduced burnout and improved SEL skills, providing evidence that can be used to incorporate SEL programs in the training of physiotherapy practitioners to foster their psychological well-being. Keywords: Burnout, social emotional learning [SEL], healthcare education, physiotherapy, emotional intelligence.