Creating Structured Opportunities for Social Engagement to Promote Well-Being and Avoid Burnout in Medical Students and Residents

Increasing data suggest that for medical school students the stress of academic and psychologicaldemands can impair social emotions that are a core aspect of compassion and ultimately physiciancompetence. Few interventions have proven successful for enhancing physician compassion inways that persist in the face of suffering and that enable sustained caretaker well-being. To addressthis issue, the current study was designed to (1) investigate the feasibility of cognitively-basedcompassion training (CBCT) for second-year medical students, and (2) test whether CBCT decreasesdepression, enhances compassion, and improves daily functioning in medical students. Comparedto the wait-list group, students randomized to CBCT reported increased compassion, and decreasedloneliness and depression. Changes in compassion were most robust in individuals reporting highlevels of depression at baseline, suggesting that CBCT may benefit those most in need by breakingthe link between personal suffering and a concomitant drop in compassion

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Medical education challenges and innovations during COVID-19 pandemic

Postgraduate Medical Journal ◽

10.1136/postgradmedj-2021-140032 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. postgradmedj-2021-140032

Author(s):

Michail Papapanou ◽

Eleni Routsi ◽

Konstantinos Tsamakis ◽

Lampros Fotis ◽

Georgios Marinos ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Education ◽

Medical Students ◽

Student Assessment ◽

Well Being ◽

Educational Institutions ◽

Healthcare Staff ◽

Academic Trajectories ◽

Traditional Structure ◽

Physical Presence ◽

The Impact

COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly disrupted the well-established, traditional structure of medical education. Τhe new limitations of physical presence have accelerated the development of an online learning environment, comprising both of asynchronous and synchronous distance education, and the introduction of novel ways of student assessment. At the same time, this prolonged crisis had serious implications on the lives of medical students including their psychological well-being and the impact on their academic trajectories. The new reality has, on many occasions, triggered the ‘acting up’ of medical students as frontline healthcare staff, which has been perceived by many of them as a positive learning and contributing experience, and has led to a variety of responses from the educational institutions. All things considered, the urgency for rapid and novel adaptations to the new circumstances has functioned as a springboard for remarkable innovations in medical education,including the promotion of a more “evidence-based” approach.

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Have Lifestyle Habits and Psychological Well-Being Changed among Adolescents and Medical Students Due to COVID-19 Lockdown in Croatia?

Nutrients ◽

10.3390/nu13010097 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 97

Author(s):

Ružica Dragun ◽

Nikolina Nika Veček ◽

Mario Marendić ◽

Ajka Pribisalić ◽

Gabrijela Đivić ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Perceived Stress ◽

Dietary Habits ◽

Healthy Lifestyle ◽

Well Being ◽

Lifestyle Medicine ◽

Psychological Well Being ◽

Mobile Phone Use ◽

Beneficial Effects

Objective: To investigate dietary habits, sleep and psychological well-being of adolescents and medical students during COVID-19 lockdown in Split, Croatia. Methods: We surveyed 1326 students during 2018 and 2019, and compared their responses with 531 students enrolled in May 2020. Perceived stress, quality of life (QoL), happiness, anxiety, and optimism were assessed as proxies of psychological well-being, using general linear modelling. Results: We found no substantial differences in dietary pattern between pre-lockdown and lockdown periods, including the overall Mediterranean diet (MD) adherence. However, the MD pattern changed, showing increased adherence to the MD pyramid for fruit, legumes, fish, and sweets, while cereals, nuts, and dairy intake decreased during COVID-19 lockdown. A third of students reported weight loss during lockdown, 19% reported weight gain, while physical activity remained rather stable. The most prominent change was feeling refreshed after a night’s sleep, reported by 31.5% of students during lockdown vs. 8.5% before; median length of sleep duration increased by 1.5 h. Lockdown significantly affected QoL, happiness, optimism (all p < 0.001), and perceived stress in students (p = 0.005). MD adherence was positively correlated with QoL and study time, and negatively with TV and mobile phone use in pre-lockdown period (all p < 0.001). Interestingly, higher MD adherence was correlated with less perceived hardship and greater happiness and QoL during lockdown. Conclusion: These insights provide valuable information for tailored interventions aimed at maintaining healthy lifestyle in young population. Given the numerous beneficial effects associated with MD adherence, modification of lifestyle through application of lifestyle medicine deserves a priority approach.

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Fireside Chats: A Novel Wellness Initiative for Medical Students in the COVID-19 Era

The American Surgeon ◽

10.1177/00031348211003060 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 000313482110030

Author(s):

Sean J Lee ◽

Abdul Kader Natour ◽

Sunil K Geevarghese

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Medical Students ◽

Learning Communities ◽

Small Group ◽

Survey Data ◽

Social Engagement ◽

Present Survey ◽

Group Activities ◽

Large Group ◽

Depression Era

To supplement preexisting wellness programming for the surgery clerkship, a faculty surgeon at Vanderbilt initiated Fireside Chats (FC) in 2015. Inspired by Franklin Roosevelt’s Depression-era radio broadcasts, FC features small group sizes, off-campus excursions, and a reimagining of the mentor–mentee relationship that eschews hierarchy in favor of deep, mutualistic connections in both personal and professional domains. Here we describe the rationale and implementation of FC and present survey data that demonstrate the warm reception of FC and its efficacy in stewarding the mental health of medical students. Moreover, unlike large group activities such as “learning communities,” FC continues to meet in-person during COVID-19 and preserves social engagement opportunities that may alleviate pandemic-induced isolation and distress.

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The Lifestyle of Saudi Medical Students

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18157869 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (15) ◽

pp. 7869

Author(s):

Khalid A. Bin Abdulrahman ◽

Ahmad M. Khalaf ◽

Fahad B. Bin Abbas ◽

Omran T. Alanezi

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Social Media ◽

Saudi Arabia ◽

Medical Students ◽

Fast Food ◽

Social Life ◽

Well Being ◽

Male Students ◽

Drinking Patterns ◽

Cross Sectional

This study was conducted to investigate medical students’ lifestyle habits, including sleep quality, eating and drinking patterns, physical activity, and social status. Method: This research project is part two of a multi-institutional cross-sectional observational study conducted among medical students from six medical colleges in Saudi Arabia between September and December 2019. Results: 675 medical students were enrolled electively into the lifestyle study. About half of this number were male students and the majority were aged 18–24 years. Most students (87.6%) slept between 4–8 h a day and over 44% were dissatisfied with their sleep. Only 28.1% had three meals a day; about 40% of them usually or always skipped breakfast. A total of 44% usually or always ate fast food and 44.7% drank 2 L of water per day. Moreover, male students were significantly consuming more fast food than females, p < 0.001. The majority (63.3%) revealed they usually or always drink black coffee daily. Females were significantly more inclined to regular coffee consumption than males, p < 0.001. Only 4.3% exercised for 30 min or more daily. The majority (65%) of the students were introverted; they had few close friends. Yet, 81% were somewhat satisfied or satisfied with their social life. Male students were significantly more satisfied with their social life than females, p = 0.001. Only 4.6% smoked cigarettes daily whereas 7.1% smoked e-cigarettes daily. In contrast, only 0.3% used shisha (hookah) daily. Male medical students were substantially more inclined to e-cigarette use than females (p < 0.001). The top five leisure activities of a medical student were surfing social media (75.9%), watching movies (61.3%), hanging out with friends (58.1%), spending time with their family (55.4%), and browsing the Internet (53.6%). Female medical students were significantly more inclined to surf social media than male medical students, p = 0.022; also, watching movies was preferred for females compared to males, p = 0.006. Conclusion: This study revealed that the majority of these medical students in Saudi Arabia exhibited healthy lifestyles to some extent, and these health-promoting behaviors differed based on sex, especially concerning physical activity and eating patterns. The findings of this study provide relevant information for future actions that will be geared towards effectively decreasing the occurrence of chronic illnesses and improving future doctors’ well-being.

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Social Volunteering in Aging Adults Increases Regions of the Amygdala and Correlates With Enhanced Generativity

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.2881 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. 795-795

Author(s):

Michelle Carlson

Keyword(s):

Social Engagement ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Well Being ◽

Health Study ◽

Brain Health ◽

Volunteer Program ◽

Intention To Treat ◽

Intervention Impact ◽

Aging Adults ◽

The Brain

Abstract The Brain Health Study (BHS) of the Baltimore Experience Corps Trial (BECT) examined whether a randomized, controlled trial of an intergenerational social volunteer program, entitled Experience Corps, increased subregions of the amygdala related to socioemotional memory and risk for Alzheimer’s disease in aging adults. We further assessed functional correlates of these intervention-related changes and changes in aging adults’ developmental need to be generative, or, to give back to the well-being of others. The BHS simultaneously randomized 112 men and women (59 intervention; 53 control) within BECT to evaluate intervention impact on biomarkers of brain health at baseline and annual follow-ups during the two-year trial. Intention-to-treat analyses revealed program-specific increases in the shape of the centromedial and basomedial regions of the left amygdala (p’s≤0.05 adjusted), which were correlated with increases in generativity (p’s =0.06). Meaningful social engagement buffered amygdalar declines important to preservation of emotionally salient memory and risk for dementia. Part of a symposium sponsored by Brain Interest Group.

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Development of a Positive Psychology Program (LAVENDER) for Preserving Medical Student Well-being: A Single-Arm Pilot Study

Global Advances in Health and Medicine ◽

10.1177/2164956120988481 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 ◽

pp. 216495612098848

Author(s):

Elaine O Cheung ◽

Ian Kwok ◽

Allison B Ludwig ◽

William Burton ◽

Xinzi Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Student ◽

Medical Students ◽

Positive Psychology ◽

Positive Emotion ◽

Albert Einstein College ◽

Albert Einstein ◽

Well Being ◽

Preliminary Evidence ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Psychology Program

Background Mental health tends to worsen over the course of medical school, with steep declines in well-being in students’ clerkship year (M3). Positive emotion promotes adaptive coping to stress and may help preserve medical student well-being. Objective This study describes the development of LAVENDER (Leveraging Affect and Valuing Empathy for Nurturing Doctors’ Emotional Resilience), a program aimed at increasing positive emotion to preserve well-being in medical students. Methods We conducted a single-arm pilot of LAVENDER, a positive psychology intervention developed for medical students delivered in an interactive classroom format to a cohort of 157 third-year medical students at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Our primary outcome was the acceptability of LAVENDER. We also examined preliminary efficacy using measures of emotion, stress and burnout collected at each intervention session. Results LAVENDER showed good acceptability: 76% of participants agreed that the LAVENDER skills were useful and 72% agreed that they would recommend the LAVENDER program to others. Qualitative feedback suggested that medical students enjoyed the program and found the skills to be useful for coping with stress, but also reported the following barriers to engagement: lack of time to practice the skills, resistance to the mandatory nature of the wellness sessions, and difficulty integrating the skills in daily life. We did not find support for the preliminary efficacy of LAVENDER for improving medical student well-being in students’ clerkship year. Participants showed decreases in positive emotion and increases in symptoms of burnout over the intervention period ( ps < .01). Conclusion The current paper describes the development and a single-arm pilot test of LAVENDER, a positive psychology program tailored for medical students. Although we found preliminary evidence for the acceptability of LAVENDER, we did not find support for the preliminary efficacy. Lessons learned and next steps for the program are discussed.

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Why should medical students (not) be recruited to care for patients with COVID-19?

BMC Medical Education ◽

10.1186/s12909-020-02261-8 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Ivan Bank ◽

Marjo Wijnen-Meijer

Keyword(s):

Young Adults ◽

Risk Factor ◽

Medical Students ◽

Mental Disorders ◽

Medical Care ◽

Well Being ◽

Direct Care ◽

Hygiene Measures ◽

Development Of Anxiety ◽

Mental Well Being

Abstract Worldwide it is being discussed whether medical students might be of help during the present COVID-19 epidemic. Although this question is probably a legitimate one, one should however discuss this thoroughly before deciding whether medical students are to be included in this kind of medical care on a larger scale. Various arguments should be weighted, and potential tasks should be chosen carefully. This period could however be also an opportunity for medical students to learn things they would probably never learn about. Nevertheless, medical students have a deficit concerning knowledge about epidemics, and they are also not really well skilled in many hygiene measures. Furthermore, some of the known medical students’ behaviour could be a risk factor for further spread of the virus as well. Then, young adults are at risk of getting infected themselves. Last but not least, medical students in general are under a great deal of pressure from their studies which could lead to the development of anxiety and other mental disorders. One could only speculate on the effects of this epidemic on their further mental well-being. Therefore, medical students participating in direct care of patients with COVID-19 should first be trained well, and then properly supervised at all times. Only then it might be a really useful and exceptional experience, for healthcare, medical schools as well as for society.

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Development and preliminary psychometric properties of a well-being index for medical students

BMC Medical Education ◽

10.1186/1472-6920-10-8 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

Liselotte N Dyrbye ◽

Daniel W Szydlo ◽

Steven M Downing ◽

Jeff A Sloan ◽

Tait D Shanafelt

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Psychometric Properties ◽

Well Being

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Post-traumatic stress disorder following COVID-19 pandemic among medical students in Riyadh: a cross-sectional study

Middle East Current Psychiatry ◽

10.1186/s43045-021-00127-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 28 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Zainab Ifthikar ◽

Saima Sajjad Fakih ◽

Saumy Johnson ◽

Johnson Alex

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ◽

Traumatic Stress ◽

Stress Disorder ◽

Well Being ◽

Emotional Impact ◽

Post Traumatic Stress ◽

Psychological Well Being ◽

Post Traumatic ◽

The Impact

Abstract Background In recent times, COVID-19 has been recognized as a public health emergency and thus far, most papers published on it are focused only on the clinical characteristics of infected patients. This pandemic has also made phenomenal emotional impact among the young and the old. We aimed to find out the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological well-being of medical students in a University at Riyadh. Results There were 309 participants in the study. Out of them 44% did not have PTSD, 29% had score more than 37 which might contribute to immune suppression, in 18.4% PTSD was a clinical concern and 8.6% had probable PTSD. Female participants were the majority in the group and they also had higher chance of having consequences than the male counterparts (P < 0.001). Avoidance score between male and female gender was significantly different. Conclusion COVID-19 pandemic has not just affected the physiological functioning of the affected individuals but also has had a probable post-traumatic stress disorder among young college students. Screening for psychological well-being and the treatment for PTSD is imperative in college, school and general population.

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