Cargando…

Embodied health: the effects of a mind–body course for medical students

OBJECTIVE: An effective career in medicine requires empathy and compassion, yet the demands of a medical education increase stress and decrease students’ ability to connect with patients. However, research suggests mind-body practices improve psychological well-being. This study aimed to evaluate th...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Bond, Allison R., Mason, Heather F., Lemaster, Chelsey M., Shaw, Stephanie E., Mullin, Caroline S., Holick, Emily A., Saper, Robert B.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Co-Action Publishing 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3643075/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23639275
http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/meo.v18i0.20699
_version_ 1782268259878305792
author Bond, Allison R.
Mason, Heather F.
Lemaster, Chelsey M.
Shaw, Stephanie E.
Mullin, Caroline S.
Holick, Emily A.
Saper, Robert B.
author_facet Bond, Allison R.
Mason, Heather F.
Lemaster, Chelsey M.
Shaw, Stephanie E.
Mullin, Caroline S.
Holick, Emily A.
Saper, Robert B.
author_sort Bond, Allison R.
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVE: An effective career in medicine requires empathy and compassion, yet the demands of a medical education increase stress and decrease students’ ability to connect with patients. However, research suggests mind-body practices improve psychological well-being. This study aimed to evaluate the psychological effects on medical students of an 11-week elective course, Embodied Health or EH, which combines yoga and meditation with neuroscience didactics. METHODS: The effects on 27 first- and second-year medical students were evaluated via surveys in four areas: empathy, perceived stress, self-regulation, and self-compassion. Scales used were 1. Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy, which measures empathy among health students and professionals and medical students on a scale of 1 (least empathetic) to 7 (most empathetic); 2. Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale, a measure of the perceived uncontrollability of respondents' lives, from 0 (least stressed) to 4 (most stressed); 3. Self-Regulation Questionnaire, which measures the development and maintenance of planned behavior to achieve goals, from 1 (least self-regulated) to 5 (most self-regulated); and 4. Self-Compassion Scale, which measures self-criticism, from 1 (least self-compassionate) to 5 (most self-compassionate). Students also reflected on EH's impact on their well-being in a post-course essay. RESULTS: Self-regulation and self-compassion rose 0.13 (SD 0.20, p = 0.003) and 0.28 (SD 0.61, p = 0.04), respectively. Favorable changes were also seen in empathy and perceived stress, which went up by 0.11 (SD 0.50, p = 0.30) and down by 0.05 (SD 0.62, p = 0.70), respectively; these changes did not reach statistical significance. Students’ essays were found to discuss the following recurrent themes: 1) Reconnection between mind and body; 2) Community in a competitive environment; 3) Increased mindfulness; 4) Confidence in use of mind-body skills with patients; and 5) Stress management. These themes overlapped with the measures EH affected quantitatively. CONCLUSION: A mind-body course for medical students increased self-regulation and self-compassion. Qualitative themes discussed in students’ post-course essays reflected these effects.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-3643075
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2013
publisher Co-Action Publishing
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-36430752013-05-03 Embodied health: the effects of a mind–body course for medical students Bond, Allison R. Mason, Heather F. Lemaster, Chelsey M. Shaw, Stephanie E. Mullin, Caroline S. Holick, Emily A. Saper, Robert B. Med Educ Online Research Article OBJECTIVE: An effective career in medicine requires empathy and compassion, yet the demands of a medical education increase stress and decrease students’ ability to connect with patients. However, research suggests mind-body practices improve psychological well-being. This study aimed to evaluate the psychological effects on medical students of an 11-week elective course, Embodied Health or EH, which combines yoga and meditation with neuroscience didactics. METHODS: The effects on 27 first- and second-year medical students were evaluated via surveys in four areas: empathy, perceived stress, self-regulation, and self-compassion. Scales used were 1. Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy, which measures empathy among health students and professionals and medical students on a scale of 1 (least empathetic) to 7 (most empathetic); 2. Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale, a measure of the perceived uncontrollability of respondents' lives, from 0 (least stressed) to 4 (most stressed); 3. Self-Regulation Questionnaire, which measures the development and maintenance of planned behavior to achieve goals, from 1 (least self-regulated) to 5 (most self-regulated); and 4. Self-Compassion Scale, which measures self-criticism, from 1 (least self-compassionate) to 5 (most self-compassionate). Students also reflected on EH's impact on their well-being in a post-course essay. RESULTS: Self-regulation and self-compassion rose 0.13 (SD 0.20, p = 0.003) and 0.28 (SD 0.61, p = 0.04), respectively. Favorable changes were also seen in empathy and perceived stress, which went up by 0.11 (SD 0.50, p = 0.30) and down by 0.05 (SD 0.62, p = 0.70), respectively; these changes did not reach statistical significance. Students’ essays were found to discuss the following recurrent themes: 1) Reconnection between mind and body; 2) Community in a competitive environment; 3) Increased mindfulness; 4) Confidence in use of mind-body skills with patients; and 5) Stress management. These themes overlapped with the measures EH affected quantitatively. CONCLUSION: A mind-body course for medical students increased self-regulation and self-compassion. Qualitative themes discussed in students’ post-course essays reflected these effects. Co-Action Publishing 2013-04-30 /pmc/articles/PMC3643075/ /pubmed/23639275 http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/meo.v18i0.20699 Text en © 2013 Allison R. Bond et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Bond, Allison R.
Mason, Heather F.
Lemaster, Chelsey M.
Shaw, Stephanie E.
Mullin, Caroline S.
Holick, Emily A.
Saper, Robert B.
Embodied health: the effects of a mind–body course for medical students
title Embodied health: the effects of a mind–body course for medical students
title_full Embodied health: the effects of a mind–body course for medical students
title_fullStr Embodied health: the effects of a mind–body course for medical students
title_full_unstemmed Embodied health: the effects of a mind–body course for medical students
title_short Embodied health: the effects of a mind–body course for medical students
title_sort embodied health: the effects of a mind–body course for medical students
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3643075/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23639275
http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/meo.v18i0.20699
work_keys_str_mv AT bondallisonr embodiedhealththeeffectsofamindbodycourseformedicalstudents
AT masonheatherf embodiedhealththeeffectsofamindbodycourseformedicalstudents
AT lemasterchelseym embodiedhealththeeffectsofamindbodycourseformedicalstudents
AT shawstephaniee embodiedhealththeeffectsofamindbodycourseformedicalstudents
AT mullincarolines embodiedhealththeeffectsofamindbodycourseformedicalstudents
AT holickemilya embodiedhealththeeffectsofamindbodycourseformedicalstudents
AT saperrobertb embodiedhealththeeffectsofamindbodycourseformedicalstudents