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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...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Co-Action Publishing
2013
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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 |
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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 |
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