Pre-clinical Stress Management Workshops Increase Medical Students’ Knowledge and Self-awareness of Coping with Stress

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effects of a stress management workshop on medical students’ knowledge of stress and potential coping strategies. METHODS: A panel discussion with small group breakouts on stress in clinical medicine, learning challenges, competition with colleagues, handling stressful events, and recognizing burnout symptoms was conducted with medical students entering clerkships. A longitudinal survey design was utilized to measure pre-, post-, and long-term (3-month) changes in knowledge (impact of stress on personal health, learning, and patient care), confidence, perceived skills, and attitude (towards utilizing adaptive coping strategies) among participating students (N = 135). Paired t test and multivariate analyses were performed to assess the differences between survey responses on a 5-point Likert scale. RESULTS: Survey response rates were pre-90.4%, post-77%, and long-term post-71.1%. Compared to pre-workshop, students reported significant improvement in all four domains immediately post-workshop: knowledge (4.4 vs. 4.7, p < 0.05), confidence (3.6 vs. 3.9, p < 0.05), perceived skills (3.3 vs. 3.7, p < 0.05), and attitude (2.6 vs. 2.8, p < 0.05). Compared to immediate post-workshop, students’ scores slightly decreased at 3 months but were overall significantly higher than the pre-workshop scores. CONCLUSIONS: A stress management workshop can improve medical students’ knowledge of the impact of stress as well as the use of adaptive stress coping strategies.