School of Medicine, St. George's University, St. George, Grenada.
Emergency Medicine, Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA.
Med Teach. 2021 Aug;43(8):945-955. doi: 10.1080/0142159X.2021.1902966. Epub 2021 Apr 8.
Medical students are at increased risk of poor mental health and need to regularly engage in preventive programs to maintain well-being. However, many do not and it remains an open question whether these programs should be mandatory. We implemented a RCT to examine the effectiveness of assigning medical students to a wellness intervention on adherence to engagement in the assigned intervention and on psychological and academic outcomes.
Medical students participated in a 12-week randomized controlled intervention involving one-hour wellness sessions of either (1) yoga; (2) mindfulness; or (3) walking, held twice-weekly. Students completed standardized psychological assessments at baseline and following the intervention.
Students randomized to the wellness intervention group engaged in more minutes of assigned activities than students randomized to the control. There was a significant difference in the change from pre- to post- intervention on measures of state anxiety and perceived stress, with better outcomes for the intervention group.
The assignment of twice-weekly wellness intervention sessions protects medical students from state anxiety and perceived stress with no negative impact on academic performance. Students adhered to the sessions and reported enjoying the sessions once trying them. Actual engagement is more important than wellness activity type.
医学生面临更高的心理健康风险，需要定期参与预防计划以保持健康。然而，许多医学生并未参与此类计划，目前仍存在争议，即这些计划是否应该强制推行。我们实施了一项随机对照试验，以检验为医学生分配健康干预措施对其参与指定干预措施的依从性以及心理和学业结果的影响。
医学生参与了一项为期 12 周的随机对照干预，包括每周两次的一小时健康课程，课程内容为（1）瑜伽；（2）正念；或（3）散步。学生在基线和干预后完成标准化心理评估。
与对照组相比，被随机分配到健康干预组的学生参与了更多指定活动的分钟数。在状态焦虑和感知压力方面，从干预前到干预后的变化存在显著差异，干预组的结果更好。
每周两次的健康干预课程的分配可保护医学生免受状态焦虑和感知压力的影响，且对学业成绩没有负面影响。学生们坚持参加课程，并表示一旦尝试就会享受这些课程。实际参与比健康活动类型更重要。
