Outcomes of a Small Process Group on Medical Students' Grit, Resilience, and Stress

NCT06003920 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 1902099
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 16
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The incidence of burnout and mental ill-health begins very early in medical school and continues to be high throughout training. Medical students are under high amounts of stress, which often becomes chronic, and can lead to both physical and psychological issues as a student, resident, and physician. Chronic stress and burnout in medical students are not a new phenomenon, but recent research has highlighted the worsening mental health of medical students, with as high as three-quarters of students reporting mental ill-health. It is vital that ways are found to reduce burnout and assist in improving the mental health of medical students. This quasi-experimental study aimed to assess the effect of a small process group vs. a control group of preclinical medical students on their stress, resilience, and grit.

Conditions

Stress

Keywords

medical students; stress; grit; resilience

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Perceived Stress Scale-14

  Stress measured on a 0-56 scale; higher number means more stress. Each of the 14 questions is measured on a 0-4 scale of 0 = Never, 1 = Almost Never, 2 = Sometimes, 3 = Fairly Often, 4 = Very Often.

  34 weeks

• Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale-25

  Resilience is measured on this 25-item scale, with higher numbers meaning more resilience. The score can range between 0 and 100. Each item has anchors from 0-4.

  34 weeks

• The Grit Scale

  The original 12-item grit scale was used to measure grit; each items is rated 1-5, then scores are summed and divided by 12, so the final score is between 1-5. Higher scores mean more grit.

  34 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Medication or diagnosis change

  34 weeks

Study Arms (2)

Process Group

EXPERIMENTAL

Medical students enrolled in the small process group, led by psychiatrist.

Behavioral: Process group

Control Group

NO INTERVENTION

Medical students from the same cohorts, not enrolled in the small process group.

Interventions

Process group BEHAVIORAL

The medical student process group served as a space for students to gain increased self-awareness through guided exploration of the psychodynamic processes.

Process Group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• The participant must be an enrolled student at the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific-NW
• Participant must be in their first or second year of medical school
• Participant must be at least 18 years of age
• Participant must self-select into either the intervention group or control group
• Participant must sign informed consent

You may not qualify if:

• Data will be excluded if a student goes on a LOA during the course of the year
• Data will be excluded if a student does not attend a minimum of 12 out of 25 small group sessions
• Student does not give informed consent
• Student withdraws consent at any time

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Western University of Health Sciences: lead

Study Sites (1)

College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific - Northwest

Lebanon, Oregon, 97355, United States

Location

Study Officials

• Edie L Sperling, DPT

  Western University of Health Sciences

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NON RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: CARE PROVIDER
• Masking Details: Interventionist was blinded to which group participants were also research participants.
• Purpose: SUPPORTIVE CARE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Professor and Vice-Chair, Medical Anatomical Sciences

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: July 31, 2023
• First Posted: August 22, 2023
• Study Start: June 24, 2022
• Primary Completion: May 30, 2023
• Study Completion: May 30, 2023
• Last Updated: August 22, 2023

Record last verified: 2023-08

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP, ICF
• Time Frame: Study protocol and SAP will be shared with results. Informed consent is shared here.
• Access Criteria: Open access.

Locations

US (1)