Medical Student Well-being Outcomes After a Novel Shared Meal and Resiliency Skills Course

Jessica C. Babal, MD; Liana Eskola, DO; Andrea Jones, MD; Roger J Schultz, BS; Jens C. Eickhoff, PhD

WMJ. 2023;122(4):272-276.

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ABSTRACT

Introduction: Medical student well-being is a major problem. The authors aimed to assess well-being outcomes 6-months after a novel extracurricular shared meal and resiliency course.

Methods: We implemented the course during 3 academic years (2018-2020). Participants received surveys assessing resilience, perspective-taking, self-compassion, and empathy at 4 timepoints. We used linear mixed effects models to assess changes from baseline to post-course assessments for the 3-year aggregate and pre-COVID and early-COVID time periods.

Results: One week and 6 months post-course, resilience, perspective-taking, and self-compassion scores improved (P < 0.01). Notably, resilience changed significantly only during early-COVID (P < 0.01), not pre-COVID (P = 0.16). For scores with evidence-based interpretation cut-offs, no clinical changes occurred.

Discussion: Several well-being measures statistically improved post-course but did not change clinically. Qualitative studies may better capture meaningful well-being outcome impact.

Author Affiliations: Department of Pediatrics, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (UWSMPH), Madison, Wisconsin (Babal, Jones); Department of Hematology/Oncology, UWSMPH, Madison, Wis (Eskola); College of Letters and Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wis (Schultz); Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, UWSMPH, Madison, Wis (Eickhoff).
Corresponding Author: Jessica Babal, MD, Department of Pediatrics, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, 2870 University Ave, Suite 200, Madison, WI 53705; phone 608.265.5835; email babal@wisc.edu; ORCID ID 0000-0002-5964-3700
Financial Disclosures: The Department of Pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health provided funding for resiliency course materials and participant incentives. Dr Babal has signed a contract with Springer Nature to receive future royalties for editing a textbook, Well-being for the Pediatrician.
Funding/Support: This project was supported by grant funds from the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank Christine Richards for her support in formatting this manuscript.

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