Self-development groups reduce medical school stress: a controlled intervention study

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Psychology
• Public Health

Background:

• Medical students frequently experience high stress and mental health issues.
• There is a noted scarcity of research on group interventions designed to alleviate distress during medical school.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of group interventions in reducing perceived stress among medical students.
• To compare the impact of self-development groups versus discussion groups on student well-being.

Main Methods:

• A quasi-experimental design was employed with a third-year medical student class (n=129) as the intervention group and the subsequent class (n=152) as the control.
• Intervention involved 12 weekly 90-minute sessions of either self-development or doctor-focused discussion groups.
• Perceived Medical School Stress (PMSS) and Symptom Check List-5 (SCL-5) were measured pre-intervention (T1) and three months post-intervention (T2).

Main Results:

• The intervention group demonstrated a significant reduction in Perceived Medical School Stress (PMSS) from T1 to T2.
• Self-development groups were identified as the significant predictor of PMSS reduction, unlike discussion groups.
• No significant changes were observed in general mental distress as measured by the Symptom Check List-5 (SCL-5).

Conclusions:

• Group interventions, specifically self-development groups, positively impacted perceived medical school stress in students.
• The findings suggest that targeted self-development interventions can be effective in mitigating academic-related stress in medical education.
• Further research may explore the sustained effects and broader mental health implications of such interventions.