Exploring the relationship between medical student basic psychological need satisfaction, resilience, and well-being:...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Psychology
• Health Professions Education

Background:

• Medical training is recognized as a significant source of stress for students.
• Basic psychological needs, including self-determination and need satisfaction, are crucial for well-being.
• Understanding the impact of the learning environment on these needs is vital for supporting medical students.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the relationship between medical students' perceptions of their learning environment and their basic psychological needs.
• To investigate how learning environment support influences motivation, resilience, and psychological well-being.
• To apply Self-Determination Theory to understand medical student well-being.

Main Methods:

• Anonymous online survey administered to 400 medical students across all four years.
• Measurement of basic need satisfaction/frustration (autonomy, competence, relatedness), resilience, and psychological well-being.
• Statistical analyses including ANOVA, t-tests, and structural equation modeling.

Main Results:

• A well-fitting structural equation model confirmed the hypothesized relationships.
• Autonomy and relatedness satisfaction directly impacted well-being.
• Competence satisfaction indirectly influenced well-being through resilience.
• Female students reported lower resilience than male students.

Conclusions:

• A supportive learning environment enhances medical students' psychological well-being.
• Competence satisfaction is a key predictor of resilience.
• Fostering basic psychological needs, particularly competence, is recommended to improve student resilience and well-being.