A Gift You Give Yourself: A Preemptive Intervention for Student Mental Health

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Student Wellness
• Mental Health Interventions

Background:

• Clinical trainees, including physician assistant (PA) students, experience burnout, stress, and mental health challenges.
• Existing wellness interventions are often training-based, limiting their practical,
• just-in-time
• application for struggling students.
• Stigma surrounding mental health further impedes help-seeking behaviors among trainees.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of a novel
• just-in-time
• intervention for supporting PA students.
• To assess student reception and utilization of a personalized resiliency gift box.
• To explore the prevalence of self-stigma related to mental health among PA students.

Main Methods:

• Physician assistant (PA) students from three cohorts created personalized resiliency gift boxes at the start of their training.
• Boxes contained self-reflections and faculty encouragement, intended for use during times of stress.
• An anonymous survey assessed student recall, usage, and perceptions of the intervention in April 2021.

Main Results:

• Nearly all surveyed students recalled the gift box activity with positive impressions.
• Approximately half of the students opened their gift boxes, primarily during the didactic phase.
• A majority of students who opened the boxes viewed the intervention favorably, despite reporting significant self-stigma regarding mental health.

Conclusions:

• The gift box intervention was well-received and utilized by PA students, serving as an effective "just-in-time" support mechanism.
• This approach offers a practical alternative to traditional, structured wellness programs.
• The high reported levels of self-stigma necessitate further investigation and targeted strategies to promote mental health help-seeking.