Evaluation of an Individual Learning Opportunity Utilizing an Asian American Studies-Themed Mental Health Workbook

Humanities-based interventions are increasingly used to promote medical trainees' clinical skills and wellness. Yet, quantitative evaluations of these tools remain limited. This study explores a novel application of Asian American studies (AAS) to medical education. Around 2020, AAS scholars and artists created a wellness workbook incorporating AAS-themed exercises for UConn undergraduate students. This study's authors introduced the workbook to UConn medical and dental students to validate its quantitative benefits for wisdom and wellness among medical trainees, relevant to improving health professionals' cultural sensitivity and burnout reduction.

The workbook was reformatted into a co-taught elective by authors for four iterations between February 2022 and March 2023. This class was offered concurrently alongside other week-long elective (Individual Learning Opportunity; "ILO") options UConn medical and dental students take between preclinical blocks. Recruitment emails inviting completion of the validated Brief Wisdom Screening Scale measuring wisdom were sent, before and after each ILO, to both intervention group students taking the workbook elective and control group students taking any other ILO. Pre- and post-ILO survey data was analyzed via two-sample and paired T-tests.

ILO completion was associated with statistically significantly greater (moderate-to-large) gain in wisdom in 36 intervention group students than (small-to-moderate gain) in 78 control group students. There was no statistically significant difference between intervention and control groups in baseline pre-ILO wisdom.

A week-long, AAS-grounded humanities elective was associated with quantitative gains in trainee wisdom, supporting the use of structured, humanities-based medical education interventions to foster trainees' relational skills and wellness.

The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-026-02834-0.