Building resilience, emotional intelligence and grit in DPT and PTA students for academic and clinical success
Purpose: The purpose of the session is to define and discuss resilience, emotional intelligence and grit as they pertain to PTA and DPT students. We will include measures for each construct, as well as academic and clinical strategies for teaching, advising and mentoring for more resilient, effective students.Methods and/or Description of Project: The literature confirms that an alarmingly high number of DPT students exhibit signs of anxiety, depression and stress related to the rigors of graduate school which affect both academic and clinical success. This session will review the available literature regarding resilience, grit, and emotional intelligence and discuss strategies to build these constructs. Lecture and small group discussions will address strategies for student orientation, student advising, mentoring and reflection activities in the academic and clinical realms.Results/Outcomes: Resilience has been described as the ability to rebound from adversity and overcome difficult circumstances,1 or a process of adaptation to adversity.2 Resilient individuals possess attributes such as an internal locus of control, pro-social behavior, empathy, positive self image, optimism, and the ability to organise daily responsibilities.3 Resilience scores were positively associated with personality factors such as emotional stability and social competence, but were not associated with cognitive ability.4 McAllister and McKinnon reviewed the literature and reported that resilience can be learned or acquired, and they offered recommendations for health care professional education programs that include discussion with students about resiliency, reflection opportunities for learners to examine coping, capacity and strength development, and workplace dialogue and mentoring.5 Grit has been defined as one’s ability to pursue goals over a long period of time.6,7 Grit encompasses commitment to one’s passion with an emphasis on maintaining interest and persistence over an extended timeframe and has been linked to GPA, retention, mental health status, and high levels of achievement.8,9,10 It appears that both effort (a result of grittiness) and talent are the most successful combination. Since competitive DPT programs admit academically “talented” students, it is of interest to consider the role of grit (effort) in their journey through professional education. As a professional program, it is also important to assess how we foster grittiness and resilience in our students, as closely related constructs. It has been suggested that grit can be cultivated through reflection strategies, mentorship in areas of growth mindset and effort, and through the experiences of group work and competition in the classroom.11 Emotional intelligence (EI) reflects the capacity to comprehend and regulate emotions and to cope with emotional situations. Authors have found a positive correlation with EI level and degree of success12 and EI positively related to well-being, coping and perceived competency in nursing students, but negatively related to perceived stress.13 EI has been shown to predict clinical performance in other medical fields; yet, Lewis did not find a correlation between EI and clinical performance scores of DPT students.14 However, she did observe higher EI in DPT students who passed the national board exam than in those who failed. EI has been discussed as an essential competency for effective clinical teaching; teachers with social and emotional competence can more successfully teach EI competencies as role models and mentors.15 Peer mentoring has also been utilized to improve EI in health profession students.16 Interprofessional and intraprofessional educational strategies, incorporating dynamic processes of collaboration, social interaction and reflection within a situated learning model are strategies recommended by authors who studied EI in nursing and pharmacy students during clinical placement.17Conclusions/Relevance to the conference theme: Our Leadership Landscape: Perspectives from the Ground Level to 30,000 Feet: Studies of resilience, grit and EI propose a number of similar strategies to foster and retain healthy, resilient and effective students and health professionals. These strategies are pertinent for both the classroom and the clinical environments. Our presenters will discuss specific strategies for student orientation, student advising, clinical mentoring, and reflection activities for both academic and clinical education.References: 1. Marsh, DT. Marilyn…and other offspring. J California Alliance for the Mentally Ill. 1996;7(3):4-6. 2. Newman, R., 2003. Providing direction on the road to resilience. Behavioral Health Management 23 (4), 42–43. 3. Friborg, O., Hjemdal, O., Rosenvinge, J., Martinussen, M., 2003. A new rating scale for adult resilience: what are the central protective resources behind healthy adjustment? International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research 12 (2), 65–77. 4. Friborg O, Barlaug D, Martinussen M, Rosenvinge JH, Hjemdal O. 2005. Resilience in relation to personality and intelligence. Int J Methods Psychiatr Res 14(1),29-42. 5. McAllister M, McKinnon J. The importance of teaching and learning resilience in the health disciplines: A critical review of the literature. Nurse Educ Today. 2009;29(4):371-379. 6. Duckworth, Angela et al., 2007. Grit: Perseverance and Passion for Long-Term Goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(6), 1087-1101. 7. Duckworth, Angela et al., 2010. Deliberate Practice Spells Success: Why Grittier Competitors Triumph at the National Spelling Bee. Social Psychological and Personality Science. 2 (2), 174-181. 8. Ellison J, Mitchell K, Bogardus J, Gleeson P. Is Grit a key factor in DPT program retention and success? 2017 Poster Session, APTA ELC, Oct. 9. Anestis, Michael D. & Edward A. Selby., 2015. Grit and Perseverance in Suicidal Behavior and Non-Suicidal Self-Injury. Death Studies, 39, 211-218 10. Lovering, Meghan E., et al., 2015. Psychological and Physical Characteristics of U.S. Marine Recruits. Military Psychology, 27 (50), 261-275. 11. Bashant, Jennifer. Developing Grit in Our Students: Why Grit is Such a Desirable Trait, and Practical Strategies for Teachers and Schools, 2014. Journal for Leadership and Instruction, 14-17. 12. Sharon D, Grinberg K. Does the level of emotional intelligence affect the degree of success in nursing studies? Nurse Educ Today. 2018;64:21-26. 13. Por J, Barriball L, Fitzpatrick J, Roberts J. Emotional Intelligence: Its relationship to stress, coping, well-being and professional performance in nursing students. Nurse Educ Today. 2011;31:855-860. 14. Lewis E. Longitudinal assessment of emotional intelligence in Doctor of Physical Therapy Students. IJAHSP. 2011(9)Number 2 Omid A, Haghani F, Abidi P. 2018. Emotional Intelligence: An old issue and a new look in clinical teaching. Adv Biomed Res; Mumbai, Vol 7. 15. Fisher M, Stanyer R. 2018. Peer mentoring: Enhancing the transition from student to professional. Midwifery. 60:56-59. 16. McCloughen A, Foster K. 2017. Nursing and pharmacy students’ use of emotionally intelligent behaviors to manage challenging interpersonal situations with staff during clinical placement: A qualitative study. J Clin Nurs. Apr 20:1-11. 17. de Vries J, TimminsF. 2017 Teaching psychology to nursing students - a discussion of the potential contribution of psychology towards building resilience to lapses in compassionate caring. Nurse Educ Pract. Sep;26:27-32.Course Objectives: 1. Define, compare and contrast resilience, emotional intelligence and grit. 2. Discuss assessment tools for each of the above constructs. 3. Discuss classroom and clinical strategies that include program orientation, student advising, student reflection and clinical mentoring for both PT and PTA students.Instructional Methods: Lecture and small group discussionTentative Outline/Schedule: 0-20 min: introduction of speakers; introduce objectives; define resilience, emotional intelligence and grit; small group discussion about measures used in individual programs 21-35 min: Resilience: review of the literature for graduate health science students and measures available; discuss the strategies for improving resilience 36-50 min: Grit: review of the literature for graduate health science students and measures available; discuss the strategies for improving grit 52-65 min: Emotional Intelligence: review of the literature for graduate health science students and measures available; discuss the strategies for improving emotional intelligence 66-75 min: Review recommendations for academic and clinical strategies 76-90 min: Q&A with audience