Addressing Student Wellness through the Implementation of Learning Communities
Purpose: The beginning of a doctor of physical therapy degree is often seen as a challenge to the student. This challenge has created issues with stress, anxiety, and depression in our students which is similar to those found in medical students. Medical programs have embraced the strategy of addressing potential decreased physical and emotional well-being through the use of learning communities to promote positive overall student wellness. There is currently a gap in the literature of promoting wellness and stress management through the use of learning communities within physical therapy programs. The first purpose of this educational session is to share the results of a study addressing the perceived wellness of first year DPT students through the implementation of learning communities within one physical therapy program. The second purpose is to provide academic instructors with strategies for implementing learning communities within programs to address student wellness.Methods and/or Description of Project: Graduate students in medical programs suffer from increased stress while undergoing the rigor of a medically based academic program. Research shows an increased incidence of anxiety and depression in medical students and suggests mental wellness declines at increasing rates in the early years of the medical school program.1 The increased levels of anxiety, depression, and mental stress is well-established in the medical school community prompting further research into other medically-based academic programs, specifically physical therapy. A recent study by Macauley and Plummer revealed the anxiety levels of first and second year physical therapy students were higher than age-related norms and were comparable to anxiety levels of general military recruits.2 Frank and Cassady explored the levels of stress, anxiety, and academic performance of first and second year physical therapy students.3 They found higher levels of stress and anxiety in physical therapy students when compared to normative values for college students and similar age working adults. Stress in physical therapy students has also been linked to the lifestyle changes in the novice student due to the immense amount of didactic material and the resulting increase in academic stress.4 The increased focus on student stress levels requires facilitation of coping strategies to improve students’ ability to handle the stress of matriculating in a medically-based academic program.5 Positive aspects of stress result in focused attention in the learner, which can improve memory function6, but negative, chronic stress acts as an inhibitor to learning and affects cognitive abilities.7 Increased frequencies of stress among students in rigorous medical academic programs are associated with a higher degree of burnout.8 Stress, anxiety, and depression impact the student’s ability to perform academically, with 32% of medical students in a recent study reporting decreased academic performance due to anxiety and depression.9 This is concerning for academic faculty who are attempting to guide students towards a career path of improving the health and wellness of their patients. A greater focus on the overall wellbeing of physical therapy students is needed to provide an environment where the student is supported emotionally and physically while undergoing the academic rigor required to obtain the doctoral degree in physical therapy. Medical programs have embraced the strategy of addressing potential decreased physical and emotional well-being through the use of learning communities to promote positive overall student wellness. The addition of learning communities in medical schools has been shown to improve student wellness.10 Conversely, no current literature findings indicate if physical therapy educators have attempted this same intervention. This session will report the results of a quasi-experimental study to determine the impact of learning communities on the perceived wellness of first year DPT students. The final data for this year-long study will be collected in May 2018. In addition to reporting the results of the study, the education session will focus on steps to implementation of learning communities for physical therapy programs. The perspective of the program designer will be shared, along with the perspective of a faculty member who has served as a learning community leader for the pilot program. In addition, student peer leaders chosen for the project and current learning community members will share via video their perspectives on the program. The presentation team will give insights gained during the initiation of the program and strategies for success of other programs.Results/Outcomes: Non-equivalent control groups interrupted time-series design was utilized for this study. The time points for data collection were 1) prior to beginning the DPT program, 2) midterm of the first (fall) semester, and 3) conclusion of the second (spring) semester. Results will be shared from data collected via the Perceived Wellness Survey in first year DPT students in the control group and the intervention (learning communities) group. Participants will have a greater understanding of how to implement learning communities within their university program. Discussion of practical strategies, including suggested timelines, for addressing student wellness through learning communities will be shared.Conclusions/Relevance to the conference theme: Our Leadership Landscape: Perspectives from the Ground Level to 30,000 Feet: This session relates to the conference thematic area Developing Strategies to Build Resilience in Academic and Clinical Environments. At the conclusion of the session participants will be educated on perceived wellness of first year DPT students and how these issues can be addressed through the development of learning communities within academic programs. The participant will have a list of practical, take-home strategies to implement on return to the academic setting to further address the wellness needs of the physical therapy student. The ultimate goal is to increase the awareness of student wellness issues and create an academic environment that promotes student success and wellness.References: Dyrbye LN, Thomas MR, & Shanafelt TD. “Systematic review of depression, anxiety, and other indicators of psychological distress among U.S. and Canadian medical students.” Academic Medicine. 2006;81(6): 354-373. Macauley K and Plummer L. “Prevalence and predictors of anxiety in doctor of physical therapy students.” Journal of Allied Health. 2017;46(2): 39-41. Frank LM and Cassady SL. “Health and wellness in entry-level physical therapy students: are measures of stress, anxiety, and academic performance related?” Cardiopulmonary Physical Therapy Journal. 2005;16(4): 5-13. Tucker B, Jones S, Mandy A, and Gupta R. “Physiotherapy students’ sources of stress, perceived course difficulty, and paid employment: comparison between Western Australia and United Kingdom.” Physiotherapy Theory and Practice. 2006;22(6): 317-328. Higuchi D, and Echigo A. “Characteristics of coping strategies and the relationships between coping strategies and stress reactions in physical therapy students during clinical practice.” Journal of Physical Therapy Science. 2016;28(10): 2867-2870. Joels M, Pu Z, Wiegert O, Oitzl M, and Krugers H. (2006). “Learning under stress: how does it work?” Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 2006;10(4): 152-158. Kloet E, Oitzl M, and Joels M. (1999). “Stress and cognition: are corticosteroids good or bad guys?” Trends Neuroscience. 1999;22: 422-426. Kogoj TK, Cebasek-Travnik Z, and Zaletel-Kragelj L. “Role of stress in burnout among students of medicine and dentistry – a study in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Faculty of Medicine.” Collegium Antropologicum. 2014;38(3): 879-887. Mousa OY, Dhamoon MS, Lander S, and Dhamoon AS. “The MD blues: unrecognized depression and anxiety in medical trainees.” PLoS ONE. 2016;11(6): e0156554. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0156554. Osterberg LG, Goldstein E, Hatem DS, Moynahan K, and Shochet R. (2016). “Back to the future: what learning communities offer to medical education.” Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development. 2016;3: JMECD.S39420. http://doi.org/10.4137/JMECD.S39420Course Objectives: At the conclusion of the educational session, the following objectives will be met: 1. The participant will identify trends in first year DPT students’ perception of overall wellness. 2. The participant will analyze the benefits of learning communities to students and faculty. 3. The participant will distinguish key players in the successful initiation of learning communities. 4. The participant will formulate strategies for implementation of a learning community within an academic setting.Instructional Methods: The design of this educational session is a hybrid model of interactive lecture and active learning strategies. The instructors for this course will present the perspective of the developer of the learning communities within the program, the author of the research study on learning communities and also the perspective of a faculty leader in the learning community model. Active learning strategies to be utilized for this session include: use of videos and pictures of suggested learning activities as strategies, guided imaginary, word association activity, and the use of technology/instructional resources.Tentative Outline/Schedule: 10 minutes: Introduction & background of research interest into topic 15 minutes: Background of learning communities within medical and healthcare programs 10 minutes: Student perspective via video interview 20 minutes: Results of the research study on the impact of learning communities within a physical therapy program 10 minutes: Faculty perspective on impact of learning communities to faculty 15 minutes: Steps and strategies for implementation of learning communities in an physical therapy program 5 minutes: Conclusion of session and take-home points for implementation of the material 10 minutes: Open for questions, ideas, discussion of topic