Strategies for enhancing medical student resilience: student and faculty member perspectives.

Journal Article (Journal Article)

OBJECTIVES: To improve programs aimed to enhance medical student resiliency, we examined both medical student and faculty advisor perspectives on resiliency-building in an Asian medical school. METHODS: In two separate focus groups, a convenience sample of 8 MD-PhD students and 8 faculty advisors were asked to identify strategies for enhancing resilience. Using thematic analysis, two researchers independently examined discussion transcripts and field notes and determined themes through a consensus process. They then compared the themes to discern similarities and differences between these groups. RESULTS: Themes from the student suggestions for increasing resilience included "Perspective changes with time and experience", "Defining effective advisors," and "Individual paths to resiliency". Faculty-identified themes were "Structured activities to change student perspectives," "Structured teaching of coping strategies", and "Institution-wide social support". Students described themselves as individuals building their own resilience path and preferred advisors who were not also evaluators. Faculty, however, suggested systematic, structural ways to increase resilience. CONCLUSIONS: Students and advisors identified some common, and many distinct strategies for enhancing medical student resilience. Student/advisor discrepancies may exemplify a cultural shift in Singapore's medical education climate, where students value increased individualism and autonomy in their education. As medical schools create interventions to enhance resilience and combat potential student burnout, they should consider individually-tailored as well as system-wide programs to best meet the needs of their students and faculty.

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Farquhar, J; Kamei, R; Vidyarthi, A

Published Date

  • January 12, 2018

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 9 /

Start / End Page

  • 1 - 6

PubMed ID

  • 29334480

Pubmed Central ID

  • PMC5834818

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 2042-6372

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.5116/ijme.5a46.1ccc

Language

  • eng

Conference Location

  • England