Open AccessMedical student flourishing before and during the COVID-19 pandemic at one U.S. institution
Author(s) -
Margot Kelly-Hedrick,
Kayla Iuliano,
Sean Tackett,
Margaret S. Chisolm
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
mededpublish
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2312-7996
DOI - 10.12688/mep.19094.1
Subject(s) - flourishing , spouse , psychology , burnout , political science , clinical psychology , social psychology , law
Medical education research often focuses on measuring negative mental states like burnout, rather than focusing on positive states like well-being. Flourishing – a state that includes domains of happiness and mental health - is a way of thinking about well-being that may be relevant to education and research. The purpose of this prospective, observational study was to compare the relationship among flourishing, other well-being measures, and burnout in medical students via a survey administered at two time points. Methods: We surveyed medical students at one U.S. institution about their flourishing, satisfaction with work-life balance, quality of life, empathic concern, and burnout (emotional exhaustion and depersonalization) before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Flourishing was measured using two scores, the Flourish Index (FI) and Secure Flourish Index (SFI), with higher scores indicating greater flourishing. Pre- and post-scores for both measures were compared. Results: 107/585 (18%) medical students responded to the survey and 78/107 (73%) participated in the post survey. SFI scores were higher at the second time point (M=7.1, SD=1.2) than the first (M=6.7, SD=1.3, p=.026). FI, satisfaction with work-life balance, quality of life, empathic concern, and burnout were unchanged at the second time point. Discussion: COVID-19 has disrupted medical students and their education in multiple ways – some of them positive – which may explain the increase in SFI score and the lack of change in FI and other measures, at the post-survey.