Medical student flourishing before and during the COVID-19 pandemic at one U.S. institution

Abstract

<ns4:p> <ns4:bold>Introduction:</ns4:bold> 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. </ns4:p> <ns4:p> <ns4:bold>Methods:</ns4:bold> 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. </ns4:p> <ns4:p> <ns4:bold>Results:</ns4:bold> 107/585 (18%) medical students responded to the survey and 78/107 (73%) participated in the post survey. At the first time point, respondents reported both a mean FI and SFI 6.7 (SD=1.3); higher levels of flourishing correlated with higher satisfaction with work-life balance (p&lt;.001), higher quality of life (p&lt;.001), and lower levels of burnout (emotional exhaustion p&lt;.001; depersonalization p=.021). 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. </ns4:p> <ns4:p> <ns4:bold>Discussion:</ns4:bold> Like past findings in medical residents, we found medical students’ flourishing—as measured by FI and SFI scores—correlated with greater satisfaction with work-life balance, higher quality of life, and lower burnout. In this limited sample, we found flourishing remained largely unchanged after the COVID-19 pandemic onset. </ns4:p>

Topics & Concepts