A stress reduction course impact on medical students of different graduation years

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE To investigate the impact of a stress reduction and empathy development course (REDEMED) on perceived stress levels of medical students in different undergraduate years. METHOD Medical students from the 1st to the 6th year were invited to an initial lecture in which the REDEMED course program was presented (8 weekly meetings of 2 hours duration about interpersonal experiences and meditation). Stakeholders comprised the active group (n = 31) and other volunteer students constituted the control group (n = 29). RESULTSThe mean scores in the PSS of the active group at week 0 and at week 9 were, respectively 1st year (34.5 and 24); 2nd year (30 and 22); 3rd year (34 and 24) 4th (27.5 and 20); 5th and 6th year combined (27 and 25). In the control group, the initial and final mean scores were respectively 1st year (27 and 29); 2nd year (28 and 25) 3rd year (26 and 24); 4th (30.5 and 27.5); 5th and 6th combined (30 and 25). The first year of medical school students was the only group that presented a significant stress variation (p 0.000) when compared to the control group of the same year. DISCUSSIONThis strategy could be used in undergraduate medical coursesto help on stress symptoms reduction especially at the beginningof the course when it presented greater impact. (AU)