Abstract Manager

Oral

OD2-2-3

Accept

I declare I have no actual or potential conflict of interest in relation to this program.

yes

General Call (Workshop, Oral Presentation, Poster Presentation)

Oral

Education Research

Resident

yes

Psychological Need Fulfilment Mediates Well-being in Medical Students: A Case for Shifting the Focus of Wellness Curricula

During medical school, students' motivation and well-being stand to take a hit. While researchers continue to explore the utility of various wellness interventions to reduce student distress, studies have neglected to account for learners' basic psychological needs-autonomy, competence, and relatedness. From a Self-Determination Theory (SDT) perspective, these oversights are critical, because barriers and affordances to need satisfaction are ultimate sources of stress and obstacles to growth, resilience, and well-being. Our research explores how students' perceptions of autonomy, competence, and relatedness in medical school impact their intrinsic motivation and well-being, mindfulness, perceived stress, and ability to cope with stressors in the learning environment.

Medical students from our institution completed questionnaires related to the learning environment and aspects of their well-being. Mediation was used to assess the relationship between students' perceptions of the need-supportiveness of their instructors and learning environment in medical school and the aforementioned well-being indicators. Post-hoc tests were conducted to explore the contribution of each basic need and whether subgroup differences existed among our variables, by age, gender, and year of study in the MD program.

Need fulfilment, more than resilience and mindfulness, related to students' perceived stress and mediated the relationship between students' mindfulness and coping. The more autonomy-supportive students perceived their learning climate, the greater their need satisfaction and psychological well-being. A range of subgroup differences existed in need fulfilment, stress, mindfulness, and coping.

Overall, results highlight psychological need fulfilment as a key mediator of students' ability to cope adaptively with stress, to be mindful and resilient, and to maintain their wellness during medical school. Findings have potentially important implications for teaching, curriculum, and wellness initiatives aimed at reducing medical student distress and improving their development and well-being.

Psychological need fulfilment, wellness, learning environment

Post Graduate

Physician & Medical Student Health and Well-being

Faculty Development

Undergraduate

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes