An educational intervention to enhance self-care practices among 1st year dental students- a mixed method study design.

backgroundPrevalence of rising stress among medical students has been reported widely and may jeopardize patient interaction and care. Evolving medical education needs to demonstrate compassionate self-care practices to enhance mental well-being of students. Although numerous researches have highlighted the stressors and coping strategies but no structured educational intervention has been reported so far among medical students of Pakistan. Hence, we explored if a Personal Development Plan could stimulate meaningful self-reflection and self-care practices among dental students.

methodsAll first-year dental students of Riphah International University participated in this mandatory lesson plan. This 1-h activity every fortnightly, consisted of a thought-provoking discussion with predetermined reading material followed by SMART goal settings & later follow ups. Students were divided into 4 groups of 18-20 students with a designated trained Mentor. At the end of academic year, students were asked to submit a 500-word reflection based on their experience of understanding self-care needs (intellectual, emotional, physical, spiritual aspects). A mixed-methods embedded design was used. First a quantitative analysis of the content of all 75 students' reflections was conducted using a scoring system based on the REFLECT rubric. Then for the qualitative manual thematic analysis, the researchers exclusively used reflections that scored levels 3 and 4 on the REFLECT rubric.

resultsApproximately 60% of students demonstrated an in-depth thoughtful reflection according to the REFLECT rubric. Students reflected by acknowledging the importance of self-care for their personal and professional grooming, Some observed the positive impact of working on self-determined healthy lifestyle behaviours on their physical & emotional wellbeing. They stressed the importance of physical activity, meditation and social connections in their daily life. They also reflected on reduced stress after incorporating these self-care strategies.

conclusionsThis study supports the value of incorporating self-care strategies in medical/dental curriculum to enhance personal and professional wellbeing of students and hence patient care. Students reflected on different themes of self-care related to physical, spiritual and social wellbeing. In addition, more than half of the students exhibited higher levels of reflection suggesting that these sessions contributed to action-oriented self-awareness towards holistic health.