A holistic approach to sustain and support lifelong practices of wellness among healthcare professionals: generating preliminary solid steps towards a culture of wellness

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic has served as a catalyst for recognizing the challenging environments in which healthcare workers operate, underscoring the urgent need to enhance their wellness to better support themselves and others. The implementation of a culture of wellness within the...

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Main Authors: Beverley Argus-Calvo, Deborah J. Clegg, Maureen D. Francis, Alok Kumar Dwivedi, Paul A. Carrola, Marie Leiner
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2024-11-01
Series:BMC Medical Education
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-06353-7
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author Beverley Argus-Calvo
Deborah J. Clegg
Maureen D. Francis
Alok Kumar Dwivedi
Paul A. Carrola
Marie Leiner
author_facet Beverley Argus-Calvo
Deborah J. Clegg
Maureen D. Francis
Alok Kumar Dwivedi
Paul A. Carrola
Marie Leiner
author_sort Beverley Argus-Calvo
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic has served as a catalyst for recognizing the challenging environments in which healthcare workers operate, underscoring the urgent need to enhance their wellness to better support themselves and others. The implementation of a culture of wellness within the context of healthcare education, with a particular emphasis on individual-level strategies, allows for the realization of its intrinsic value and significance as a foundation for broader organizational strategies. This approach facilitates the establishment of a sustainable culture of wellness that benefits both current and subsequent generations of healthcare professionals. Methods We implemented our wellness program using a pragmatic pre-post study design for different settings. Our wellness intervention program was tested in three ways by creating combinations of different intensities (high, moderate, or low), delivery methods (face-to-face vs. virtual), different motivations (incentive, mandatory, or volunteer participation), and different timings (during medical programs or before entering into healthcare programs) among medical and nursing students. The effects of the wellness program were measured on quality of life, emotional intelligence, and efficacy scores among healthcare students. Statistical methods included repeated measures analysis of variance and paired t-tests. Results A total of 224 students (13 in high, 145 in moderate, and 66 in low-dose interventions) participated in our study program. Most scores were significantly improved except for a few factors in the high-dose face-to-face Well-Teach intervention cohort. Among quality of life components, the average psychological scores were markedly increased after high (13.2 vs. 14.7, p = .018), moderate (13.9 vs. 14.8, p < .001), and low (12.8 vs. 13.4, p < .001) intensity intervention cohorts. The moderate and low intensity of wellness intervention cohorts had the highest impact on the total emotional intelligence scores (mean difference = 3.021, 95%CI:0.553–5.488, p = .008) and (mean difference = 5.197, 95%CI:3.057–7.337, p = < 0.001), respectively. The low-dose healthcare intervention program yielded improvements in all components of all scores to a greater extent than moderate-dose or high-dose with face-to-face intervention programs. Conclusions This study demonstrates that our multifaceted Well-Teach model can be used to improve the quality of life, emotional intelligence, and self-efficacy of healthcare students. Low- or moderate-intensity intervention programs integrated into the curriculum may be more practical in health sciences education to sustain and promote lifelong wellness practices as solid steps toward attaining a “culture of wellness”. Our model should be considered to be beneficial, sustainable, cost-effective, comprehensive, and effective for current and future generations of healthcare providers.
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spelling doaj-art-1b9a2ea3f64846afa2e14487a216ab052025-08-20T02:49:17ZengBMCBMC Medical Education1472-69202024-11-0124111110.1186/s12909-024-06353-7A holistic approach to sustain and support lifelong practices of wellness among healthcare professionals: generating preliminary solid steps towards a culture of wellnessBeverley Argus-Calvo0Deborah J. Clegg1Maureen D. Francis2Alok Kumar Dwivedi3Paul A. Carrola4Marie Leiner5Department of Counseling, Special Education and Educational Psychology, University of Texas at El PasoDepartment of Internal Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El PasoPaul Foster School of MedicineDepartment of Molecular and Translational Medicine, Paul L. Foster School of Medicine, Biostatistics and Epidemiology Consulting Lab, Office of Research, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El PasoDepartment of Counseling, Special Education and Educational Psychology, University of Texas at El PasoDepartment of Pediatrics, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El PasoAbstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic has served as a catalyst for recognizing the challenging environments in which healthcare workers operate, underscoring the urgent need to enhance their wellness to better support themselves and others. The implementation of a culture of wellness within the context of healthcare education, with a particular emphasis on individual-level strategies, allows for the realization of its intrinsic value and significance as a foundation for broader organizational strategies. This approach facilitates the establishment of a sustainable culture of wellness that benefits both current and subsequent generations of healthcare professionals. Methods We implemented our wellness program using a pragmatic pre-post study design for different settings. Our wellness intervention program was tested in three ways by creating combinations of different intensities (high, moderate, or low), delivery methods (face-to-face vs. virtual), different motivations (incentive, mandatory, or volunteer participation), and different timings (during medical programs or before entering into healthcare programs) among medical and nursing students. The effects of the wellness program were measured on quality of life, emotional intelligence, and efficacy scores among healthcare students. Statistical methods included repeated measures analysis of variance and paired t-tests. Results A total of 224 students (13 in high, 145 in moderate, and 66 in low-dose interventions) participated in our study program. Most scores were significantly improved except for a few factors in the high-dose face-to-face Well-Teach intervention cohort. Among quality of life components, the average psychological scores were markedly increased after high (13.2 vs. 14.7, p = .018), moderate (13.9 vs. 14.8, p < .001), and low (12.8 vs. 13.4, p < .001) intensity intervention cohorts. The moderate and low intensity of wellness intervention cohorts had the highest impact on the total emotional intelligence scores (mean difference = 3.021, 95%CI:0.553–5.488, p = .008) and (mean difference = 5.197, 95%CI:3.057–7.337, p = < 0.001), respectively. The low-dose healthcare intervention program yielded improvements in all components of all scores to a greater extent than moderate-dose or high-dose with face-to-face intervention programs. Conclusions This study demonstrates that our multifaceted Well-Teach model can be used to improve the quality of life, emotional intelligence, and self-efficacy of healthcare students. Low- or moderate-intensity intervention programs integrated into the curriculum may be more practical in health sciences education to sustain and promote lifelong wellness practices as solid steps toward attaining a “culture of wellness”. Our model should be considered to be beneficial, sustainable, cost-effective, comprehensive, and effective for current and future generations of healthcare providers.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-06353-7Wellness programsHealthcare educationBurnout preventionIndivisible Self modelHealthcare education curriculumWellness culture
spellingShingle Beverley Argus-Calvo
Deborah J. Clegg
Maureen D. Francis
Alok Kumar Dwivedi
Paul A. Carrola
Marie Leiner
A holistic approach to sustain and support lifelong practices of wellness among healthcare professionals: generating preliminary solid steps towards a culture of wellness
BMC Medical Education
Wellness programs
Healthcare education
Burnout prevention
Indivisible Self model
Healthcare education curriculum
Wellness culture
title A holistic approach to sustain and support lifelong practices of wellness among healthcare professionals: generating preliminary solid steps towards a culture of wellness
title_full A holistic approach to sustain and support lifelong practices of wellness among healthcare professionals: generating preliminary solid steps towards a culture of wellness
title_fullStr A holistic approach to sustain and support lifelong practices of wellness among healthcare professionals: generating preliminary solid steps towards a culture of wellness
title_full_unstemmed A holistic approach to sustain and support lifelong practices of wellness among healthcare professionals: generating preliminary solid steps towards a culture of wellness
title_short A holistic approach to sustain and support lifelong practices of wellness among healthcare professionals: generating preliminary solid steps towards a culture of wellness
title_sort holistic approach to sustain and support lifelong practices of wellness among healthcare professionals generating preliminary solid steps towards a culture of wellness
topic Wellness programs
Healthcare education
Burnout prevention
Indivisible Self model
Healthcare education curriculum
Wellness culture
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-06353-7
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