Effects of an Intervention to Enhance Resilience in Physical Therapy Students

University of Indianapolis

Status: Completed

Conditions: Psychological Stress

Treatments: Other: Resilience Curriculum

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02541240

RARMUoHP063015

Details and patient eligibility

About

Health professional students experience high levels of psychological stress. Individuals with higher levels of resilience are better equipped to handle stress. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of an 8-hour resilience curriculum on stress levels, resilience, coping, protective factors, and symptomatology on students enrolled in a doctor of physical therapy (DPT) program.

Hypothesis: The curriculum will decrease stress levels, increase resilience, coping flexibility, protective factors (optimism, positive affect, and social support), and reduce symptomatology (negative affect, illness). Research on stress and its consequences experienced by physical therapy students in particular is limited. If the results of this study support this hypothesis, it may establish the benefit of adding a resilience component to the curriculum for students of physical therapy.

Full description

The study involves curriculum development and evaluation by randomized controlled trial. Participants will be randomized to the intervention group to receive a Resilience Curriculum or to a wait-list control group to receive a condensed version of the curriculum following the post-intervention assessments.

Pre- and post-intervention assessments will be administered to both groups, with baseline assessments administered in the first two weeks of the semester. The assessments will include measures of stress levels, levels of resilience, coping flexibility, optimism, positive and negative emotions, social support, and symptoms of illness. The intervention, the presentation of a resilience curriculum, will be delivered to the intervention group during the week following the baseline assessments and it will last for four weeks.

The resilience curriculum will provide education for participants about methods to increase protective factors against stress, the use of effective coping strategies, and the importance of accessing social support, with the goal of better managing stress and enhancing resilience. The intervention will include a didactic component, skills-building training, and homework exercises to encourage the application of the skills. The curriculum will be delivered in four 2-hour modules, with one module delivered each week. The follow-up assessments will occur after midterm examinations are concluded. An abbreviated curriculum which will last approximately two hours will be delivered to the wait-list control group.

Enrollment: 43 patients

Sex: All

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Current enrollment in Doctor of Physical Therapy program at either Indiana University or the University of Indianapolis

Exclusion criteria

• None

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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43 participants in 2 patient groups

Resilience Curriculum

Experimental group

Description:

The intervention is exposure to an 8-hour Resilience Curriculum. It will provide education for participants about methods to increase protective factors against stress, the use of effective coping strategies, and the importance of accessing social support, with the goal of better managing stress and enhancing resilience. The curriculum will include a didactic component, skills-building training, and homework exercises to encourage the application of the skills.

Treatment:

Other: Resilience Curriculum

No Resilience Curriculum

No Intervention group

Description:

The Waitlist Control group will receive no exposure to the Resilience Curriculum. After the final data is collected, this group will be offered the opportunity to attend a condensed 2-hour version of the curriculum.