Trial to Evaluate the Efficacy of a Manualized Reflective Writing Program for Clinical Phase Physician Assistant (PA) Students.

Yale University

Status: Suspended

Conditions: Physician Assistant Student Burnout; Burn Out; Student Burnout

Treatments: Behavioral: Reflective Writing Workshop Sessions

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06000488

2000035615

Details and patient eligibility

About

The following will be an open label controlled efficacy trial of the effects of longitudinal participation in an existing reflective writing program for medical students on burnout in physician assistant students.

Full description

The pilot of the reflective writing workshop for PA students will follow the existing curriculum used for the MD program. The workshops will run for 75 minutes with additional time at the end of the session to complete a post-intervention assessment survey. Planning and adaptation of the program materials will be conducted by a group of PA students and the current MD-student leaders of the reflective writing program under the guidance of Dr. Anna Reisman.

All PA student participants will be split up into 1-2 groups of 6-10 students based on the number of participants. Sessions are expected to be held in-person pending COVID-19 guidance and will be held in reserved classroom space in the PA program building (100 Church Street South) or in reserved conference rooms at the Cushing-Whitney Medical Library. Trained PA and/or MD student facilitators will then use prepared materials to guide each group through a series of prompts, each eliciting written reflections of varying lengths. While all participants are encouraged to reflect, write, and share their responses, participation at all levels remains optional. Facilitators will not solicit any participants for a response. All program participants will be asked to complete a brief post-assessment survey consisting of short-answer and Likert scale questions about their attitudes towards program participation. Responses collected will be used to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the program for PA students and as feedback to guide potential future implementation of the program.

Enrollment: 35 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• able to offer consent
• able to speak and read English.
• must be a student in Yale Physician Associate Program Class of 2024

Exclusion criteria

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Non-Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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35 participants in 2 patient groups

Control

No Intervention group

Description:

No intervention

Reflective Writing Workshop Sessions (RWW)

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will participate in three 75-minute RWW sessions scheduled to take place after students finish their 1st, 3rd, and 5th clinical rotations during the study period. reflective writing workshops

Treatment:

Behavioral: Reflective Writing Workshop Sessions