Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Aug 22:7:497-504.
doi: 10.2147/AMEP.S110424. eCollection 2016.

Resource-oriented coaching for reduction of examination-related stress in medical students: an exploratory randomized controlled trial

Thomas Kötter  1 , Frank Niebuhr  2
Affiliations

Resource-oriented coaching for reduction of examination-related stress in medical students: an exploratory randomized controlled trial

Thomas Kötter et al. Adv Med Educ Pract. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Introduction: The years spent in acquiring medical education is considered a stressful period in the life of many students. Students whose mental health deteriorates during this long period of study are less likely to become empathic and productive physicians. In addition to other specific stressors, academic examinations seem to further induce medical school-related stress and anxiety. Combined group and individual resource-oriented coaching early in medical education might reduce examination-related stress and anxiety and, consequently, enhance academic performance. Good quality evidence, however, remains scarce. In this study, therefore, we explored the question of whether coaching affects examination-related stress and health in medical students.

Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial. Students who registered for the first medical academic examination in August 2014 at the University of Lübeck were recruited and randomized into three groups. The intervention groups 1 and 2 received a 1-hour psychoeducative seminar. Group 1 additionally received two 1-hour sessions of individual coaching during examination preparation. Group 3 served as a control group. We compared changes in self-rated general health (measured by a single item), anxiety and depression (measured by the hospital anxiety and depression scale), as well as medical school stress (measured by the perceived medical school stress instrument). In order to further investigate the influence of group allocation on perceived medical school stress, we conducted a linear regression analysis.

Results: We saw a significant deterioration of general health and an increase in anxiety and depression scores in medical students while preparing for an examination. We found a small, but statistically significant, effect of group allocation on the development of perceived medical school stress. However, we could not differentiate between the effects of group coaching only and group coaching in combination with two sessions of individual coaching.

Conclusion: The health of medical students deteriorated while preparing for an examination. Short-term resource-oriented coaching might be an effective means of reducing medical school stress in candidates preparing for an examination.

Keywords: counseling; education; health promotion; medical; psychological; resilience; stress; students; undergraduate.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Participant flow. Note: Outcome measured directly before the examination [t2].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Dyrbye LN, Thomas MR, Shanafelt TD. Systematic review of depression, anxiety, and other indicators of psychological distress among U.S. and Canadian medical students. Acad Med. 2006;81(4):354–373. - PubMed
    1. Kötter T, Tautphäus Y, Scherer M, Voltmer E. Health-promoting factors in medical students and students of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics: design and baseline results of a comparative longitudinal study. BMC Med Educ. 2014;14:135. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Voltmer E, Kötter T, Spahn C. Perceived medical school stress and the development of behavior and experience patterns in German medical students. Med Teach. 2012;34(10):840–847. - PubMed
    1. Koehl-Hackert N, Schultz J-H, Nikendei C, Möltner A, Gedrose B, van den Bussche H, Jünger J. Belastet in den Beruf – Empathie und Burnout bei Medizinstudierenden am Ende des Praktischen Jahres [Burdened into the job – final-year students’ empathy and burnout] Z Evid Fortbild Qual Gesundhwes. 2012;106(2):116–124. - PubMed
    1. Goldhagen BE, Kingsolver K, Stinnett SS, Rosdahl JA. Stress and burnout in residents: impact of mindfulness-based resilience training. Adv Med Educ Pract. 2015;6:525–532. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources