Associations between learning community engagement and burnout, quality of life, and empathy among medical students.

Sean Tackett,Robert Shochet,Scott Wright,Jorie Colbert-Getz

doi:10.5116/ijme.5bef.e834

Abstract

ObjectivesTo inform evidence-based design and implementation of medical school learning communities (LCs) by investigating which LC components medical students at one school with a multi-component LC were most valued and which were associated with desirable outcomes. MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, all Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (JHSOM) students were surveyed in Spring 2016 regarding perceived value of LC components (peers, faculty advisors, Clinical Foundations of Medicine (CFM) clinical skills course, quarterly reflective discussion sessions, social activities, and LC rooms) with learning environment (LE) perceptions, quality of life, burnout, and empathy assessed as outcomes. Multivariate logistic regressions analyzed associations between LC components and outcomes. ResultsOverall 368/480 (77%) students responded. CFM was highly valued by 286 (80%) students, advisors by 277 (75%). All LC components were significantly associated with favorable overall LE perceptions, but associations with LE subdomains varied. CFM was the only LC component to have significant associations with greater empathic concern (OR 2.1, 95% CI=1.2-3.7) and perspective-taking (OR 1.8, 95% CI=1.0-3.1), less emotional exhaustion (OR 0.4, 95% CI=0.2-0.6) and depersonalization (OR 0.3, 95% CI=0.1-0.5), and good quality of life (OR 3.7, 95% CI=1.9-7.1). Every other LC component, except LC rooms, was associated with greater empathy or enhanced well-being. ConclusionsComponents within an LC are valued differently and vary in their relationships with student outcomes. Future LC research may isolate the effects of and explore interactions among different LC components, leading to more purposeful LC design and allocation of resources.

Highlights

Learning communities (LCs) in undergraduate medical education can be defined as “longitudinal groups that aim to enhance students’ medical school experience and to maximize learning.”[1]
In this study of 368 Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (JHSOM) medical students, we found variation in how students valued learning community (LC) components and in how valuing LC components related to learning environment (LE) perceptions, quality of life, burnout, and empathy
Our study showed that LC components are valued differently by students and likely impact students in variable ways, suggesting that future LC research should seek to disentangle the effects that each LC component has

Summary

Introduction

Learning communities (LCs) in undergraduate medical education can be defined as “longitudinal groups that aim to enhance students’ medical school experience and to maximize learning.”[1] A growing body of evidence suggests that LCs can benefit medical students in a variety of ways, enhancing their perceptions of the learning environment,[2,3] connections with peers and mentors,[4,5] satisfaction with advising programs,[6,7,8,9] performance in clerkships,[10] and involvement in leadership and service activities.[3] LCs can benefit faculty participants by improving their clinical skills[11] and job satisfaction.[12] Perhaps as a result of these benefits, the number of US medical schools with LCs has increased dramatically, from 18 in 2006 to 102 in 2014.13 To date, most studies have treated. In 2012, a study of 66 LCs in the US and Canada found that LCs could have between 1 and 80 different student groups, involve between 1 and 125 faculty, cover 53 different curricular topics, and command a budget ranging from $10,000 to $1,400,000.1 At the heart of LCs are longitudinal relationships among students and between students and faculty, with pedagogic and social learning embedded within LCs in ways that deepen learning and create a sense of wholeness for students.[15,16] there remains

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