Enhancing self-care education amongst medical students: a systematic scoping review

• Published in: BMC medical education Vol. 24; no. 1; p. 37
• Main Authors: Wan, Darius Wei Jun, Goh, Laura Shih Hui, Teo, Mac Yu Kai, Loh, Celestine Jia Ling, Yak, Gerald Hng Kai, Lee, Joanna Jing Hui, Ravindran, Nila, Abdul Rahman, Nur Diana, Chiam, Min, Ong, Eng Koon, Somasundaram, Nagavalli, Lim, Ying Yin, Phua, Gillian Li Gek, Krishna, Lalit Kumar Radha
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 08.01.2024; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Anxiety; Coding; Content analysis; Coping; Core curriculum; Curriculum; Databases, Factual; Evidence-based medicine; Health aspects; Humans; Information Seeking; Medical colleges; Medical education; Medical ethics; Medical libraries; Medical personnel; Medical schools; Medical students; Medicine; Mental health; Palliative care; Palliative treatment; Qualitative research; Reflective Teaching; Researchers; Resilience (Psychology); Search Strategies; Self Care; Self-care, Health; Students, Medical - psychology; Teaching Methods; Training; Canada; Singapore; Medical students; Medicine; Medical education; Palliative care; Self-care
• ISSN: 1472-6920; 1472-6920
• DOI: 10.1186/s12909-023-04965-z

Reports of emotional, existential and moral distress amongst medical students witnessing death and suffering of patients during their clinical postings have raised awareness on the need for better psycho-emotional support during medical school. Furthermore, the stress experienced by medical students stemming from the rigours of their academic curriculum underlines the need for greater awareness on mental health issues and better self-care practices across medical training. With such programmes lacking in most medical schools, we propose a systematic scoping review (SSR) to map and address our research question, "what is known about self-care education interventions amongst medical students?". We adopted the Systematic Evidence-Based Approach to guide a systematic scoping review (SSR in SEBA) of relevant articles published between 1st January 2000 and 30th June 2023 in PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO, ERIC, Google Scholar, and Scopus databases. The included articles were independently and concurrently thematically and content analysed, with complementary categories and themes combined using the Jigsaw Approach. The domains created from the Funnelling Process framed the discussion. A total of 6128 abstracts were identified, 429 full-text articles evaluated, and 147 articles included. The 6 domains identified were definition, topics, pedagogy, influences, outcomes and assessment. Most interventions were promising, though peer-led mindfulness-based interventions showed most promise in enhancing engagement, positively impacting personal wellbeing, and improving patient care. Overall, however, self-care education was poorly recognized, adopted and integrated into curricula. Greater dedicated time and conducive practice environments within medical school curricula is required to enhance medical student wellbeing. Host organizations must ensure faculty are appropriately selected to instil the importance of self-care, be trained to assess and personalize self-care interventions and provide longitudinal assessment and support. Further study into assessing self-care capabilities is required.