Associate Professor Wilkes University Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, United States
Objective : We describe a project and study where students learn and engage in the development of personal wellness goals and implement behavior change by practicing on themselves while learning the principles of behavior change counseling applicable to promoting wellness in patients. We hypothesized this educational model would lead to a sustained change in student perceptions and practices for their own and patient wellness.
Methods: We instituted a reflection guided, rubric assessed project within the required didactic curriculum which leads students through learning the foundations of wellness theory, development and prioritization of their own wellness goals, the implementation of their goals in real time, and finally reflection and reevaluation of their goals moving forward.
Results: Survey data from three different time points were gathered - prior to beginning the project, immediately after the project completion, and six months later during the student’s APPE year. Our data indicates that the project increased the perception that wellness teaching for patients was part of a pharmacist’s role (23% vs 68%). The project also increased the confidence of the students to discuss wellness practices with patients (13.5% vs 76%). Importantly, the project increased the student confidence for initiating and sustain- ing behavior change in patients (8% vs 56%). Our results also demonstrated a durable effect of this project into the APPE rotations, with 91% of respondents stating that teaching wellness practices is part of a pharmacist’s role, and 64% of respondents incorporating wellness teaching into the care of their patients during rotations.
Conclusions: Instituting a project centered around promoting individual student wellness goals while learning behavior change strategies through hands-on application is a valuable way of addressing both curricular outcomes and student health simultaneously.
