Impact of a Pilot Wellness Curriculum on Healthy Behaviors, Resilience, Stress, Burnout, and Anxiety among Student Registered Nurse Anesthetists

Abstract

Background: SRNAs experience multiple stressors during their graduate education which can impact their mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing. Providing a comprehensive wellness curriculum during anesthesia graduate education may provide the SRNA with tools to improve health and well-being during their education and beyond. Objectives: The goals of the improved wellness curriculum were to decrease stress, anxiety, and burnout and to increase resilience and healthy behaviors by providing stress management education and practice, as well as nutrition and physical fitness education and activities. Methodology: The study included three classes of nurse anesthesia students; students from two classes participated in the pilot wellness curriculum (N=45), and students from one class did not (N=24), serving as a control group. The control group received the wellness curriculum currently in place. Outcome measures evaluating stress, anxiety, burnout, resilience, and healthy behaviors were completed at baseline, three months, and six months. After baseline data was collected, the interventional groups received the pilot wellness curriculum that included SMART, nutrition, and fitness education. Scale scores at 3 and 6 months were compared to baseline using the paired t-test. The change from baseline was compared between each of the interventional classes and the control class using the two-sample t-test. In all cases, two-tailed pvalues :s0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: Characteristics of age, gender, race, and previous education in the interventional group were similar to those of the control group. Statistically significant improvements were observed in perceived stress at 6 months in the class of 2019 (intervention), personal burnout at 3 months in the class of 2017 (intervention), work burnout at 3 months in the class of 2019 (intervention) and 6 months in the class of 2017 (intervention), patient burnout at 3 and 6 months in the class of 2019 (intervention), and healthy fitness behaviors at both 3 and 6 months in the class of 2017 (intervention). The mean score for perceived stress in the class of 2019 (intervention) at baseline was 20.2; it decreased to 19.2 at 3 months and 17.4 at 6 months. Perceived stress was increased from baseline at both 3 and 6 months in the class of 2018 (intervention); personal and work burnout were also increased from baseline at 3 months in the class of 2018 (control), however, these changes were not statistically significant. Anxiety decreased at both 3 and 6 months in the classes of 20 17 and 2019 (intervention) and was increased from baseline at both 3 and 6 months in the class of 20 18 (control). Resilience increased at both 3 and 6 months in the class of 20 19 (intervention) and was decreased from baseline at both 3 and 6 months in the class of 20 18 (control), however, none of these changes were statistically significant. Conclusions: Improvements in perceived stress, various forms of bum out, anxiety and healthy behaviors were observed as results of this wellness intervention. Nurse anesthesia programs should consider implementing a wellness curriculum to improve SRNA health and wellbeing.